Early Childhood Development Trainers Meeting

Juzoor for Health and Social Development, with the support of UNICEF, and in parteneship with the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Social Development, and the Ministry of Education, and in the presence of UNRWA, the Palestinian Institute for Childhood, Farah Rehabilitation Center, and Spafford Center for Children, held a meeting of trainers on early childhood development programmes. The objective of the meeting was to determine the training received by the attendees, their experience in the field of in early childhood, the extent of their use and experience with the scales of behavioral development, what are the challenges they face, and what are the most important recommendations. The workshop included presentations from all ministries and institutions present on the most important achievements, challenges, and recommendations. In addition, in the closing session, individual forms were filled out and working groups were formed to come up with the most important challenges and recommendations.

The most important recommendations and outcomes of the meeting:

Human Resources

• Support to raise awareness among teachers and supervisors of schools and nurseries for observation and evaluation among children and students through inculding them workshops.
• Focusing on parental intervention and providing them with adequate support and guidance.
• Training and increasing the number of trained Heath Care Providers to work on the evaluation process.
• Establish criteria for who will conduct the evaluation process.

Resources

• Unifying evaluation tools/scales between different institutions.
• Provides a shared database between the different institutions to follow up on the child's information.
• Preparing the clinics with copies of the scales and toys.

Early Childhood Centers and the Transfer Process

• Existence of a clear map of centers working in the field of early childhood.
• Having a clear map of the transfer centers.
• Clearly defining the roles between the different ministries within a specific time line.

Follow up and training

• Continuation and intensification of training.
• Direct and continuous follow-up of evaluators.
• Defining clear procedures for the evaluation process.

Policies

• Legislating policies to control nurseries, especially home nurseries.
• Conducting an intensification campaign through social media.

Support and development

• Continuous supervision and support for evaluators through the presence of a reference for evaluators in case of need for support or inquiries.
• Continuous follow-up to standardize the evaluation process among all institutions.