CHILDHOPE is working on an Early Childhood Care and Development project(ECCD)whose activities are as follows:
1.Construction of ECCD Centres

The project will construct 12 simple but good standard child care centres with full community participation through the use of local community materials. Under this, CHILDHOPE will only be required to purchase cement and brick moulding machines which are non local to be used during construction. The use of cement and brick making machines during construction will make the centres stand firm for a longer period of time. As a result, a number of children will be able to use the buildings for ECCD before they get to primary school. These centres will be made attractive and will be child friendly with facility of clean drinking water and safe sanitation. There will be enough space and materials for children to play explore and learn.

Targeted communities where such a project has never been implemented before or is far from the previous buildings will undergo mobilization for community development trainings using the local community members who have standing structures. This ECCD programme will be family based, directed to the parents and other caregivers and will be implemented with their active participation.
Mobilization for community development will teach more communities members to support mobilization and local resource sourcing which is cardinal to community development. Since CHILDHOPE has to assist the communities construct simple but good standard child care centres, the organisation will support the training of community members in proper thatching so as to make the centres stand the test of time even during the rain season. CHILDHOPE will also support market based care for the children so as to encourage mothers concentrate on their businesses to bring income home so that family members will have something to feed on. In construction of ECCD centers, communities will continue to play the very important role of providing local materials and labour as well as security for all building materials and monitoring of the entire construction process. Communities will also be responsible for future maintenance of the structures. Education approaches, basic hygiene and primary health care will be promoted in the centers so as to ensure the safety of the children.

-Provision of supplementary feeding and health support for children.
a)Supplementary feeding/Nutritional support
Programmes that combine nutrition, health care and education have a positive impact on cognitive outcomes.Undernutrition, deprivation of care and poor treatment are particularly damaging to young children, with repercussions often felt into the adult years. Therefore, CHILDHOPE will support supplementary feeding/nutrition and health for the children aged 3-9 years in the centres to assist the children grow well.
Under supplementary feeding, CHILDHOPE will support the nutrition component of children in all the targeted centers. This will be an incentive to focus on improving the nutrition and getting more orphans and vulnerable into school and keeping them there in order for them to concentrate as they are being developed under the ECCD centres.
CHILDHOPE will purchase soya meal, sugar, cooking oil and salt to support the nutrition of children in the centres. AS the organisation supports the nutrition component for the children, it will also give lessons to the mothers on the importance of nutrition in the daily lives of their children. Traditional systems of childcare through grandmothers and care takers will be utilized in the centres.
b)Health support
There is clear evidence that health throughout life is powerfully influenced by experiences in early childhood and even from conception. Promoting the health and wellbeing of mothers and children is key to preserving and promoting the health of current and future generations. Under the health component, CHILDHOPE will avail common drugs such as de-worming drugs, anti malaria drugs, anti diarrhea drugs and anti bilharzia to the children in the centers.
The development of children attending the ECCD centres will be monitored by growth and development cards. These cards will include a section on children `s social development, motor and learning skills and will be filled out by the ECCD teachers. It is expected that 80% children attending ECCD will show significant improvement in their psycho-social development.
-Pre-School teacher training
There are not enough qualified and motivated teachers to teach pre-school children in CHILDHOPE operational areas.CHILDHOPE will support the training of pre-school teachers` in short pre-service trainings with more on –the-job practice and professional development. Communities will provide teachers for pre-schools with training support from CHILDHOPE. Use of local people as teachers will achieve cost efficiency.

It is realised that these local teachers will require some kind of remuneration or incentive which will be supported by CHILDHOPE. This may be in terms of income or access to other services. It is hoped that as the project cycle comes to an end, the ECCD centres, will move towards community based management were incentives/salaries will be paid by the community members. This will stop teacher absenteeism which is a very serious problem affecting most communities running pre-schools which has had a negative impact on child performance. However, there will be an agreement between CHILDHOPE and the teachers that incentives/salaries will gradually be phased out.
-Creating awareness on HIV/AIDS among teachers and the general community populace in the targeted areas which will involve community workshops.
The education sector, very large cadre of government employees, faces impacts of HIV/AIDS both on supply and demand sides. On the supply side, HIV/AIDS affects education because of the loss of trained teachers and the reduced productivity of relevant personnel (teachers, administrators, management, etc.)
Due to the above situation, CHILDHOPE would like to raise HIV/AIDS awareness among the teachers and the general community populace. Awareness rising on HIV/AIDS among the teachers will take precedence. Peer educators will take a leading role in sharing information on HIV/AIDS among the teachers.Anti AIDS clubs will be formed in every targeted communities where there are schools and these will be supported with IEC materials among other forms of support.
CHILDHOPE will support teachers’ workshops on HIV/AIDS awareness which will include reduction of stigma and discrimination. The organisation will also support HIV/AIDS community awareness activities through holding meetings and campaigns. For awareness purposes among the community members, CHILDHOPE will distribute T-shirts, posters and brochures. CHILDHOPE will involve traditional leaders in the creation of HIV/AIDS awareness since they have more influence among the community members and doing so would promote effective implementation on reducing effects of HIV/AIDS in education.
-Identification of other methodologies and systems, through community involvement, that will bring teachers and parents together to promote ECCD.

CHILDHOPE will support other identified methodologies and systems in the communities that will bring teachers and parents together through raising awareness among parents on the benefits of ECCD to their children and the importance of working with the teachers in the development of their children.However, other methodologies and systems will be identified and be implemented as the activities are going on.

-Training of communities in early child care, nutrition and other areas to support child development.

CHILDHOPE will support the training of communities in support groups for ECCD.This will involve training of trainer courses and facilitation skills. Parents and caregivers will be trained in early childhood care and development, health and environment, role of the caregiver, gender and equity, HIV/AIDS, children with special needs, woman and child’s Rights. Among the people to be trained in ECCD will be capable village women who are already looking after children from other families and these will be identified by communities themselves. There will also be support group meetings and home visit support materials such as bicycles, T-shirts, aprons and badges to assist in the programmes.

-Mobilization and sensitization on the importance of girl child education and the dangers of HIV/AIDS.

CHILDHOPE will mobilize and sensitize communities on the importance of child education and the dangers of HIV/AIDS through the existing CHILDHOPE village committees, the use of drama and peer educators. This will be done by calling for community/public meeting were such issues will be discussed.

During mobilization and sensitization meetings, CHILDHOPE will distribute fliers, posters and brochures translated into local language explaining on the importance of girl child education and fighting HIV/AIDS. During mobilization and sensitization of girl child education, CHILDHOPE will also use teachers and the traditional leaders to talk to the parents on the importance of girl child education especially ECCD.

-Lobbying and advocacy.

CHILDHOPE will advocate on the importance of reaching the out of school children to enable them access education and other basic rights. This will be done to communities, parents and traditional leaders in order to increase their support of and participation in community based and driven ECCD. There will be advocacy on provision of facilities to meet the demand of learning needs and child friendly ECCD delivery will be promoted (language barrier eradication and usage of mother tongue and second language in the learning process.) CHILDHOPE will also advocate for gender equity in education provision. In the catchment area, only a few girls attend pre-school. CHILDHOPE will therefore produce and distribute flyers, T-shirts, brochures and fact sheets of information on the importance of girl child education. Through Information Education and Communication (IEC), CHILDHOPE will support campaigns about early childhood care with messages of encouraging parents to spend more time with their children, helping them to play.CHILDHOPE will also explain to the parents that sometimes their children are not being naughty, but would just want them(parents) pay more attention to them. The organisation will advocate for children’s rights through press releases and participate in community radio ECCD discussions involving benefiting communities. Discussions will also involve the ministry of education officials. Round table discussion meetings on ECCD will be promoted. These meetings will involve the Ministry of Education officials, Policy makers and planners. CHILDHOPE will lobby Government on its role in ECCD issues. TV documentary on the work of the CHILDHOPE will be promoted.

-Training in entrepreneurship, CHILDHOPE staff recruitment and capacity building

In entreprenurship, CHILDHOPE will support women and the youth. After the trainings, CHILDHOPE will provide these groups with seed money to start/expand their businesses in order for them to be able to support themselves and their families. All the groups will first be trained in business identification and for those already in business; they will be trained on how to expand their businesses.

This will give them the power to identify businesses of their own and expand those already being done. The organisation will also support women and youths entrepreneurship in production, business management skills, marketing product diversification and professional financial management skills. These trainings will assist these groups to become more “outgoing” and to interact freely with their environment. CHILDHOPE will support/encourage these groups to network during implementation so as to learn from each other.

CHILDHOPE will recruit 2(two) more staff so as to increase its productivity/develop the programme. There will also be need to build CHILDHOPE capacity through staff trainings and acquisition of office machinery/equipment etc.

-Acquiring Pre- school and Pre- school teachers learning materials.

CHILDHOPE will acquire and distribute pre- school and teacher learning materials. Of the materials to be distributed will be assorted colour paints, exercise books, resource books for pre-school teachers, creative materials, children `puzzles,stationery,children`s chairs/desks, posters, drawers and weigh scales.CHILDHOPE will minimise on the purchase of toys since these will be made using local materials. CHILDHOPE will encourage and support community trainings to give them the skill of making toys/ play materials.

-Promoting income generating activities so as to enable the communities continue supporting their children beyond the project cycle.

Agriculture activities are the most source of income for rural households.CHILDHOPE will support income generating activities in maize production and goat rearing in the targeted communities. This will improve community capacity in supporting their children and sustain the project beyond its cycle. Activities under maize production will include purchase and distribution of farm input such as maize seed, fertilizers and empty grain bags. Parents/guardians with benefiting children from each community will utilize the already identified land as communal fields to plant maize. A programme will be drawn by the communities on how they will do this. When maize is harvested, it will be sold to the milers where there is ready market. Each communities will open a bank accounts were they will put the funds for safe keeps. CHILDHOPE will also support the targeted communities with the purchase of goats for Income Generating Activities. Each community will identify an area where they will build a shelter to house and look after the goats. Shelter for the goats will be important to prevent the losses of goats in wet season and thereby producing healthy goats in good condition ready for sale. Parents/guardians with benefiting children will be divided into groups.

Each group will be given a day on which to look after the goats and provide medication. When the goats are ready for sale, they will be taken to other towns/communities where they will sell for cash. It is believed that in communities, goats would generate more funds during major festivals. For community members that would want to purchase the goats but do not have cash, CHILDHOPE will encourage the exchange of these with maize or chicken depending on what is available.

Maize and chickens exchanged for goats will also be sold for Income Generating Activities. Not all goats will be sold; some offspring will be left to grow for reproduction for the continuation of income generation. Funds generated from the sale of Maize will be used to sustain ECCD Centres and other community programmes.If deemed necessary, it will be from these generated funds that communities will diversify into other Income Generating activities to continue with the support of the children.