PAST RESULTS

Brazil – The Art and Education Project

January – December 2003

The Art and Education Training Project

In 2003, more than 500 children (0-3 years of age) and 2000 children 4-6 years of age received quality education and care through 21 child care centers throughout Belo Horizonte . On visits through each centre we saw the transformations that have taken place over the last two years. The physical arrangements of the space for the children have been re-arranged to accommodate children's needs, before the adults', and great quantities of developmentally stimulating toys and activities have been created by centre staff using recycled materials and a lot of creativity. The centres have instituted internal policies to ensure 1/3 of the time spent in the centres takes places outdoors. There is a palpable new brightness and liveliness in the interactions between caregiver and child.

The 21 pedagogic coordinators and our amazing partner staff who have been receiving training from Ryerson University , School of Early Childhood Education completed their training in July 2003 and graduated. The graduation ceremony was very emotional and allowed each participant to share reflections on the past two years. Each commented on their new perspective on child care as they look at their work now through the eyes of children .

Through additional workshops to other staff in the same centres and to staff in additional centres, another 25 educators have learned some of the fundamental concepts and activities of this new training methodology. MLPC staff have developed an impressive knowledge base in early childhood education and are working on a training manual to document the experience and approach so that they may continue training staff from other child care centres in the MLPC network.

Community Outreach

Our local partners have been successful for many years in lobbying the local municipal authorities to support community child care centres. Now pushing the envelope slightly, our partners have been meeting with the 9 regional centres responsible for child care centres and early childhood education to advocate for government support of quality programs.

MLPC has built a Training and Resource Centre onto their office with a generous grant from the Canada Fund for Local Initiatives in Brazil . The Centre will house a collection of pedagogical resources as well as a historical archive of MLPC's advocacy work in the last 18 years.

A Special Fundraising and Marketing Project

Pueblito staff have been working directly with MLPC staff on a special project designed to help MLPC acquire fundraising and marketing skills so that MLPC may achieve financial sustainability through private fundraising. In 2003 MLPC developed a new home page for their web site and compiled a data base of potential donors in order to implement a new marketing strategy in 2004. They further increased their recognition as an institution by promoting the work of the Art and Education project which was entered in a national competition to promote children's rights, results to be announced in summer 2004!