Kurikulum Pendidikan

Supporting early childhood development in 2000:
a reflective review

What happens during the very earliest years
of a child’s life, from birth to age three,
influences how the rest of childhood and
adolescence unfolds. Yet this critical time is
usually neglected in the policies, programmes
and budgets of countries.
This quotation, taken from
s The State of  the World’s Children 2001, justifies ’s own
whole-hearted commitment to the healthy
development of young children. It also serves as
a rallying cry for all who should be contributing
to that healthy development: from governments
and international agencies, all the way through
to those such as community-based
organisations and parents who are closest to
children day by day. In addition, s report
details the kinds of adverse circumstances that
can blight this development – for example, war
and conflict; poverty; violence; and . In
doing so, it sets the broad agenda for action.
Given its long commitment to the healthy
development of children from zero to seven
years, where does the Bernard van Leer
Foundation fit in? We see ourselves as partners
of organisations at all levels, offering them a
great deal of accumulated experience in
supporting work aimed at benefiting children,
directly and indirectly, in the short term and in
the long term.We also bring to our partnerships
a number of principles that inform and direct
our work. These include the following.
- Recognising that children themselves are
resilient, creative, natural agents in their own
development.Work with children must build
on these truths.
- Concentrating our resources on a limited
number of countries in which to support
projects – currently 43 in total.
- Working thematically. That means
identifying common areas of concern or
interest across countries and regions, and
structuring much of our programme of
project support around them.
- Working with project partners: they have the
most pertinent overviews of the daily realities
and factors that impact on the lives of
children.
- Funding projects that enable and support
parents and other caregivers. These are the
people who are closest to children, and
should have and do have the most direct,
practical, appropriate and sustained impact
on children.
- Recognising that early childhood
development projects are often valuable
components in a wider community
development programme.
- Developing strategic alliances with fellow
organisations. This ensures that we
complement each other’s efforts to
contribute directly or indirectly to the wellbeing
of young children.
- Sharing what we and our project partners are
learning, via an extensive dissemination
programme – see pages 10-11.
In addition, we recognise that we have a duty to
be as effective as possible. This means learning
from what we do, learning from our partners,
and making changes to improve our
performance. In this sense, 2000 was another
year of learning for the Foundation and this will
be the main theme in my review.
Towards a more effective Foundation
Our learning is centred on our project partners
– the organisations that develop and operate the
early childhood development  projects
that we fund. Our learning starts with the
nature of our relationship with them. This
Bernard van Lee r Foundation 4 Annua l Re por t

FILE FULL DOWNLOAD HERE

Annual Report 2000

The Bernard van Leer Foundation supports projects that work to improve opportunities for young children living in disadvantaged circumstances. I therefore want to start my report by recording our recognition of the wonderful commitment to the well-being of young children that is shown by all the
projects that we support.
I also want to thank my colleagues in the Foundation for their continued commitment and enthusiasm.With our Strategic Plan to guide us, 1998 was another year in which we made good
progress in improving quality in all aspects of our work: from developing our programme of project support; through launching new dissemination devices; to enhancing internal efficiency.We also looked back to learn more from our accumulated experiences; and continued to look outwards to learn from others. A report like this can only give a flavour of what we have been doing, why and with what results. It is arranged under the following sections: Supporting projects (page 5); Gathering, analysing and sharing (page 8); Partnerships and external relationships (page 11); Preparing for tomorrow (page 12); Events and awards (page 13); The Board of Trustees (page 15); and Conclusions (page 15). the conceptualisation, development and operational stages of projects; and in evaluation and follow-up work. This means that we develop working relationships with our partners
in which we learn from one another. One strategically important benefit for the Foundation is that such relationships allow us to draw out the lessons that are being learned at all stages in the life of a project. It is this knowledge that forms the core of the dissemination work that I discuss later in this report (see pages 8-11). During 1998 the Foundation approved grants to 125 projects in 37 countries, for a total value of  20.8 million. A list of grants of  15,000 and above can be found on pages 25-33, while the Financial Report (pages 18-23) gives a breakdown of all figures associated with project support. Quality improvement Over the years, the Foundation has developed a very diverse programme of project support across the many regions and countries where it has a presence. Our highly contextual approach to programme development allows us to do justice to local circumstances and conditions in which disadvantaged children live. At the same time we have increasingly become aware of the need to identify the common ground and explore issues of quality which affect all projects.We feel that a better grasp of the issues, based on a discussion of relevant experiences, could give further impetus to improved strategies and methods for programme development.
As a result,  began a series of in-house discussions on elements of quality important to
intervention projects with children, families and communities. The idea is to determine the key
issues that contribute to the success or failure of a project and then try to distil criteria from
these that can be applied in future assessment and monitoring of new project submissions.
So far, a number of key issues have been clustered for discussions. These range from:
early childhood development projects in comprehensive community development programmes, through the work of projects being sustainable, to issues of documentation and innovation in themes, objectives and strategies.

Bernard van Le e r Foundation 7 Annua l Repor t
Hey! What are you reading?
Mexico: Citlalmina Project
photo: Unidad de Capacitación e Investigación Educativa para la Participación
Poster competition entry

DOWNLOAD FILE

analysis of abstracts from the Toronto AIDS Conference – did we deliver for children?
The 2006 International AIDS Conference was held in Toronto, Canada and was the largest gathering of HIV researchers to date. Horton (2006) posed a challenge at the conference by highlighting many of the shortcomings in relation to HIV issues and care associated with children. An analysis of the 2004 Bangkok conference showed some of the difficulties associated with abstract acceptance on child-related issues. This study represents a follow-up with a similar analysis for the Toronto conference.
International AIDS Conferences — a brief explanation
The International AIDS Conferences provide a focal point for research, updates and information exchange in the global fight against HIV. Countries from around the world participate in the conferences, which encourage multidisciplinary decision-making and policy formation on the most prominent HIV topics. The meetings are known to influence strategy and policy and to direct the response to the AIDS epidemic over the short term (Gayle and Wainberg 2007). Wells (2006) noted “the biennial AIDS conference is often exhausting and irritating, but it offers a unique view of how science and society interact”.
The Toronto conference was the 16th such meeting, and attracted more than 24,000 delegates. Box 1 lists previous international AIDS gatherings to date.
Box 1. International AIDS Society Conferences to date
Atlanta (1985)
Paris (1986)
Washington (1987)
Stockholm (1988)
Montreal (1989)
San Francsco (1990)
Florence (1991)
Amsterdam (1992)
Berlin (1993)
Yokahama (1994)
Vancouver (1996)
Geneva (1998)
Durban (2000)
Barcelona (2002)
Bangkok (2004)
Toronto (2006)
Forthcoming Mexico (2008)
There are many views on the conference, but it is clear that it plays a pivotal role in networking, information exchange and policy-making. For example an editorial in Nature (2006) noted “The biennial ritual of activists heckling drug-company officials or tearing down their stands may seem trite, the political speeches tiresome, and the appearances by Hollywood figures and other celebrities frivolous. But that’s the world we live in. Full participation in the AIDS meeting will, as it has in the past, serve to invigorate researchers and ensure the continued relevance of their work.”
Background to the study
The Toronto conference received over 12,000 abstracts, from which an interdisciplinary programme was selected. Abstracts were subjected to a blind review process and awarded one of six levels: oral presentation, key discussion, poster discussion, poster exhibition, CD-only, or reject. The database of abstracts was reproduced on a CD.
The oral presentations formed the major part of the programme. The discussion groups clustered around the posters in the poster area, with gatherings of delegates and a brief (5 minute) discussion. The poster exhibitions allowed for a poster presentation display. Delegates were able to talk informally to authors who were requested to be present at their poster at designated timeslots. CD-only abstracts appeared on the CD, but did not appear in any other way in the programme. The rejected abstracts did not appear on the CD.
The conference comprised five themes, which are listed in Box 2.
An earlier analysis was carried out of the 2004 Bangkok Conference abstracts (Sherr 2006). This analysis found that child-related abstracts formed 3.6% of accepted abstracts. This was lower than the average acceptance rate for all abstracts. Acceptance of child-related abstracts was more likely in the medical tracks, despite the fact that there were more psychosocial than medical abstracts submitted. Overall, this previous analysis showed an under-representation of child-related abstracts, with an emphasis on medical and empirical/quantitative data in those accepted.
This paper aims to explore the frequency and specifics of child-focused HIV research through a detailed analysis of the abstract database of the Toronto International AIDS Conference. With the understanding and knowledge gained from this analysis it will be possible to inform research and programme agendas, and highlight any changes from the Bangkok conference as planning towards Mexico 2008 proceeds.
Methodology
The database from the conference was used for this analysis. The database contained 12,780 abstracts and was accessed by courtesy of the International AIDS Society, for which we gratefully acknowledge our thanks. The analysis does not include invited (non-abstract-driven) sessions, such as plenary talks. Two major searches of the database were made.
Search 1 – keyword search
This search provided a list of abstracts where selected keywords had appeared anywhere in the abstract (title or content). Twenty-five keywords were used: ‘pregnancy’ , ‘treatment’ , ‘gay men’ , ‘migrant’ , ‘drug use’ , ‘adherence’ , ‘HAART’ , ‘interruption’ , ‘vaccine’ , ‘side-effects’ , ‘women’ , ‘adolescent’ , ‘USA’ , ‘Africa’ , ‘children’ , ‘orphan’ , ‘infant’ , ‘paediatric/pediatric’ , ‘law’ , ‘ethics’ , ‘access’ , ‘prevention’ , ‘microbicide’ , ‘RCT’ (‘randomised controlled trial’) and ‘Clinton/Gates’ . These comprise the 18 keywords used in the Bangkok analysis which were repeated for an analysis of change over time, plus additional keywords capturing up-to-date themes.
Box 2. The five themes (tracks) at the Toronto AIDS Conference
Track A – Basic science ß
Track B – Clinical research, treatment and care ß
Track C – Epidemiology and prevention ß
Track D – Social and Economic issues ß
Track E – Policy and Programme implementations ß
An analysis of abstracts from the Toronto AIDS Conference 3
Search 2 – child-related database creation
A second more detailed selection of abstracts was made, and a child-related abstract database created from this selection. This was carried out as follows.
A computer programme was written to capture all abstracts containing one of the following keywords: ‘child’ , ‘children’ , ‘orphan’ , ‘family’ , ‘pediatric’ , ‘paediatric’ , ‘infant’ , ‘youth’ , ‘adolescent’ , ‘pregnancy’ , ‘childbirth’ , ‘baby’ and ‘child development’. All identified abstracts were then compiled into a specific database for detailed analysis. This search generated a database of 2712 abstracts, drawn from the original 12,780.
This database of 2712 was then further refined by detailed reading, and abstracts shortlisted for direct child-relevance, rather than simply mentioning the word child within the body of the abstract. All abstracts were read through by a researcher for relevance. A random selection were double-coded by a second researcher to ensure agreement with the sort process. A total of 748 abstracts met the inclusion criteria (748/2712=27.6%) and were deemed to be directly related to children.

DOWNLOAD FILE

Until the 1980s, the Jewish communities of Ethiopia had been almost isolated from
Jews elsewhere for some 2,000 years. Like their rural Christian neighbours, their
economy was based on subsistence agriculture, while the services available to them
were few and far between. From the late 1970s, tens of thousands of them found their
way to Israel – their ‘Promised Land’ – suffering many privations on the way. And once
in Israel, they found that they were expected to adjust to a society and way of life that
was entirely different from anything that they had previously experienced.
Culture shock existed for the new arrivals as well as the receiving society. While there
were numerous attempts to assist the newcomers in adjusting to their new homeland,
there were misunderstandings on all sides. Many of the new citizens found themselves
in the town of Beer-Sheva, and this report traces the progress of one of the
programmes that was established to work specifically with young children and parents
from the community.
As a general rule, children are able to adjust to new conditions far more easily than
adults do. They learn a new language more quickly; by mixing with peers, they pick up
behavioural norms; and by participating in educational settings, they see and learn how
organisations work – opportunities that their parents do not always have. At the same
time, the influence of the home is at least as important for children as the influence of
school and the street. Based on the fact that parents are key in terms of children’s
socialisation, and the fact that the children needed to be introduced to the education
system in Israel, the Parents Cooperative Kindergarten was established, a facility that
toddlers attended daily, to which parents (almost only mothers) came on a rota basis.
The objective of the study reported on in this publication was to find out whether the
positive influence of the Parents Cooperative Kindergarten, which appeared to be
obvious at the time children were enrolled in the programme and immediately after,
was still evident 10 years later. The results are quite striking. Despite small sample sizes
and the difficulties of interviewing members of this community (who have been ‘overresearched’
for many years), there can be no doubt that participation in the Parents
Cooperative Kindergarten had a profound influence on the lives of the 36 children who
were traced. This finding is based on interviews with the children themselves, their
parents, and their teachers, and it is further supported by comparison with children of
similar ages from the same communities who did not participate in such a programme.
One of the objectives of the programme was to prepare children to participate in Israeli
culture and education on an equal footing with other Israeli children. In short, what

Working with puzzles, photo: ALMAYA
the study tells us is that the children who were in the Parents Cooperative Kindergarten
have very definitely moved towards the norm in terms of behaviour and performance
for children of the same age in Israel. The differences between the programme and the
comparison groups are manifest in such areas as their ability to organise themselves
and their activities, showing initiative, expressing emotions and their attitudes towards
school, learning and their own community.
Israel is one of the countries of the world where people from many different cultures
and backgrounds are living their lives in a shared system. For new arrivals especially,
this can mean a whole new way of life and the need to adapt to different norms and
values. In such circumstances it is often the children who are torn between competing,
and even conflicting, values. In view of the major differences between what they found
in their new homes and what they had left behind, this is particularly the case for the
families of Ethiopian origin. The older generations have lost their close communities,
as well as their traditional livelihoods. The younger generations have their own
preoccupations – how to be part of this very different society while still retaining the
distinct identity that has been handed down over many centuries.
It seems that the experience of the Parents Cooperative Kindergarten has helped to
give participating children a range of tools that are helping them to fit better into
Israeli society, while at the same time, preserving their connection with their
community, which they see as a support. The children in this study have a distinct
sense of self and can be said to have shifted along the axis from community towards
individualism. This has made them more individualistic than their peers in the
comparison group, while they remain less individualistic than their Israeli peers who
are not of Ethiopian origin.
The mothers who participated in the Kindergarten on a rota basis gained insights into
the Israeli education system and its approach to organisation and schedules; they
learned different methods of disciplining their children; they saw that children may
make individual choices without disrupting the entire group. This appears to have
positively affected the adjustment of whole families to their new society.
Overall, we can say that children and parents who were part of the Parents Cooperative
Kindergarten are not just living within Israeli society, they have a real sense of
belonging to it.


The tracer studies
The early childhood interventions supported by the Foundation are action projects that
are implemented by locally based partners in ‘the field’. Their objectives are concerned
with developing and improving the lives of children and their families and
communities in the here and now, based on the hypothesis that this will lay the
foundation for improved opportunities in the future. These projects have not been
conceived or implemented as research studies in which children/families have been
randomly assigned to ‘treatment’ or ‘control’ groups, and they have not usually been
subjected to tests or other research instruments.
Evidence exists on the longer-term effects of early childhood interventions, much of it
coming from longitudinal studies that have been implemented as research projects in
industrialised countries. The outcomes are mixed, although usually fairly positive.
Other evidence, mostly anecdotal, is available from early childhood projects such as
those supported by the Foundation, and again, this is mostly positive.
After more than 30 years of support for field projects, the Foundation decided in 1998
to commission a number of studies that would trace former participants of projects to
find out how they were faring a minimum of five years after they had left the
programme. Although evaluation has been a major element in early childhood
programmes supported by the Foundation, we have never, until now, gone back to find
out how people are doing a number of years later.
Other similar studies are taking place, or have been completed, in countries as widely
spread as Jamaica and Kenya, Ireland, the USA, Botswana, Colombia, Trinidad and
Honduras. Each of the programmes studied is different in its target group, in its
context, and in its strategies. This means that the methods used to trace former
participants and discover their current status are almost as varied as the original
programmes. In the studies that we have commissioned, we are emphasising an
anthropological and qualitative approach that uses small samples of former
participants, matching them, where possible, with individuals/families that share
similar characteristics for the purpose of comparison.
This present study took a wholly qualitative approach. Specifically, the data from the
young respondents were based entirely on their responses to three open questions,

DOWNLOAD FILE

Who is Bernard van Leer? Very few people know that he founded the Royal Packaging Industries
Van Leer in 1919. But even fewer will know that Bernard van Leer was the originator of the Bernard van
Leer Foundation, a charitable foundation which was set up in 1949, and to which he left his fortune on
his death in 1958. He did this with the approval of his wife Polly and his sons Wim and Oscar, who had
relinquished their rights to their inheritance.
Bernard van Leer owed his wealth to ‘hard work and a lot of luck’. He decided to use it for the welfare of
‘all those who had contributed to building up the Van Leer concern’. He never clearly defined the aims or the
target group. It was his son Oscar who, after his father’s death, provided the Foundation with its objectives
and its mandate – to help children and young people who are handicapped by the social and/or cultural
conditions in which they live, and to give them the opportunity to develop their talents to the best of their
abilities.
Some 40 years after the death of Bernard van Leer, the proceeds of his legacy are still being ploughed back
into those countries where the Van Leer Group of Companies is active, with the aim of giving disadvantaged
young children a better chance to develop their potential. Bernard van Leer provided the financial basis and
his son Oscar was responsible for defining the philosophy of the enterprise.
Bernard and Oscar van Leer never boasted about their philanthropic activities. On the occasion of the fiftieth
anniversary of the Foundation, we have decided to give this aspect of ‘Van Leer’ more publicity than would
normally be the case.We are doing this as a mark of respect and gratitude to the Van Leer family.
The Board of the Bernard van Leer Foundation is proud to be able to carry on the legacy of Bernard and
Oscar van Leer.
Ivar Samrén,
Chairman of the Bernard van Leer Foundation.

Investing in the development of young children
The Bernard van Leer Foundation is a private foundation based in the Netherlands. It operates
internationally, concentrating its resources on early childhood development.
The Foundation’s income is derived from the bequest of Bernard van Leer (1883-1958), a Dutch
industrialist and philanthropist who, in 1919, founded an industrial and consumer packaging
company that was to become Royal Packaging Industries Van Leer NV.
During his lifetime Bernard van Leer supported a broad range of humanitarian causes. In 1949 he
created a charitable foundation to channel the revenues from his fortune to charitable purposes
after his death. Under the leadership of his son Oscar van Leer, who died in 1996, the Foundation
focused on enhancing opportunities for children growing up in circumstances of social and
economic disadvantage to optimally develop their innate potential.
In seeking to achieve this objective, the Foundation has chosen to concentrate on children from
zero to seven years of age. This is because research has demonstrated that interventions in the
early years of childhood are most effective in yielding lasting benefits to children and society.
The Foundation accomplishes its objective through two interconnected strategies: an international
grant-making programme in selected countries aimed at developing contextually appropriate
approaches to early childhood care and development; and the sharing of knowledge and know-how in
the domain of early childhood development that primarily draws on the experiences generated by
the projects that

DOWLOAD FILE

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is applicable with regard to
all persons under the age of 18. But the Committee on the Rights of the Child has noted
regularly when reviewing the reports submitted by states parties that information on
the implementation of the Convention with respect to children before the age of regular
schooling is often very limited. Usually, for these young children, the reports cover only
certain aspects of health care, mainly infant mortality, immunization and malnutrition, and
selected issues in education chiefly related to kindergarten and pre-school. Other important
issues are rarely addressed.
This experience is the reason the Committee decided to devote its Day of General
Discussion 2004 to the topic ‘Implementing Child Rights in Early Childhood’. The purpose
of the Day of Discussion was to generate more awareness on this topic and to adopt
recommendations that would be based on the results of the event and would also underscore
the full entitlement of young children to the rights enshrined in the Convention.
The Committee was very pleased with the considerable support of the Bernard van Leer
Foundation and unicef in the organization of the Day of General Discussion, which was held
at Palais Wilson, Geneva, on 17 September 2004.
Around three dozen papers were submitted to the Committee on this occasion. The papers
furnished a great deal of information on the perspectives of a wide variety of organizations
and individuals. unicef, for example, prepared an extremely thorough account of the major
policies and approaches it is executing in favour of ‘early childhood development’, one of
the five priorities set out in its then current ‘medium-term strategic plan’ (2002–2005), but
there were also submissions from organizations as diverse as the Archdiocese of Buenos
Aires, the Friends World Committee for Consultation (Quakers), Human Rights Watch,
sos Kinderdorf International, which gives family-based care to children who are unable
to live with their parents, the srg Welfare Society, which works mainly among Bangladesh
communities to support the rights of indigenous and minority people, and the Commission
on Early Childhood of the City of Geneva. Indeed, the range and depth of the contributions
at the Day of General Discussion seemed to confirm that the Committee had done well to
choose a topic revolving around child rights in early childhood.
It is the Committee’s policy to make, when appropriate, maximum use of the results of
a Day of General Discussion. That is why the Committee decided to elaborate on ideas
and issues related to the Day of General Discussion 2004 in a General Comment with the
aim of supplying states parties with more detailed information and guidance regarding
the implementation of children’s rights in early childhood. The Committee considered a
first draft in May 2005 and, after broad consultation with interested parties and experts,
the Committee discussed proposed revisions and, on 30 September 2005, adopted General
Comment 7. The Committee is grateful for the crucial support provided during this drafting
process by the Bernard van Leer Foundation. It is likewise appreciative of the generous
contribution of Professor Martin Woodhead, who was invited by the Committee to act as
special advisor during the preparation of the General Comment.
The plan to publish the present monograph grew out of consultations between the
Committee and the Bernard van Leer Foundation during the course of these events. It was
realized that a book documenting the drafting of a General Comment by the Committee
would represent something of an innovation because of the insights it could offer into
viii
the significance of these key interpretive documents and the nature and functions of the
Committee.
The volume describes the background of the Day of General Discussion held on
17 September 2004 and contains, in extracted form, the papers submitted to the Committee
at that time, along with other relevant material. It also presents the General Comment that
was the outcome. Each section includes an introduction with additional information on the
process.
We hope that this book might aid child’s rights advocates at the local level, human rights
activists, particularly those with no special legal knowledge, and the general reader interested
in child rights, human rights and the United Nations, including university students and
researchers in law, social work, international relations, or other, associated areas.
We hope also that the publication of this monograph will encourage more research into
the work of the Committee, the effects of the Convention on the protection of rights within
countries through the adoption of positive policy changes, the enactment of favourable
laws, the recognition of these rights before courts, and other worthy efforts in many places
throughout the globe to advance children’s rights as human rights.

Jacob Egbert Doek
Chairperson,
United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child

DOWLOAD FILE

Issues connected with children’s welfare and child development are appearing on national and international agendas with greater prominence and frequency. However, the interna-
tional image of children is becoming increasingly
homogeneous and Western-derived, with an associated erosion of the diversity of child contexts.
This essay explores the reasons behind such a reduction in diversity, factors that are often considered to be a necessary part of progress. The authors conduct an overview of relevant critiques in the literature of early childhood development (ECD). The paper focuses on international ECD since the UN adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989 and presents a review of key ECD developments in Africa since the early 1970s.
Culture, context, and diversity are central concerns that have led to the development of several different critical streams of work within early childhood care and education during the 1990s. The authors describe some of these ‘reconceptualising’ efforts and identify various areas of promise for future cooperative work.
The second part of the essay represents an effort to move beyond the singular image of the ‘global child’. The authors address the need to support and promote local perspectives, ques-tions and issues, and trace the ‘triple heritage’ of ECD in Africa.
It is hoped that this section, and the essay in its totality, will contribute to a much-needed expansion of thoughts and ideas about early childhood, both in Africa and the rest of the world, and to an appreciation that diversity is a strength to work with, rather than an obstacle to overcome.
The authors conclude that their role is to introduce a ‘stutter’ into a powerful international narrative, thereby creating a space for other ideas and perspectives, in this case from Africa, to be heard and considered. They reiterate the need for the Minority World to help the Majority World in its quest for child well-being, by supporting Africa’s efforts to hear its own voices and seek its own way forward.

DOWLOAD FILE