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Program Profile
 Our Partners
Results
Critical Needs
The region of Estelí is one of the poorest in Nicaragua . NGO's and government tend to focus their efforts on the more easily accessible urban and semi-urban areas so little attention has been paid to rural communities. Our program works in the rural region of Estelí across an area of approximately 800 km 2 reaching 100 communities with a population of approximately 200,000. The Ministry of Education provides a curriculum for preschools and the World Bank provides a stipend to educators of about $10 a month, but any community member can be an educator and no training is provided. Ministry of Education supervisors for the preschool educators are usually university students of various disciplines who also lack training about how to support educators. Educators need to learn how to make the curriculum come alive and engage children in dynamic and developmentally appropriate ways. Children in rural Nicaragua , like all children, require creative outlets and opportunities to develop their creativity, express themselves and develop self-esteem. ¡Art Works! meets those needs and also supports and encourages work that improves the quality of preschool education through FUNARTE's involvement in the Preschool Commission of Estelí.
Deeply committed to responding to communities' needs, FUNARTE trainers, at the beginning of the project in 2003, noted the malnutrition of many children in the preschools and felt that attention was needed in this area to support both the children's health as well as the relationship between health and development necessary for success in preschool. Together with Pueblito, FUNARTE began developing a response which resulted in the design of a health and nutrition component to address those needs. In fall 2003 a community health nurse was hired to join FUNARTE and she carried out a complete diagnostic assessment of the beneficiaries in which she identified lack of information about child nutrition, poor hygiene at the personal, home and environmental levels, and no system to monitor child health and nutrition hygiene as the principal areas of need.
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Program Description
The whole project is education based. The preschool education component focuses on sensitization and training directed to children and community educators in rural preschools, and exploring ways to use creativity in children's fundamental development. It is further enhanced by working with families and the community to create an awareness of the importance of preschool so that parents can support child development at home and the community will demand and protect such services. The methodological approach is based on observation and practical coaching with an arts base. There are three steps to this approach applied in the model:
- A FUNARTE educator first observes a community educator in her preschool before modeling a creative class with children, and the community educator observes.
- A FUNARTE educator works directly with each community educator to help her plan her own class. The educator leads the process and the FUNARTE educator gives feedback and support.
- The community educator then conducts her own class with the FUNARTE educator observing who later gives feedback on the class and sets up an action plan for the educator to continue working on.
This individual attention is complimented by monthly workshops held by FUNARTE for the entire group of community educators These monthly workshops teach creative techniques including graphic expression (drawing, painting, sculpture, collage), oral expression (songs, verbal games, story telling, and identifying feelings) and body expression (drama, games, dance).
Supervisors from the Ministry of Education who are responsible for monitoring progress in the preschools attend those workshops plus another series designed just for them to learn coaching and how to support this approach to creative participatory preschool. The Ministry of Education's support of the training through its participation in workshops aids the sustainability of the project as does the FUNARTE participation in the Community Preschool Support Commission of Estelí that advocates for better preschool education.
Finally the project provides continuity between preschool and home by holding monthly workshops for parents to learn about the creative process being implemented in preschool. These workshops support the process at home by teaching parents how to reinforce their child's self-esteem and encourage the child to express him/herself and be valued for his/her participation in family and community life.
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New Health and Nutrition Program Feature
In Nicaragua , 20% of children are malnourished, 6% are severely malnourished, and 13% are chronically malnourished. 11% of children under 5 have low weights and 20% have stunted growth. Shockingly, there are only 3 nurses for 10,000 inhabitants. The government provides little or no health services to rural communities. How can children successfully learn and participate in school if health and nutrition concerns are not addressed? In response to the critical health and nutrition needs of children in the Art Works program as observed by Pueblito and local partner FUNARTE, this innovative art program has been expanded to provide more holistic care for young children by integrating a health and nutrition feature into the preschool education program already underway.
Like the creative preschool program, the health and nutrition feature focus is directed at children, families and local community health volunteers. The community nurse travels to the preschools to teach, advocate and monitor the health and nutritional status of the children and she trains preschool educators to do the same. She also educates families about child nutrition based on locally available food sources and works with the community health volunteers to increase their capacities. A series of public engagement activities such as radio announcements, promotional posters, and community health fairs help spread the word about good practices.
Program for educators and preschool children:
• Provision of a hygiene kit for each child
• Daily health routines in preschool
• Recording of height and weight status and improvements
Program for families:
• Basic health and nutrition concepts
• Specific nutritional needs of young children
• Personal, home and environmental hygiene
• Food groups and alternative food sources
• Home gardens
Program for community members:
• Community health fairs and food fairs
• Training for community health volunteers
The Ministry of Health supports the efforts of Pueblito, FUNARTE and other NGO's through the community associations and community leaders in implementing health and nutrition services that their own budget prevents them from providing. In working with children, educators, families, community health volunteers and the Ministry of Health, awareness and knowledge of health and nutrition will remain in the community and be sustained throughout future generations. This knowledge not only promotes the healthy development of young children, but also the importance of advocating good health and nutrition habits.
Begun in the fall of 2003, the new health and nutrition feature will ultimately reach all 1000 children of the Art Works program as well as up to 1000 additional brothers and sisters and 375 parents who also benefit from learning about improved practices. This special feature of the Art Works program also involves 100 community health volunteers who receive training and learn to support families in the communities.
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OUR PARTNERS
FUNARTE (Foundation to Support Children's Creative Art) was founded in 1987 in Estelí , Nicaragua approximately 2 hours north of Managua . FUNARTE works with children and uses art, specifically painting and murals, to help teach children about social issues and enable them to realize their full potential. They apply a methodology similar to that of Pueblito Canada 's with children, family, community professionals and decision-makers all integrated into the process.
Since 1987, FUNARTE's main work has revolved around weekly mural workshops for four age groups of children; 3-7, 8-10, 11-14, 15-18. Each weekly workshop has a social justice theme with interactive discussion among the trainers and children followed by painting. FUNARTE believed that by talking about their environment and expressing feelings that they could build a better society in their community. The objective of the muralism workshops was therefore to use art as a creative means for children and youth to express their feelings about the world in which they live. After many years of managing successful mural workshops, FUNARTE realized that if they applied their philosophy to very young children then children would grow up with better self-esteem to lead more successful lives. Realizing that preschool in Nicaragua was heavily geared towards school readiness and allowed little opportunity for creativity or self-expression they felt that art would fill a huge gap in preschool education. They saw creative development at the heart of self-expression even before being introduced to the concept of Early Childhood Development. In 2000, FUNARTE began to work on a methodology for art-based preschool education and they piloted it in the preschools of Estelí. Today in partnership with Pueblito that pilot program is being further developed through ECD capacity building and extended to rural communities under the Creative Preschool Program . FUNARTE and Pueblito are working to publish the methodology.
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FUNARTE - Pueblito Canada Partnership
FUNARTE and Pueblito Canada share a common understanding of the need to develop children's self-esteem, creativity and social skills early in life, before they reach school age. In 2002 the FUNARTE - Pueblito partnership took root, and in January 2003 the Creative Preschool Program was launched to address the critical needs of poor children in rural Estelí.
Capacity Building
Capacity building in 2003, the first year of the partnership, was devoted to RBM training and support. The process began during the first monitoring trip in January 2003 when the entire FUNARTE staff participated in a Pueblito workshop on using RBM. Follow-up and support will continue to be provided as the partner's capacities evolve. To date they are working very well with the RBM framework. The ECD capacity building plan for FUNARTE aims to complete the partners' understanding of developing creativity in young children by providing training in the developmental benefits of the artistic process. Already in May 2003 Pueblito was able to facilitate the presentation by the Executive Director of FUNARTE about the ¡ArtWorks! project at the World Forum on Early Care and Education in Mexico . In addition to presenting the project to international colleagues, she was able to attend 3 days of professional development sessions to enhance her knowledge which she subsequently shared with the FUNARTE team. Ultimately the capacity building plan coupled with the artistic curriculum already developed by FUNARTE will result in the articulation and publication of the FUNARTE preschool methodology at the end of the program.
The hiring of a health and nutrition expert midway through 2003 opened a new area of capacity building for FUNARTE. The plan being developed in 2003 for health and nutrition in the preschools will also include capacity building for the FUNARTE staff and lead to a more holistic ECD program for our partner and the preschool program beneficiaries.
Sustainability
Supervisors and trainers from the Ministry of Education who are responsible for monitoring progress in the preschools attend the workshops for educators plus another series designed just for them to learn coaching and how to support this approach to creative, participatory preschool. The Ministry of Education's support of the training through its participation in workshops aids the sustainability of the project and the Ministry has signed a letter of agreement with our partner indicating their support. FUNARTE's participation in the Preschool Commission of Estelí that advocates for better preschool education ensures strong ties between community members and a voice for their cause. By the end of the project Pueblito and FUNARTE will have published the methodology being used in the preschools for potential replication on a much larger scale.
The current project activities are planned until the end of December 2005. At that point Pueblito anticipates developing a new project with the same partner building on the results achieved and the lessons learned.
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RESULTS
Nicaragua – ¡ArtWorks!
Preschool Education
As we have moved into a new region, Miraflor this year, we began by taking baseline data for the new educators and new children entering the program. Sometimes our team had to return to the same community two or three times to find all the families since January is the coffee harvest and everyone is called to the fields.
Five workshops for educators took place between February and June on the subjects of positive reinforcement, creativity, free drawing, and the use of color. As we discovered at the beginning of last year, the educators are frequently shy but over these few months we have begun to see more confidence from them during the training process. Educators had to come up with innovative uses for materials found in the local environment and use them for preschool projects. Educators surprised themselves at their own creativity which they had never used before in this way! Did you know that earth mixed with water creates paints? In Miraflor there are many diverse colours of the earth and so a wide variety of colours can be developed for painting, AND it's free! In the coming months these workshops will be offered in different locations because the rainy season makes traveling between communities a big challenge.
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Health and Nutrition
Preschool educators are also participating in training so that the same good practices are reflected at school and home. Educators have learned to weigh and measure the children to track children's growth. In May and June all the educators in the preschool program learned about dental hygiene and began using a special kit donated by Palmolive which is kept at the preschool for each of the children in the health and nutrition corner created in each classroom. In order to make this program successful everyone has had to follow the habits of washing their hands before and after snacks and meals. You cannot imagine the glee with which these children pick up their tooth brushes!
Supporting Families
Families have really embraced the health and nutrition program. In fact we have been overwhelmed by parents and primary caregivers coming out to workshops in greater numbers than expected because they are eager for information about good child nutrition. Many parents are learning how to prepare recipes with soy; in addition to being a great source of nutrition, soy is also inexpensive and readily available in Nicaragua . A lot of parents have been attracted to the workshops for families, first to learn about nutrition but we are noticing that parents' interest is also growing in the area of education and early stimulation. Educators are also participating in the sessions for parents and there is a greater sense of community building as roles and themes overlap in different activities, but always with the children as their focus.
Community Involvement
The regional Preschool association participated in an awareness raising campaign at the beginning of the school year to launch the project in the area of Miraflor and again in a campaign in June designed to keep attention focused on the program just before the mid year vacation. Our partners, as members of the Preschool Association, have begun supporting the procurement of birth certificates for children who do not have them.
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