historical-cases.bernardvanleer.orgThe buried seed - Bernard van Leer

Foundation This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience. For more information on cookies and how you can disable them please view our privacy policy . Accept Cookies The buried seed How Nicaragua came to have one of the most progressive early childhood learning policies on the planet By Jean Friedman-Rudovsky en en es scroll down Part of the Historical Cases series Bernard van Leer Foundation Historical Cases We commissioned narrative case studies of several countries in which we previously had a long-term presence. Though making the transition to scale was not then an explicit aim, we wanted to see what we could learn from these experiences to inform our scale-focused partnerships today. Building on Islamic values By Kay Dilday | Morocco Behind the scenes By Jean Friedman-Rudovsky | El Salvador Violence, breaking the cycle By Jean Friedman-Rudovsky | El Salvador Roots of change By Jean Friedman-Rudovsky | Guatemala Small but mighty By Jean Friedman-Rudovsky | Guatemala Aprendiendo en Casa project leader Mirna Báez with Nicole Vermonel, Juigalpa, Nicaragua. Photo: Jon Spaull / Bernard van Leer Foundation. FOREWORD The period in which we worked in Nicaragua – from 1981 to 2008 – spanned two political upheavals coinciding with major shifts the country’s approach to public policy. Throughout this time we tried to build local organisations’ capacity to provide preschool services and conduct advocacy in early childhood. This happened in different ways as political circumstances changed. During the majority of this period, the government sought to outsource early childhood provision to civil society, including Foundation partners, who were able to develop the idea of community-based preschools in line with a trend in the region. In contrast, more recent administrations have sought to scale-up services with state funding and a high degree of state control. This has increased the available resources in the sector, but made it more difficult to fully tap civil society expertise. Given that a scale-up often occurs over multiple political administrations, this story raises the question of how best to plan for and navigate our role as a foundation beyond any one election cycle. Another lesson from this case is about the process of scale. While, in many respects, government commitment in Nicaragua has achieved scale, individuals in the story are critical of the effect on the quality of services. What could the Foundation have done (or should it do in future work) to help our partners protect the quality of services when they undertake large scale-up efforts? I am very grateful to Ms Aura Lila Ulloa from CANTERA and Ms Luz Danelia Talavera for kindly helping Jean Friedman-Rudovsky to write this story, and to our programme officer at the time, Marc Mataheru, for his valuable guidance and recollections. At the end, we have added some discussion questions developed from an internal analysis of the case. I hope these and the case itself trigger useful discussions about the role philanthropy can play in achieving greater impact for our youngest citizens. Michael Feigelson , Executive Director, Bernard van Leer Foundation, March 2018 Nicaragua Period: 1981-2008 Total Bernard van Leer Foundation investment in Nicaragua: EUR 4,127,000 / EUR 147,000/year Photo: Jean Friedman-Rudovsky. PART ONE On a recent Tuesday morning at the Los Cumiches preschool, in a small classroom with walls the colour of mint, fifteen 5 year olds focused their attention on two drawings hanging from a white board: two pencils and two trees, of notably different girths. A middle-aged woman dressed in a white t-shirt, jeans and sparkly platform sandals, asked her students: ‘Who knows which one is thick?’ Several hands shot into the air. Three of the kids raced forward, slamming tiny pointer fingers into the corresponding images. ‘Correct!’ the teacher said, to the squeals of excitement from the students squirming in their dark blue and white uniforms. Before the teacher could get off the next prompt, two others bolted up from their miniature metal chairs. ‘Thin!’ they shouted, palms splayed onto the other two, indeed thinner, drawings. ‘Yes!’ the teacher confirmed, touching them gently on their heads as they hugged her legs and made their way back to their seats. The teacher moved back to the board, pointing to each drawing, as a chorus of high-pitched voices chanted: ‘Thick! Thin! Thick! Thin!’ Photo: Jean Friedman-Rudovsky. Los Cumiches sits off a side street in Ciudad Sandino, a low-income municipality just outside of Nicaragua’s capital Managua. The grounds are airy and expansive: two classrooms, a covered open-air space, ageing playground equipment and a handful of offices form a ring around gardens overflowing with greens, reds and oranges. The complex was first established in 1992 by the Centre for Grassroots Communication and Education, known in Spanish as CANTERA, with funds from the Bernard van Leer Foundation. It was, and still remains, a pioneer of the nation’s communal education preschool movement: ‘a participatory space in which children can grow and share experiences’ says Aura Lila Ulloa, CANTERA’s head of community education. ‘ Los Cumiches is a place where children learn the fundamentals for their development, not just in the educational sphere, but to be good human beings.’ Los Cumiches is a place where children learn the fundamentals for their development, not just in the educational sphere, but to be good human beings. Aura Lila Ulloa Photo: Jean Friedman-Rudovsky. That morning, Ulloa, a cheerful woman with smooth skin and a loud, infectious laugh, watched the lesson from the doorway. Across from her, outside the room’s back entrance, two women stirred a giant plastic bowl of beans and opened a large steaming bag of rice. Ulloa leaned over to me to explain that the women were mothers of kids in the school; each family takes it turn to cook a daily portion of the staples supplied by the government to Los Cumiches and serve lunch to all the students. This, she said, was part of CANTERA’s concept of community education: that family play a vital role in a child’s development and must participate in their early learning, including cooking lunch on a rotating basis. Probably the people doing early childhood work today don’t know the root of their sector or who was responsible for it. The Bernard van Leer Foundation planted this seed. — Luz Danelia Talavera With financing and guidance from the Bernard van Leer Foundation, Ulloa helped develop Los Cumiches and three other similar preschools during the 1990s. Ciudad Sandino became her second home. She commuted twice a week from Managua, to check on the kids, to check in with the educators, to coordinate trainings, and to meet with families. But that morning was the first time in months she’d been there, because while Los Cumiches ’ facilities still belong to CANTERA, the Nicaraguan Government took over responsibility for the school’s operation in 2008 – following the election of socialist President Daniel Ortega. The government considers early childhood education as vital and necessary, and the state is now responsible for programmes and services. Photo: Jean Friedman-Rudovsky. The Nicaraguan state’s prioritisation of early learning, couched within a broad set of national policies through which the government aims to support the country’s most vulnerable, arguably make Nicaragua the most progressive nation in Central America when it comes to education and care for its youngest people. But few realise the central role played by the Bernard van Leer Foundation in this coming to pass – not only through its support of CANTERA, but also because of its relationship with the Ministry of Education, which dates back more than three decades. ‘Probably the people doing early childhood work today don’t know the root of their sector or who was responsible for it,’ says Luz Danelia Talavera, who was Director of...