Government of Colombia: Early Childhood Protection Indicators
Following the success of the three year IICRD, Fundacion Centro Internacional de Educacion y Desarollo Humano (CINDE), International Child Development Program (ICDP) Colombia program on protection in early childhood, Dr. Philip Cook was invited to assist the Government of Colombia in developing indicators for protection in the early years (0-6). The technical expertise, facilitated by Somos Mas, supported the Colombian Governments national strategy on early childhood, entitled De Cero A Siempre (From Zero to Always), an inter-ministerial, inter sectoral endeavour lead by the President’s Office. Over the course of 8 months, Dr. Cook visited Colombia 3 times, developed a battery of indicators across 5 stages of early childhood and 4 domains of children’s lives (home, school, health, and community) and gained feedback on the local application of the indicators in 2 municipal contexts( Baranquliia and Pasto). The indicators will be implemented as the Government rolls out the national Early Childhood Development (ECD) strategy and Dr. Cook will submit the results of the work for academic publication with Ms. Constanza Alarcon, the government lead for De Cero A Siempre.