This paper offers a concise and comprehensive overview of the literature from a psychological perspective. It explores a range of issues in emotional, psychological, social and physical development, and their relation to broader issues including poverty, nutrition and human rights. It idenifies gaps in knowledge and will help funders, policy makers and practitioners to locate their own work in the bigger picture. It is accompanied by an annotated bibliography
Can a 14-week programme for adolescents have a lasting effect on their lives? This tracer study shows that, 10 years on, 40 Trinidadians in their 20s are doing their best to meet life's challenges. These young people, many from backgrounds of disadvantage and abuse, took part in the Adolescent Development Programme run by SERVOL. The study compares their outcomes with a similar group of people and, while the differences between the groups are small, there are some distinctions. The former trainees themselves believe that the course enhanced their parenting skills and had a positive impact on their lives. The report also shares learning from the project
This study of the Bokamosa Preschool Programme describes how San children, whose culture is distinct from that of other peoples of Botswana, try to cope with an education system whose values and norms are different to their own. They must also cope with pressure from their parents who mistrust a system that 'steals' their children but feel powerless to make any changes. This book discusses the many factors that influence children as they grow; and shows that if the school system is not congruent with home circumstances, children must make immense efforts to succeed
Describes the emerging findings from the Effecitveness Initiaitve (EI), an open and flexible dialogue between ten international sites investigating good practices and lessons in early childhood development. Includes description of a variety of tools and strategies that have been used `for listening to different voices' and for finding out information about each of the projects. These include the `river analogy', used to construct a visual history of projects in Peru and Colombia; the farm land `machamba' analogy form Mozambique that helps people to analyse the evolution of community based early childhood development sites; seasonal calenders from the Philippines; meetings and debates from Portugal; different forms of open and unstructured interviews; personal diaries and `family books'; and the analysis of anecdotes and stories in almost all the teams. This issue looks at a range of the projects and a number of issues related to the EI enquiry, such as: looking at how `Atlas-ti' qualitative analysis software has been used to identify common elements of effective programming while retaining links with the original qualitative data - charting both 'thematic affinities' and diverse local expressions of what makes for effectiveness; and how data gathered by the projects is returned to all the people who provided it for challenge and modification in open meetings; also describes the way different kinds of information were collected, compared and `triangulated' to confirm findings. Key findings include: that `credibility', built on trust and respect of local priorities, is vital; also simply creating room for reflection and research by those involved in projects is an important component of making effective programmes; and conducting research in the local language helps to get at issues that are important for participants and staff
An introduction to the basics of evaluation, its role and importance. Based on a 1997 workshop, this short paper takes a self-evaluation or learning-oriented approach with the emphasis on learning lessons for the future. It includes a discussion of qualitative versus quantitative methods, deciding on indicators, the involvement and input of different stakeholders, and issues for implementing an evaluation plan
This edition is about trying two share two new things: first, sharing a process that Bernard van Leer are currently engaged in, as it is happening, in the hope that this, in turn, will encourage readers to react and contribute toward the further formation of the Effectiveness Initiative (EI). Second, presents material in a special edition of ECM with the Coordinator's Notebook (CN). In recognition of the collaboration and dialogue built into the EI, decision was taken to join forces in this initial publication to reach out to both the Early Childhood Matters and Coordinators' Notebook audiences
