Description
In 2021 UNICEF ECARO, WHO Regional Office for Europe, and the International Step by Step Association (ISSA) joined efforts to launch the 'Health Systems for Early Child Development' initiative, to accelerate efforts in Europe and Central Asia to build more “developmentally oriented” and family-centered health systems and services empowering caregivers to provide children with nurturing care – a safe and enabling environment that ensures good health and nutrition, protects them from threats, offers opportunities for early learning and encourages responsive and emotionally supportive interactions with parents and caregivers.
The Initiative curates and shares contemporary, evidence-based guidance, resources, and examples of recommended practices; creates and nurtures a learning community, and advocates for the change of policies and practices.
This webinar was the first in series of knowledge-sharing events under the initiative and is focused on home-visiting for young children and families and how it is employed across the region.
Participants...
• Learned about new evidence, policies and guidance showcasing the importance and potential of home-visiting for early childhood development;
• Heard from policy-makers from two countries in the region and learned about their motivation to make changes in the health system to endorse and scale up high-quality home visiting programs and approaches;
• Heard testimonies from frontline workers, experts and parents about the benefits of home visiting;
• Got inspired by newly-developed practices illustrating the potential of home visiting to enhance support for parents to provide nurturing care;
• Learned about the 'Health Systems for Early Child Development' initiative, the soon-to-launch website, the initiative’s events and how they can benefit by getting engaged with this budding community.
Related links
• Recordings of the event:
English
Montenegrin/Croatian
Albanian
Russian
• PowerPoint slides
• Initiative launch event page
