OUR TEAM IN EL SALVADOR RISING TO COVID-19 CHALLENGES
As the surge of the COVID-19 virus has rippled through our world, it has had a huge impact on El Salvador, Whole Child International, and the children we serve. Whole Child has used these past months to further develop virtual training and learning groups (communities of practice that encourage active participation and learning from each other, not just passive listening), as well as assisting parents and caretakers to take care of their children while working at home. We are working diligently to rise to the many challenges that the virus has presented, and we are striving to ensure that children continue to receive the best care possible!
Updates on El Salvador
In El Salvador, essential services such as medical assistance, grocery stores, pharmacies, public transportation, and gas stations are operating and are available to the public. The economy officially re-opened on August 24th, however, the International Airport and many businesses remain closed. Health and safety precautions have been implemented but they are not universally enforced. Some businesses (such as public transportation) are depending on the consciousness of drivers, operators, and owners to abide by COVID-19 regulations.
How Whole Child Pivoted
At the start of the Corona Virus, all education was shifted to a virtual setting in El Salvador. Whole Child recognized the risks of in person training and moved to a virtual training methodology by begining a series of weekly, virtual trainings.
In order to make this transition successful, Whole Child conducted a baseline assessment to determine what trainings were most essential for Whole Child to provide quickly and effectively on an online platform. Whole Child also worked with parents and caretakers and the government of El Salvador to ensure that everyone had sufficient and reliable connectivity to participate in online trainings. Whole Child International is implementing this project with the Salvadoran Child Welfare department, ISNA (by its acronym in Spanish).
Our Current Approach
Currently, 5 groups are actively participating in 15-minute virtual presentations following a methodology of high frequency, low intensity interaction. Each presentation is only 15 minutes long (low intensity) but each group meets multiple times (high frequency). After each session, the government educators call families to engage in a conversation with a member of the family about the topic of the week (e.g. Play), and then discuss with them the family’s interaction with the child, and their experience around the topic. These family calls are scheduled in advance so that they can be most effective.
Whole Child International is working tirelessly to continue care, research, training, and education for our staff, and beneficiaries. Apart from the development of community learning groups, we are working on the following:
Designing contents of the online training for the management university course on child care Best Practices.
Reviewing data from the quality assessment of early childhood and foster care centers to make recommendations for improvement in child and adolescent care.
Conducting analysis of gaps in the National System for the Protection of Children and Adolescents together with members of the system, such as Specialized Judges for Children and Adolescents, Attorney General's Office, ISNA.
Generating an analysis of ISNA's Early Childhood Human Resources, from which we can make technical recommendations.
Creating and designing the contents of the online training sessions for the core group (ISNA technical staff and Directors), and groups of educators, generating evidence of the current care in the homes of families that are part of the CDI ( Child Development Centers) by collecting, processing and analyzing data.
Training ISNA and WCI facilitators who develop online training sessions.
Accompanying educators from groups of direct care personnel who are participating in online training sessions.
A Note To Parents Teaching Children At Home
As we know many parents are working and teaching children at home, we would like to remind parents that families’ involvement and engagement in their children’s first years of life benefit their development enormously, including their language, social, physical and independence. Children experience the world around them through building relationships with the significant adults in their lives, and these important relationships effect all aspects of a child’s development and learning (social, emotional, cognitive, physical, behavior, and moral). In order to help children thrive, we encourage parents to be empathetic, gentle, compassionate, and caring. Parents, pay attention to your children and strive to understand who they are. This will benefit them emotionally, mentally, and even physically.
While our world has been greatly impacted recently, we are happy to rise to the challenges presented to us so that we can continue to work for our communities and the children within them. We hope you are happy and healthy wherever you are, and that this update of our work is met with satisfaction and joy!