KINGSTOWN – Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves will on Monday officially launch the first indigenous foundation dedicated to early childhood care and development in the Caribbean.
The opening of the Foundation for the Development of Caribbean Children (FDCC) will coincide with a special four-day regional forum on “Supporting the development of children zero to three, particularly the most vulnerable”.
A Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat statement said that the FDCC was established to provide much-needed assistance to regional governments in mainstreaming high-quality early childhood development services within existing social structures, ensuring that children get the foundation they deserve.
“It is an initiative which evolved out of the highly successful eight-year-old Caribbean Child Support Initiative (CCSI), which has introduced effective and relevant interactive support models for parents and their young children in the Eastern Caribbean.”
The CCSI, which is managed by the Barbados-based Caribbean Centre for Development Administration (CARICAD), has been funded over the past eight years by the Netherlands-based Bernard van Leer Foundation (BvLF).
The Secretariat said that “the FDCC visions a Caribbean region where young children from all social and economic backgrounds have equal opportunities to reach their maximum potential.
“Its mission therefore, is to have well adjusted children ready for primary education by facilitating cognitive, social and emotional stimulation of children in disadvantaged circumstances; supporting knowledge and capacity building to parents and other caregivers and through advocacy to decision-makers and other stakeholders.”
The founding members of the FDCC include regional representatives from the financial, education and business sector as well as the legal fraternity and regional organisations, and represent a slice of the Caribbean, hailing from St. Lucia, Dominica, Jamaica, Barbados and Grenada. (CMC)