Monrovia – Public Health Initiative Liberia (PHIL) in partnership with We Care Foundation has kicked off a five-day training for stakeholders and key actors of its Nurturing Care project sponsored by the Open Society Initiative of West Africa (OSIWA).
The training began on Monday, November 9 and will run thru November 13, 2020 at the head office of We Care Foundation on Sixteenth Street in Sinkor. It focusing on the Comprehensive Nurturing Care Model of Early Childhood Development (ECD).
Serving as lead facilitators are two ECD specialists, Maive Whisnant Bombo, a consultant to the project and Gbima K. Bahtokpah, who is the Family Literacy Coordinator at We Care Foundation.
About twenty (20) participants, including PHIL’s ECD Project officer, the organization’s Program manager, and three ECD Coordinators in Grand Bassa, River Cess and Margibi counties are participating in the training.
Other participants are representatives of the ministries of Health and Education, as well as adult literacy trainers, supervisors and home visitors working on the program for We Care Foundation.
The Nurturing Care program is an eighteen-month project that comprises of five components: Responsive care giving by both mother and father, adequate nutrition, good health, security and safety, and opportunity for early learning.
PHIL and We Care Foundation are the two organizations implementing the program in partnership with the Ministries of Health and Education for eighteen (18) months.
PHIL as an implementing partner of the project is working with communities in Grand Bassa, River Cess and Margibi, while We Care Foundation is targeting communities in Montserrado. It is also working with a total of forty-five Mother’s Clubs, fifteen each, in Margibi, River Cess and Grand Bassa counties.
The clubs, also known as Big Belleh Business clubs were established by the organization and comprises of women residing in the targeted communities. The women including pregnant women participate in regular meetings to discuss issues affecting their health and come up with policy briefs that are recommended for implementation by the government.
At the ECD centers in Bulorquelleh, Margibi; Peter Luogon Town in Grand Bassa, and Vondeh in River Cess, PHIL also provides a comprehensive nurturing care for up to forty-five (45) children and their families, each.
For the past five years, We Care Foundation has partnered with the Friends of Liberia to implement the Family Learning Initiative, a 30-week home literacy program meant to train parents to provide home education for their young out of school children.
With funding from OSIWA, the program has expanded to include the nurturing care component for children that are enrolled in the program in Neezoe community, Paynesville.
The program’s package now goes beyond education to include the child’s wellbeing, health, and other social amenities in line with the Comprehensive Nurturing Care model of ECD.
The training would pave the way for PHIL to integrate the Family Literacy program into its activities at the ECD centers, while it also helps We Care Foundation integrates the Family Health clubs into its activities, under the project.