Malawi

Early childhood development improves
BY SUZGO KHUNGA
13:45:41 - 03 March 2008

Comment: When you think you have it bad, just think about a place like Malawi.

The concept of early childhood development (ECD) has improved as more Under 5 children have access to good nutrition and education through the establishment of Community Based Child Centers (CBCCs), deputy minister of women and child development Patricia Mwafulirwa said on Thursday.

Mwafulirwa was speaking at the handover of four CBCCs at Chowe in Mangochi built by the communities with financial assistance from the German government and initiated by United Nations organisations FAO, Unicef and World Food Programme (WFP).

The CBCC cater for children aged two to six years where they take part in various activities such as playing with building blocks to promote creativity, reading and playing with soft toys to ensure early learning stimulation.

Mwafulirwa said ECD services had increased in the past 10 years through the establishment of CBCCs from 1 per cent in 1996 to 29.7 per cent in 2007.

“Over the past few years, ECD in Malawi has tended to focus on all children for their survival. Children seek protection from all types of abuse and exploitation and participation in social economic development,” he said.

Mwafulirwa said the project called Protecting and Improving Food and Nutrition Security of Orphans and HIV Affected Children had improved food availability in targeted households and enhanced crop production in the Chowe area.

She however bemoaned the limited access to ECD services for the majority of children more especially those in rural areas and those affected or infected with HIV/Aids.

Through the project, the targeted households were trained on construction of dams for vegetable gardens and were introduced to improved fruit varieties as income generating activity.

However, the CBCCs have not been welcomed wholeheartedly in the Chowe area as narrated by Chief Chowe.

Chowe said many parents were reluctant to send their children to the CBCCs due to high illiteracy levels in the area because the parents don’t understand the importance of it.

For example at Chowe CBCC, over 243 children were registered but daily attendance ranges from 98 to 200 at times.

Because most parents were not aware of the benefits of sending children to the CBCCs, 11 villages are yet to complete construction.

About 12 villages in the Chowe area have 1,815 orphans and vulnerable children who are benefiting from ECD interventions under the project.