A mobile app to measure how children experience violence

Children’s perceptions of violence are an essential input when it comes to designing, implementing and monitoring prevention policies and programmes. However, their views and experiences are rarely collected systematically, especially in low-income settings. Now, there’s an easier way of filling this knowledge gap.

Developed by Brazil’s Igarapé Institute, the Child Security Index (CSI) is an open-source smartphone app which generated considerable excitement on its launch in 2014. It won the Google Impact Challenge prize, was covered by media from the BBC to O Globo, given a platform by TEDGlobal and attracted interest from the World Bank and UNICEF, among others.

State of the World’s Fathers: how health providers can help fathers get more involved in early childhood

This week marks the release of the first-ever State of the World’s Fathers report, an advocacy publication of the MenCare campaign. The report highlights research, policies, and programme examples regarding the state of men’s contributions to parenting and caregiving globally. Kate Gilmore, deputy executive director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), called the report “historic” at its global launch.

The report highlights the great potential for positive outcomes that results from involving fathers before, during and after the birth of a child. Expecting a child is often a turning point in men’s lives – they may feel excited, vulnerable, and open to change. As one first time father from South Africa put it: “I am excited about [my wife] being pregnant, I have started to learn about it. I am willing to learn everything – changing nappies…I want to do everything from the start to infinity!”

A visit to Lingeka, Tanzania

Mother from the farmers’/parenting group

I am just back from a visit to Lingeka, in the Shinyanga region of Tanzania. I was there at the invitation of ICS to visit communities who have been implementing their Skilful Parenting programme.

ICS have an unusual approach, in which the entry point and initial focus of their parenting work in communities is agribusiness and improving farming practices. They provide training to farmers on agricultural techniques, offer the means to purchase improved quality fertiliser and seed, and provide access to a fairer market for selling their produce. This enables farmers to better provide for their own food and increase their income.

A Dutch view on the CATS Conference in Caux, Switzerland

We are travelling in a small train on the final part of our journey from Amsterdam to Switzerland. Our suitcases are packed in a carriage at the front. We go higher and higher. Once in a while there is a descent, because of a valley. The sights are becoming more beautiful by the minute. There is fog around the mountains and if you look closely you can see the snow on the top of them. And then suddenly, when we are almost at the top, there it is: the beautiful castle. Here we are, an eleven-strong group of ladies in a beautiful location with a beautiful goal: to actively participate and brainstorm at the CATS conference. But what is CATS exactly?

Well, it is not about sweet and cuddly little cats, as you may think. No, this is serious business. CATS stands for Children as Actors for Transforming Society. In other words: children will think of ways in which society can work better for them. This is the second time this conference has been organised, with children from all over the world coming to the castle to share their experiences and ideas.

Ik wil je dit vertellen, de stem van kinderen in de aanpak van kindermishandeling

28 Oktober was het dan zo ver. Kinderen die zelf mishandeld zijn door hun ouders vertellen hun verhaal. In het kinderboekenmuseum komt een groep kinderen tussen de 14-18 jaar bij elkaar. Samen met Stichting Alexander en de Bernard van Leer Foundation hebben zij zich voorbereid op deze dag. Want ook al willen ze graag hun verhaal vanuit hun ervaring vertellen, het is ook heel spannend. Te meer er belangrijke mensen komen en het best lastig is het verhaal te vertellen voor een groot publiek.

La violencia no es inevitable: impacto de las iniciativas de Medellín y Bogotá en Pernambuco

Después de ostentar el dudoso honor de poseer el record de violencia urbana durante más de treinta años, dos ciudades colombianas han logrado una transformación radical en sus políticas públicas para combatir este flagelo y hoy día son una referencia mundial en el tema. El índice de violencia urbana, que rayaba la insólita cifra de ochenta homicidios por cada cien mil habitantes hacia finales de los años ochenta, bajó a veintidós en el año 2011.

Vader en Moeder betrokkenheid maken het verschil in de ontwikkeling van jonge kinderen

De peuterperiode, zo blijkt steeds duidelijker uit onderzoek, is cruciaal voor de ontwikkeling van kinderen. Maar helaas zitten veel kinderen in die periode thuis, met name in de achterstandswijken waar het nieuwe initiatief – het Peutercollege – wordt opgericht. Veel ouders zijn ook thuis; zij hebben vaak geen werk, en vaak geen geld voor kinderopvang. Op deze manier lopen de peuters een achterstand in hun ontwikkeling op die ze later niet meer inhalen.

In de panden van een aantal Rotterdamse basisscholen worden deze maand twee nieuwe Peutercolleges gevestigd; de eerste werd in januari van dit jaar geopend door burgemeester Aboutaleb. Wekelijks wordt een ander thema behandeld ‘op college’, dat spelenderwijs wordt uitgewerkt. Het thema Ik en mijn familie werd afgesloten met een ochtend voor belangstellende familieleden. De ouders en hun kinderen luisterden samen naar een leuk verhaal en sloten de ochtend af door – met elkaar en uit volle borst – een lied te zingen.

Hieruit blijkt al dat niet alleen de kinderen worden bereikt met dit initiatief. Moeders komen koken met de peuters en helpen zo actief mee met deze vorm van ‘experimental learning’. En ook Turkse en Marokkaanse vaders doen mee. Na de eerste keer zeggen de vaders dat ze graag nogmaals een ochtend in de voorschool komen helpen –  en dat is echt bijzonder, in deze wijken.

Klokhuis series on child abuse/ kindermishandeling –

Klokhuis series on child abuse/ kindermishandeling –

On 21 March I joined the premiere and press viewing of the Klokhuis series on child abuse in the public library of Amsterdam. The series is produced in cooperation between the NTR (national public broadcasting station) and the Bernard van Leer Foundation. Present during this event were producers of the series, the ombudsman for children Marc Dullaert, and individuals and organisations that were involved in the production of this special series. They included the children and young men and women that tell their personal story in the series, paediatricians and teachers.

Poverty: what is it?

What is poverty? What is it like to be poor? How does it shape your life? The stories in these films look at what poverty is and why it’s a problem that has to be solved.  The effects of poverty such as living conditions, lack of resources, and inadequate child care hinders children’s development from impoverished backgrounds.

The Bernard van Leer Foundation is pleased to be supporting Why Poverty Campaign that is all over the world this week, people are watching films and asking Why Poverty? We want you to be part of this campaign. Please watch the films we’ve selected that stresses the issues of poverty and young children.

  Poverty is the worst form of violence.
― Mahatma Gandhi

Solar Mamas

Are women better at getting out of poverty than men?
Rafea is the second wife of a Bedouin husband. She is selected to attend the Barefoot College in India that takes uneducated middle-aged women from poor communities and trains them to become solar engineers. The college’s 6-month programme brings together women from all over the world. Learning about electrical components and soldering without being able to read, write or understand English is the easy part. Witness Rafea’s heroic efforts to pull herself and her family out of poverty.

Follow the link to the selection of films that ask questions on poverty and young children.

Pedagogy of Tenderness – stories from Peru

I had heard Mike talk a lot about Infant and the children in Iquitos and wanted to visit them someday. I was thrilled when I was told that I would be going to Peru. I had never stayed up in the air for 26 hours at a stretch (that was the flying time to Lima from New Delhi) and travelled nearly two days to reach my destination. Landing in Iquitos reminded me of home- same topography and similar facial features. The Iquitos visit was in two parts- i) Infant and ii) Visit to Loreto province’s Nauta and Parinari municipalities ( situated in the Amazonian forests).