with agency With a view to ensuring successful implementation of the Early Childhood Care Education and Development (ECCED) project in the country, United Nations Educational and Scientifi c Organisation (UNESCO) said it was implementing the programme in collaboration with the federal government to improve childcare of community children
UNESCO’s Education programme specialist, Rokhaya Diawara, said in a statement in Abuja, said the project had reach an advanced statege, adding that the sub-title of the project is “Play and Resilience: China-Africa collaboration project for building a peaceful and sustainable future’’
Diawara added that the project is funded by Victoria Charitable Foundation in China and will run from 2017 to 2019 and was being targeted at rural children in Adamawa and Ebonyi states
“In Nigeria as in the rest of the world, more children are faced with misfortunes inflicted by poverty, conflicts, displacements, loss of or separation from family members, friends, and deterioration of living conditions among others
“Thus, the need to provide them with psychological and physical supports to let them cope with the situations by building resilience through play
“The support helps them to demonstrate personal strengths needed to cope with adversity and become resilient
“It is in this regards, UNESCO Abuja, in collaboration with partners is implementing a project that will contribute to strengthening the delivery of Early Childhood Care and Education ( ECCE ) programme in the country
“Th is is targeted at disadvantaged children in rural communities in Adamawa and Ebonyi States,” Diawara said
Diawara said that the project was aimed to complement existing eff orts by government, non-state actors to help improve childcare, educational standard in selected communities by building their human resource capacity and materials production
She said that the project would create more awareness on the importance of childcare and develop tools for a comfortable learning environment
According to her, the project will also develop the capacity of teachers, caregivers, parents on implementing effective curriculum resilience building through play and foster sustainable collaborative relationships for children among families
She added that early childhood was the period from birth to eight years old, a time of remarkable growth with brain development at its peak
“During this stage, children are highly infl uenced by the environment and the people that surround them
“ECCE therefore aims at the holistic development of a child’s social, emotional, cognitive and physical needs in order to build a solid and broad foundation for lifelong learning and wellbeing,” he said
Th e partners involved in implementing the projects are Federal Ministry of Education, National Commission for Colleges of Education and Universal Basic Education
NAN
