Early Childhood Systems around the Globe

I decided to read and review the Global Children's Initiative website to discover new ideas and see how systems from around the globe operate. 

Grand Challenges Canada has a program called Saving Brains that promote the creation of interventions that nurture and protect the early brain development of children living in poverty. The Center on the Developing Child supports a dynamic learning community of Saving Brains grantees to help them advance the impact and scale of their work within global contexts. I was impressed to learn that the program works to enhance the collective impact of the Saving Brains program by:

• Articulating a common theory for action based on scientific knowledge and practical experience;

• Developing shared metrics and evaluation frameworks for interventions;

• Fostering an ongoing learning community to accelerate innovation through sharing lessons and results; and 

• Encouraging policy translation through cross-sectional leadership development

I find it interesting and very nice that the people in Canada can come together and create a program that not only helps children in a low-income home but also give them a chance to prove that they are not a product of their community or household.
There is a program held in North America called "The Frontiers of Innovation" which it is an initiative that is committed to driving transformative change for young children whose needs are not currently being met. Adverse experiences can derail children's healthy development, creating learning, behavior and health challenges that place heavy burdens at the individual, family, community and national levels. This program works to drive the design of intervention strategies grounded in scientific research that produce breakthrough outcomes for children facing adversity. I believe this is absolutely wonderful and if the program was available in my community I would definitely promote for my children to join the program and get other families involved so we could make a difference in many children's lives. I also agree with the belief that we must build the capabilities of adults caregivers in order to achieve significant outcomes for children. 
Another interesting program I came across while reading and researching this website is the network for children with mental health issues. The network is focused on four clusters of problems/disorders that account for the majority of child clinical referrals:

• anxiety and anxiety disorders;

• depression and depressive disorders;

• ADHD and related problems; and 

• conduct problems ranging form early childhood disobedience to adolescent delinquency and violence.

I love programs that are for helping children with mental disorders because the child is going through things that are out of their control and if a child doesn't have the proper care and support he/she needs the child can suffer a great deal and can become a problem child at home and in school. 


References:“Global Children’s Initiative” http://developingchild.harvard.edu/initiatives/global_initiative/