Integrated Early Childhood Development
ISSUE Despite its status as a middle income country, Iran suffers from severe regional disparities that continue to widen and pose a threat to the universal realization of children’s rights. A recent UNICEF survey in 13 rural districts underlined these grave geographical differences. Child malnutrition rates were found to be high and birth registration rates low. The survey showed a rate of 13.3 per cent of ‘low birth weights’ (less than 2.5 kg) among children in Sistan and Baluchistan born within two years of 2004. More alarmingly, less than half of the children born in Sistan and Baluchistan had been checked for their birth weight. In Hormozgan, only slightly more than half (53.7 per cent) of the surveyed caregivers showed knowledge of care-seeking. Initial data suggest that districts in Sistan and Baluchistan also have a significantly lower birth registration rate than the disparity districts of other provinces. ACTION Integrated early childhood development (IECD) is a new concept in Iran. UNICEF’s 2005-2009 Country Programme of Cooperation with the Government of Iran includes three complementary projects — Child Health and Nutrition, Early Childhood Development and Birth Registration — under its Integrated Early Childhood Development component. The overall strategy is to reduce disparities between regions and specific groups, with focus on improved care at household and community levels. At the national and provincial level, priority is placed on enhancing capacities to deliver services. At the district level, District Implementation Teams trained in the human rights based approach to programming manage and monitor integrated services and support community-based initiatives. At the community level, activities are aimed at building capacities for participatory assessment and analysis. Attention is focused on remote communities in 12 districts of three high-disparity provinces: Hormozgan, Sistan and Baluchistan and West Azerbaijan. These provinces, identified in national surveys as those in need of the greatest assistance, were also cited in the observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child as having both low access to basic social services and the most visible violations of children’s rights.
|
