Online Resources- Week 7

The first area I chose to explore within UNESCO’s web page was the tab titled “Culture.” After clicking on this tab, I was taken aback by the several different options I had to explore within that one umbrella topic. After reading the titles of my options, I chose to first explore the information on Culture for Sustainable Development. In the introduction to this particular page, I was captivated by one particular statement: “Culture is who we are and what shapes our identity. Culture contributes to poverty reduction and paves the way for a human-centred, inclusive and equitable development. No development can be sustainable without it.” This statement, in my perspective, provides a grande argument for why sustaining individual region’s culture is so important to global development. Simply put- culture defines who we are, and without it, we cannot move forward.

While choosing to remain within the topic of culture, I chose to next explore the Diversity of Cultural Expression. I came to learn that there is a legally binding treating which “ensures that artists, cultural professionals and practitioners, as well as citizens can create, produce, disseminate, and enjoy a broad range of cultural goods, services, and activities, including their own.” To create a legal precedent allowing all people of all cultures to express themselves in a variety of meaningful ways is a tool that be utilized to continue expressing the immeasurable value in cultural diversity. Along with the concept of sustaining the cultures which define us, this concept of diverse expression allows individual cultures to be shared in the many languages in which are naturally utilized- be it in words, paintings, sculptures or song.

As I was drawn to culture initially, I found myself exploring a separate tab specifically for Social and Human Sciences. Within this tab, I was able to discover many different themes ranging from human rights to bioethics. What I was able to discover, is that UNESCO provides recent information regarding controversial topics that may affect people in countries around the globe. With these issues, information is provided in a current news format, but also in a research format as well. If a person were to be seeking information regarding a specific topic, they would have the ability to gain a deeper insight into the topic using alternative resources.

Sharing Web Resources: Rally4Babies

I chose to take my search towards resources that can be easily shared with families with very young children. Through my search, I found myself diving into the ZERO TO THREE website. Something that really attracted me was the high readability of the resources available. Throughout the website, there are many different options for information gathering. Some outlets are geared more towards professionals in the field, where others are designed specifically for families.

When exploring the link devoted to Public Policy, I found myself submerged in the initiative “RALLY4BABIES.” This initiative is designed to increase awareness, funding, and equitable improvements for infants and toddlers. After reading a brief description, I followed a link that took me to a YouTube presentation called Rally4Babies: Learning Happens From The Start. The presentation included guests such as U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan and former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius.

Throughout the 40 minute presentation, various professionals in the field stated facts that provide the viewer with a clear understanding of:

1)   How important quality early education can be for infants and toddlers. The youngest infants, though not always considered, experience incredible learning opportunities within their first few days.

2)   The foundation that sets a child up for future academic, social, emotional, and physical growth relies upon their earliest experiences and environments.

3)   Funding quality programs helps to improve the outcome for infants and toddlers exponentially.

4)   By funding programs that focus on supporting infants and toddlers, we also help to support economic gains.

Case and point, providing ample funding to improve quality of early care and education, we are supporting the future of our economy. The funding that we place in the hands of these programs should not be provided with short term goals in mind- whether in regards to the care we provide the children or for the economic outcomes, goals should be made long term. We need to do more than just improve the look of early care and education, but change the entire system so that all children have access to quality education that provides them with social, emotional, physical and cognitive support, all while supporting their families.

Getting to know international contacts.. Alternative

Through exploring the Harvard University’s Center on the Developing Child’s website, I was able to discover several interesting resources and projects that are working towards educating professionals, families, and researchers on the many levels of early childhood mental health. Several of the resources and papers available to read pertain to how we can work to support children when working against things such as, but not limited to, toxic stress and biology’s affect on children’s resilience in adverse situations. Resources are in the form of papers, research briefs, and video summaries of several findings.

Within the resources available through the CDC’s website, an incredibly important topic is available for viewers to read through: the stages of neglect. As professionals in the early childhood field, we are required to be mandated reporters. Yet, as I have come to learn, many professionals are not sure what specific incidents qualify as neglect or abuse. Through the same link to the Paper in Progress of the InBrief series, one can find a 5 minute video research brief that identifies the science of neglect. The video outlines the most basic definition of neglect, stating that neglect is when a child does not receive a return of an interaction, whether it is a vocal or visual “serve”, if the “return” is not provided a child’s biological needs are not being met. 

Sharing Web Resources.. Continued

As I currently work in a handful of different settings, I find that the blog on the Global Fund for Children’s website is most relevant to my current professional development. What I have found in my own personal experiences is that no matter the level of diversity in a given area, looking at the experiences of others in similar situations can provide a professional with incredible insight as to how they can meet the needs of the population they work with. For me personally, I always find that hearing others stories of struggle and triumph provide me with the inspiration to think outside the box when created new approaches to support families and children in my care.

The grants provided by GFC require candidates to meet very specific criterion. Part of these criterions helps the organization maintain accessibility to funding for a certain population of people/groups. Something that caught my attention is that the annual budget for the grantee must not exceed a specific amount. The reason for this is so that only projects in the earliest stages have access to the GFC grant money. This struck me as something that can be fairly limiting. I wonder about the organizations that may exceed the annual spending limit, but also might be spread across many different projects. Would it be fair to exclude these candidates from accessing funding?

Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 1

I am still unsuccessful on my search to build international relationships. I have, though, reached out to a close friend who is currently working as a community developer and music educator in a rural region in Nicaragua. We are able to keep in touch fairly regularly, yet his responses depend on his access to internet. I am hoping to hear from him soon!

With this prospective connection to Nicaragua, I have begun to seek information regarding child and family poverty throughout the country. Much of the information I have gained is through the organization Save the Children. The organization has been in tact since 1980, and works diligently to support children and families living in poverty throughout Nicaragua, and several other countries.

In Nicaragua it is uncommon for children to attend school, let alone complete their education beyond sixth grade. Although many children drop out of school due to a lack of accessibility or a need to help provide income for their families, a child's lack of certain mathematical understandings leads to the child's inability to access greater income and opportunities for themselves and their families. Children and families also suffer from a prevalence of natural disasters, such as earth quakes and hurricanes, that cripple their families as well as their communities' economies. With these natural disasters, children and families also are deeply affected by wide-spread malnutrition, combined with a lack of adequate medical care. Organizations such as Save the Children work to provide children and families with access to educational programs, disaster assistance, and nutritional support.

Sharing Web Resources

The Global Fund For Children

https://www.globalfundforchildren.org/

As the world continues to develop, communities across the globe continue to seek support when planning for a wide array of supports for their youngest members. The Global Fund For Children works to connect donors to impactful grassroots organizations that target high needs populations, regardless of the living implications. Rather than reading applications of grantees, GFC sends experts to areas that are in need of financial support, and gathers first hand information and experiences to determine who and where grant money will be allocated. 

As grants seem to be the universal method of receiving funding for supporting a large-scale project, I find it to be very inspirational that GFC takes the time to physically understand the issues that grantees are hoping to change. By sending an expert to the very neighborhoods that are seeking help, it ensures a logical, experientially based decision when choosing grantees.

Being an international company, GFC provides outsiders a clear access to success stories in all regions that they support. On the web page, a view can select a region (i.e. Middle East and North Africa) and read of the various opportunities for growth that the funding provided by the organization as created. Through browsing many of stories, it is clear that the organization focuses merely on community development. It seems as though as long as the grantee provides a compelling argument for why funded is necessary, along with a clear outline for their plan of action, anything can be possible.

Establishing Professional Contacts & Resources

Having been unable to access the World Forum Foundation prior to beginning this assignment, I had decided to research the information available through The Global Fund for Children (GFC). As I entered the GFC's website, I found several different options for obtaining information regarding what the organization is involved in throughout the globe. Ultimately, this organization speaks on behalf of children around the world. Several of the issues discussed are relation to poverty, violence, and inaccessibility/successful retrieval of special needs resources. The tool I chose to research closely was the GFC's blog. On the blogs provided, several writers and advocates speak up regarding issues that are relevant in the regions in which they live.

I had initially searched for contact information for several of the bloggers, but was unsuccessful in finding a way to contact them personally. Instead, I will follow several bloggers throughout this course and try to interpret the information they are sharing in a manner that I can connect the issues to my own personal experiences and understandings. From the GFC's main blog page, several different topics are available for viewing. The different titles listed include the author's names in a link form. When  you click on the author's name, it takes you a page containing all blog posts contributed by this author. Several of the authors right on consistent topics, where others discuss a variety of issues experienced in their geographic regions.

https://www.globalfundforchildren.org/blog/