Scaling up the early childhood workforce to support children birth to age 3: Lessons from Peru and Mozambique

Date: May 2, 2017

Time: 00:00

Today, there is a growing interest on the part of governments and other institutions to make large investments in the early years. However, many well-intentioned initiatives designed to support the health and development of young children struggle to move beyond the pilot or project stage. A critical factor in delivering quality services for young children is the quality of the workforce involved in delivering a service. 

 

In this Webinar, we will be discussing the challenges in scaling up the early childhood workforce by using two examples of programmes targeting children aged birth to three and their caregivers.

These programs include the Cuna Mas Home Visiting programme in Peru, and a program supported by PATH in Mozambique to integrate early childhood development screening and counselling into the routine work of community health workers and clinical providers. Under the ECWI, R4D recently carried out (1) a country study on the workforce supporting Cuna Mas in Peru, and (2) a global landscape analysis of training and professional development for the broader early childhood workforce which includes a case study of PATH’s work in Mozambique.

 

We are very fortunate to have as our Webinar panellists one of the researchers of the country study in Peru, Gabriela Guerrero (GRADE), as well as Jordi Fernandez (PATH), who leads PATH’s maternal and child health work in Mozambique.

 

This webinar proposes to discuss the following questions:

 

1.    What are the most effective approaches to training and mentoring early childhood workers involved in delivering early stimulation and health and nutrition services to children age birth to 3 and their families?

 

2.    What are the biggest strengths and challenges in professionalizing and retaining members of the early childhood workforce as programs look to scale further?

 

3.    What are some approaches to enhancing job satisfaction of members of the early childhood workforce who may be working on a voluntary basis or receiving low remuneration?

 

 

We invite additional questions for the panellists from listeners. Questions can be posed at registration stage and also during the Webinar itself.