Las Golondrinas (The Swallows)
Play, paint, imagine – these activities are an important part of childhood, yet many children living in vulnerable environments do not have places where they can benefit from quality childhood development services. This lack of access, along with adverse situations and violence, can have negative long-term effects on children’s lives. The Fundación Las Golondrinas offers an innovative program to help the youngest children living in vulnerable contexts. It provides comprehensive care and early stimulation through art, play, and creativity using lessons from the Reggio Emilia model and adapting them to the local context. In addition, it offers training for caregivers and early childhood teachers.
Problematic
In Colombia, approximately 65 percent of children under 5 years of age live in conditions of poverty. To this can be added situations of violence, which increase levels of toxic stress among children and caregivers and negatively affect early development. To address the needs of these children, access to daycare centers and nursery schools has been increased in recent years. However, attendance continues to be lower among the most vulnerable children, who also less frequently receive comprehensive quality care. As a consequence, gaps in cognitive and language development are observed from an early age between children who are more versus less impoverished. These gaps persist over time, and in the long term they can affect academic performance and other dimensions of development.
Solution
The foundation provides early childhood comprehensive care services in vulnerable municipalities in Antioquia and Córdoba in Colombia. In these centers, children explore and learn through play, art, music, and literature as part of a methodology based on the Reggio Emilia model, in which children are the protagonists in their learning process. In addition, medical and nutrition services are provided, and a number of very innovative programs have been initiated that include (1) comprehensive care for children under 3 years of age and for nursing mothers who are incarcerated, using a care model that adapts the detention space so that children can enhance their development and strengthen their connection with their mothers; (2) comprehensive care for children and families of the Embera Katio indigenous community; (3) promotion of breastfeeding through the Lactancia Amor Natural (Breastfeeding – Natural Love) Program, which provides information to mothers via home visits; and (4) the Educación Inicial Saberes (Early Education Knowledge) Program, which provides information for community mothers and educators on early childhood practices.
Evaluation and Impact
No information available.