Research Around the World
I researched the Early Childhood Development Virtual University Sub-Saharan Africa portal using the link http://www.ecdvu.org/ssa/major_reports.php
One research topic presented in Nigeria is "Assessment of the Caring Practices in Two Motherless Babies' Homes" and "Delivery of a Nutrition Training Program to the Staff of These Homes to Improve Nutrition of Children in Their Care." Children's orphanages represent a defenseless group of children that must have better care for healthy development. Training of high quality teachers for this project will support and encourage appropriate practices while discouraging inappropriate ones. Unless significant efforts are made to control these conditions, they will continue to be major challenges both in Nigeria and internationally (Akomas, 2004, p. 2).
Another research project presented in Malawi is "A Community-driven Rural Early Childhood Development (ECD) Project, with Emphasis on Culturally and Developmentally Appropriate Exploratory Learning Concepts." The project was designed to address the children's needs from a holistic perspective. It provides experiential learning pedagogy as well as a meeting place for the children's psychosocial and cognitive requirements (Day, 2004, p. 3).
One interesting fact that I read was about the extreme poverty level in Malawi. The families in the villages would not be expected to pay any fees for their children attending the early childhood facility. They would need to be involved with the learning by contributing firewood, maize, clay, or homemade toys. This project was expected to be branching out to other villages. Not only will the children benefit from this project, parents will benefit as well. I am sure these families who live in poverty are grateful for the early education their children will receive that they would willingly become involved with the facility. In the United States, getting families involved in their child's education is sometimes very difficult.
The ECDVU held its first Early Childhood Higher Education Symposium in 2013 and feels that leadership in this field cannot be met within the current traditional academic framework. This website provides many links with projects about improvements made in the field of early childhood among the poorer areas in Africa. The virtual university is addressing issues that are global; poverty, the training of high quality early childhood educators, offering appropriate learning experiences, food insecurity, and language barriers, but maybe not as intense as what is happening in Africa.
Akomas, O.E.U. (2004). Assessment of the caring practices in two motherless babies' homes in Abia State, Nigeria and the development and delivery of a nutrition training program to the staff of these homes to improve nutrition of children in their care. Retrieved from, http://www.ecdvu.org/ssa/major_reports.php
Day, C. (2004). A community-driven rural early childhood development (ecd) project, with emphasis on culturally and developmentally appropriate exploratory learning concepts. Retrieved from, http://www.ecdvu.org/ssa/major_reports.php
