With the aim of strengthening ECDs, Caritas Rwanda, through the #ECD Project funded by Plan International Rwanda, distributed various materials to 43 home based ECDs (HBECDs) in Gatsibo District. The distribution was held at Kiziguro Parish on October 3, 2023.
The materials provided to HBECDs are in line with the ECD six pillars, Nutrition, Health, WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene) services, Parenting Education, School readiness, and Child protection and inclusiveness. Under WASH the materials distributed range from soap, jerrycans (to storing drinking water) and portable sinks known as “kandagirukarabe”. Under school readiness, some various games and toys to awaken the child’s brain were distributed. The ECD caregivers also received a manual to use in educating and caring for children in ECDs and those modules have topics covering all 6 pillars of ECD.
In addition, the 43 HBECDs received wall sticky papers with letters, numbers, and words in other languages accompanied by pictures, as educational tools to teach children. Under the nutrition pillar, ECDs were provided with porridge flour SOSOMA and sugar as food supplements to promote the health and good nutrition of children under HBECDs.
During the distribution event, the ECD committees were reminded to promote hygiene and sanitation in ECDs, and to use the materials they had received for that purpose.
They were also asked to prepare a balanced diet for the children and to encourage their fellow parents to do so in their families. They were advised to use VSLA as a platform to cascade messages to parents.
The materials distributed are worth Rwf 10,203,500. In addition, parents and the caregivers were trained on the six pillars of the child development: nutrition, health, hygiene and sanitation, education, child protection and safeguarding, and brain stimulation of the child.
Early Childhood Development is a Caritas Rwanda project, which cares for the child from conception to 6 years old, intending to awaken his/her brain, preparing him/her for school, providing him/her equitable education, protect him/her against diseases and malnutrition, as well as any kind of violence.
Members of the parents’ committees who received these materials thanked Caritas Rwanda and Plan International Rwanda, Gatsibo Program Unit for their unwavering support, highlighting that they will facilitate the daily activities of the ECDs. They added that the received materials will raise parents’ awareness of the importance of ECD and encourage them to send children to ECD.
Ndagiwenimana Jean Bosco, one of the parents whose house hosts HBECD in the Kabarore sector, said that they received the materials they lacked for the smooth running of ECD activities. “For example, we had a single portable sink at the entrance. You know kids sit on the floor all the time and get their hands dirty. We will place the newly received sink at the toilet entrance. Children will wash their hands after using the toilet and be clean”, he said.