A Year of Transformative Impact: Nurturing Values and Spirituality in Early Childhood
This year, we celebrated the successful roll-out of the Toolkit to Nurture the Spiritual Development of Children in the Early Years across Brazil, India, Mexico and Pakistan.
Engaging 265 trainers and facilitators, we worked hand in hand with the members of the Consortium on Nurturing Values and Spirituality in Early Childhood for the Prevention of Violence reaching 1,642 parents, caregivers and educators, and impacting 3,107 children.
From challenging violence and neglect to empowering families and communities, this unique initiative has supported the positive transformation of parents and caregivers, fostering children’s holistic development and contributing to nurturing and respectful family environments.
274 trainers and facilitators
2,056 parents, caregivers and educators
5,529 children
A Global Initiative with Local Impact
Developed by the International Consortium to Nurture Values and Spirituality in Early Childhood for the Prevention of Violence, the Toolkit was launched in November 2022 in Rome during the celebration of the World Day of Prayer and Action for Children.
This year, the Toolkit was integrated into various programs and communities of Consortium member organizations, emphasizing the importance of nurturing children’s spiritual development to create violence-free environments, develop positive relationships with caregivers and empowering experiences for children, contributing to foster resilience, and support their social and emotional well-being and their mental health and psycho-social needs.
The Consortium partnered with the Global Center for the Development of the Whole Child (GC-DWC) at the University of Notre Dame to lead the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL). The MEL process will help understand the uptake of the Toolkit, its effectiveness and the benefits for trainers, educators, parents and caregivers.
Financial support has been provided by Porticus North America for the implementation in Mexico and its MEL development, and by the Fetzer Institute for the implementation in Brazil, India, and Pakistan.
Building on Tradition with Innovation
In Brazil, the implementation of the Toolkit is led by Pastoral da Criança. After the first Training of Trainers workshop in May 2023, Pastoral integrated the Toolkit into their program, ‘Celebração da Vida’ (Celebration of Life).
Monthly community workshops have reached 71 parents and caregivers and 121 children. In collaboration with the Anthropology Departments at the Federal University of Mato Grosso and the Federal University of Santa Catarina, these workshops inspired families to nurture children’s spirituality as a means to protect them from violence and foster their holistic development.
The Toolkit was translated into Portuguese and incorporated into Pastoral’s Android app, enhancing facilitators’ ability to conduct home visits and community sessions.
A facilitator from Cuiabá reported deep and personal sharing from parents about their backgrounds, including histories of neglect and abandonment, highlighting the importance of dignity and breaking cycles of violence in their current roles as parents.
“With the knowledge I gained from the course, I am now more patient with my daughters. I spend more time with them, pay more attention to them, and play with them more. As a result, they no longer misbehave to get my attention, which helps avoid stress for both them and me,” Parent from Brazil.
Empowering Vulnerable Families
The Toolkit’s implementation in Mexico, spearheaded by the Franciscan Sisters and World Vision Mexico, has positively impacted over 800 parents and caregivers and more than 1,000 children. Following a Training of Trainers workshop in June 2023, several Facilitator Training Workshops prepared organizational staff, faith actors and religious leaders to deliver the program across four states: Guanajuato, Michoacan, Puebla and Veracruz.
The Franciscan Sisters integrated the Toolkit into their “Escuela para Padres” (Parents’ School), conducting sessions in four schools and an orphanage. By providing them with knowledge about the detrimental impact of violence on children and equipping them to nurture children’s spiritual development, the sessions have helped reduce the use of violence in child upbringing. Parents are now empowered to provide safe and violence-free environments for their children, nurturing their innate spiritual capacities such as compassion, empathy and a sense of wonder and imagination.
World Vision Mexico integrated the Toolkit into their work with religious communities in the municipality of Zongolica with an Indigenous majority population, overcoming location and language barriers to engage parents and caregivers.
“My children have noticed the difference in how we treated them before the workshops and now that we are participating in the workshops. Before, I used to get angry, but now I understand them better. I have more patience with them, I understand that they miss their mom, and I must fill that role.” Widower father from Veracruz.
Integrating Spiritual Development into Early Childhood Education
In India, the Training of Trainers workshop on the Toolkit was held in Coimbatore, hosted by Shanti Ashram in August 2023. It was attended by participants from eleven organizations across Coimbatore conducting work on early childhood development and well-being.
Shanti Ashram integrated the Toolkit into their Bala Shanti program (Early Childhood Development Centres) across Coimbatore, serving families in nine villages characterized by multicultural and multireligious diversity.
The Toolkit adoption took two main forms: educators in nine classrooms implemented it directly with children, while 171 parents and caregivers participated in sessions at the Bala Shanti Kendras or centers, focusing on child rights, developing positive relationships, creating safe environments and equipping parents to provide empowering experiences to children to foster their agency and social and emotional development. Given the prevalent use of violence in schools and in parenting practices, the Toolkit promotes non-violent approaches to address these challenges.
An educator highlighted that activities such as This is Me encouraged students to explore diverse religious and cultural traditions, fostering mutual respect and understanding. Additionally, Shanti Ashram innovatively adapted the session Empowering Experiences, to an online format, where they carried out the activity Discovering the Spiritual Capacities. This new format was reported to be highly engaging.
Transforming Communities for Child Well-Being
2023 In Pakistan, the Training of Trainers workshop was held in Islamabad in September 2023, hosted by Islamic Relief Pakistan. The workshop included participants working in diverse regions on the Orphan Sponsorship and Child Protection programs. The team in Pakistan is integrating the Toolkit into their area of child and women’s development programming at the national scale.
The implementation in Pakistan is unique due to the humanitarian context, with sessions conducted at high intensity for a shorter period and follow-up remotely.
Two facilitator workshops were held in December, training a total of 125 faith actors, religious leaders, social workers and community activists. These facilitators integrated the Toolkit into their work to support children, women, and religious leaders.
Islamic Relief Pakistan is reaching 675 beneficiaries, including legal guardians of children in their Orphan Sponsorship program. The team aims to reach 3,575 children through Toolkit implementation, including children living on the streets, out of education, and internally displaced due to the floods in 2022.
Highlights
The Toolkit has been translated into Spanish, and some booklets as well into Portuguese and Urdu, with translation into Sinhalese under development.
The first meeting of the Global Community of Practice was held on 28 November 2023, bringing together lead implementers from all four countries to share their experiences and showcase the Toolkit’s added value.
On 13 December 2023, the Consortium held its annual meeting to reflect on the year’s achievements, discuss ways to move forward and identify strategic ways the Toolkit can contribute to humanitarian contexts.
Commitments to implement the Toolkit in new locations have been made with implementation processes starting in Sri Lanka and Tanzania in 2024. A new grant has been approved by SmartPeace Foundation to support the process in Tanzania.
