The Power of Parenting in the Early Years: Presenting UNICEF’s Parenting Support Framework for Europe and Central Asia

Description

This webinar was organised by UNICEF Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia (ECARO), WHO Regional Office for Europe (WHO/Europe), and the International Step by Step Association (ISSA), under the auspices of the Health Systems for Early Childhood Development initiative.

When a child is born, parents are born too!

Participants joined Health Systems for Early Child Development for a discussion on the power of parenting in early years, and launched UNICEF's new Parenting Support Framework for Europe and Central Asia.

Parents are the primary, most important, and most consistent agents of a child's development and well-being. However, many children in Europe and Central Asia do not receive the nurturing care needed for optimal child development. Parents need support to provide a safe, responsive and playful, emotionally supportive, and developmentally stimulating environment for their children.

Parental well-being is also crucial for effective parenting. By providing parents with support in the form of information, services, programmes, and resources, we can boost their confidence, skills, and overall well-being, allowing them to offer better nurturing care to their children.

To best support young children and families, countries need a coherent, multi-sectoral vision and systemic approach to translate parenting support into effective programs. services, and policies. Whilst parenting support is expanding across Europe and Central Asia, it often remains fragmented and ineffective due to siloed approaches.

This webinar launched the new parenting support framework developed by the UNICEF Europe and Central Asia Regional Office, present key findings, and aimed to cultivate a shared understanding of the issue by:

• Discussing multi-sectoral support for parents and parenting in the early years
• Sharing best practices for countries providing multi-sectoral support to parents
• Facilitating a broader conversation among technical colleagues from ministries, academia, INGOs, NGOs, partners, and multilateral organizations involved in parenting support programs.
  

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  Related links

  • UNICEF’s Parenting Support Framework for the Early Years: Europe and Central Asia (full document)
  • Executive Summary
  • Video: When Children are Born, Parents are Born Too
  • Webinar Recording in English
  • Additional languages: Russian, Slovakian, Bulgarian and Bosnian, Croatian, Montenegrin, and Serbian
  • Presentations
  • Health Systems for Early Childhood Development