“As a society, we cannot afford to postpone investing in children until they become adults, nor can we wait until they reach school age – a time when it may be too late to intervene. The best evidence supports the policy prescription: invest in the very young and improve basic learning and socialization skills.” – James J. Heckman.
Children who are within the pre-school age bracken from the area of Group Village Head (GVH) Issa Mponda in Mangochi district will now be enrolled in Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres which have been established in their vicinities.
Earlier this year, YONECO conducted a series of campaign activities around GVH Issa Mponda’s area. The exercise was aimed at encouraging community members to spearhead and support the establishment of Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres.
With community’s overwhelming support, YONECO has managed to facilitate the establishment of five Community-Based Child Care (CBCC) centres in the targeted area. Currently, some centers like Manjawila and Mwayiwathu CBCC have a total of 25 children each.
YONECO has requested Community Based Organizations (CBOs), care givers and others stakeholders at community level to give children the necessary attention they deserve.
“These efforts will further be called up to other parts of the district as well,” explained Funny Chilembo – YONECO District Manager for Mangochi.
Malawi has an ECD Policy which seeks to provide guidelines and coordination of ECD activities and for the enhancement of support and investment to ECD programmes in the country. Further to this, Malawi is a signatory to various conventions and human rights instruments that promote the rights and welfare of the child like the Convention on the Rights of a Child (CRC), OAU Charter and the Dakar Declaration on Children’s Rights on Education among others.
