Gbarnga, Bong County – A Bangladeshi Agro-based organization operating in Liberia, BRAC-Liberia, has concluded a week-long Early Childhood Development (ECD) training workshop with one hundred teachers and ten caregivers from ten selected communities in Bong County.
Report by Selma Lomax, [email protected]
According to the Project Manager for the ECD BRAC-Liberia, Benedict Sekey, his organization is implementing the ECD Project for the United Nations Children Education Fund (UNICEF) and it is a pilot project to test new intervention approach to early childhood development.
Mr. Sekey told reporters the training will take place in three counties; namely Bong, Grand Bassa and Grand Gedeh Counties.
Mr. Sekey told this paper that Brac is a development organization dedicated to the alleviation of poverty by empowering the poor to realize their potential and bring about positive change in their own lives
“Our approach, therefore, is comprehensive with services in areas of education, health care, social and economic empowerment, finance and enterprise development, human rights and legal aid, agriculture and food security, as well as environmental sustainability and disaster preparedness” Mr. Sekey explained.
He informed Journalists that since 2008, his organization has been working to lift people in Liberia out of poverty by fostering entrepreneurship and helping them (Liberians) realize their potential.
The Brac-Liberia Project Manager maintained Brac-Liberia has launched successful Programmes in microfinance, health, agriculture, livestock and poultry, reaching over 640,490 of the poorest Liberians.
Speaking to this paper Mr. Sekey indicated that in the three counties, Brac-Liberia will develop community base early childhood development centers and the centers are intended to recruit children between the ages from 3–5 years to prepare them (children) for primary education because his organization wants to shift the paradigm from the old approach to the contemporary ECD approach.
He narrated that Brac-Liberia will work in ten communities of each county and those communities are selected by the local dwellers alongside with the County Education Officer and the District Education Officer but the community will provide the structure and population, while his organization will supply the community with the needed ECD materials.
Mr. Sekey furthered that the sole objective of the exercise is to see how much impact Brac-Liberia can make in preparing the children for primary school and also for parents to see themselves as major players in educating their children and to comprehend the relevance of early childhood development.
He said at the end of the pilot project, he anticipates that the level of parents in the involvement of ECD will change from one level to another, community stakeholders’ involvement in educating a child increase and see new breed of teaching methodology being used for the early childhood teachers.
Mr. Sekey specified that the Brac -UNICEF -Ministry of Education Community based Early Childhood Development Project training workshop will target three hundred (300) children in each county.
He said similar training exercise took place in Grand Bassa County a week ago and another comparable workshop ended in Zwedru, Grand Gedeh County.
The ECD Brac-Liberia Project Manager disclosed that his organization is also involved with the distribution of copy books, pencils and other learning materials to kids in the selected communities in the three counties.
He funding for the project is being provided by the UNICEF.
Speaking earlier the Assistant Minister at the Bureau of Early Childhood Development, Ministry of Education, Mrs. Florence Allen Jones, lauded the Brac-Liberia for organization the training exercise for the teachers.
Madam Jones said years back a child was more than six years old before enrolling to school at a beginner but extolled the Brac-Liberia for the initiative and the UNICEF for providing the funding for the project.
She said the Ministry of Education provides the master trainers for the entire exercise and the teachers are selected from both private and public schools.
For their part, participants of the workshop hailed Brac-Liberia for organizing the training workshop, the Ministry of Education for providing the trainers and the UNICEF for the provision of the fund.
They said the training exercise has increased their teaching knowledge and appealed to Brac-Liberia to organize similar workshop for other teachers as early childhood education is the foundation for sustainable life.
The training exercise took place at the St. Martin Catholic Pastoral Center in Gbarnga from January 23-27, 2017.