Children-from-REDIN-Penapolis - a network to promote early childhood education.
Early childhood development (ECD) is a key social determinant of health. In Brazil, public policies in favour of ECD are stronger than ever. Yet despite recent achievements, social inequality and poor children’s services are still major obstacles to the development of Brazilian children in their first years of life. Marcos Kisil tells how legal improvements alone are not enough: implementation is critical and there are already some good local examples at municipal level.
Socio-economic data show that in Brazil the vast majority of children in early childhood live in poverty. Brazil is home to about 59 million households, and 16 million households have children of up to six years. Over seven million families, with 11.5 million children up to 6 years old, have a monthly income less than half the minimum wage per capita, per month.
Fragments of policies to protect children from zero to six years old can be found in the Brazilian history, but only recently has the child become a focus of concern. In 1988 the State recognised its legal responsibility and the right of the child to attend nurseries and schools and ECD became linked to the educational system with constitutional mandates. ECD grew stronger with the Statute of Child and Adolescent in 1990. This new scenario created a progressive understanding of the duties that society and state have towards children. By 1996 a new Federal Law in Education specified that nurseries and pre-schools must be integrated into the public educational system. In 2007 with the aim of providing transparency to the origin and destination of public resources used in education, a specific fund was created, the FUNDEB (Fund for the Development of Basic Education), composed of federal, state and municipal resources. These resources are primarily directed to the municipalities who are agents for the implementation of ECD policies.
The legal requirements detailed above set a new direction for Brazilian ECD based on the right of children to receive education. Unfortunately there remains a distance between the new legal framework and access to the services for ECD. Reasons range from the need to train professionals, to finding ways to involve parents and community leaders. A major challenge is encouraging municipal Secretariats of Education to organise budgets and structures, meet demands for expansion of care and improve the quality of services. Municipalities still need to develop their own policies on ECD.
Municipalities are also struggling to build appropriate infrastructures, for example renovating and maintaining buildings or constructing new ones.
The question is not only physical space. They also need to invest in equipment and teaching materials, and especially in human resources. Municipalities need new leaders that can understand and recognise the importance of ECD, but also can act to set up a permanent and sustainable local system for ECD which involves families, local business people, and members of the civil society.
Recent initiatives from different municipalities show potential for change to happen. In 2003 in Rio Grande do Sul, the southern state of Brazil, the PIM – Primeira Infância Melhor (Better Early Childhood) was created with the support of the state level government (see www.pim.saude.rs.gov.br) and external support from UNESCO and UNICEF. Its purpose is to guide family members to pay attention to the development of children from conception to six years old. Today 224 municipalities are taking part. The programme is inspired by the Cuban programme “Educa a tu Hijo”, developed by the Centro de Referencia Latinoamericano para la Educación Preescolar – CELEP.
One main characteristic is to use an integrated approach involving education, health and social services departments at municipal level. The programme now supports more than 47,000 families and more than 71,000 children. Almost 1,800 staff members make regular visits to families to teach them about ECD and help them meet their child’s developmental needs.
In the process of implementation the programme accomplished several important results. Local leaders became champions of ECD; new models of care became based on family visits; and there were new local resources for available for ECD. Several other states of Brazil are interested in applying the same model.
Another interesting programme is the Programa Infancia Rural – PIRN, (Rural Childhood Programme) developed by Instituto da Infancia (IFAN), based in Fortaleza in the northeast of Brazil. The programme looks at an important neglected segment of Brazilian society; rural children in impoverished areas. The programme operates in 10 communities and values the role of playful activities as a way to stimulate and teach children between zero and six years. The programme follows an informal curriculum and is located in a local playing area for children. Over 550 family members are involved in the programme. This is local implementation of national level policies on children´s rights. Several others municipalities are looking to apply this model in their own settings.
Municipalities are valuing ECD as an essential focus. It is a cultural, social, economic movement that will reshape the chances for a Brazilian child to become a full citizen.
Marco Kisil, President, Instituto para o Desenvolvimento do Investimento Social (IDIS)
Contact: mkisil@idis.org.br
www.idis.org.br
Filed under: social determinants of health
