High Level Meeting with Directors of Education DepartmentsSpeech by Nasser Moeini, UNICEF Programme Coordinator A good start in life through comprehensive early childhood development is every child’s right. It is also a key investment for building the human capital that a community, society and indeed, a nation needs. UNICEF, together with its partners in the Better Parenting Project, has developed a nation-wide network of skilled cadres of trainers and facilitators to reach parents, kindergarten teachers, and service providers. Providing parents and caregivers with the necessary knowledge and skills and community-based services that meet the needs of children are important steps in fulfilling a child’s right to cognitive, emotional, social and physical development patterns. We are very pleased that the Ministry of Education adopted the Better Parenting Project two years ago. Since then, we have been working together to coordinate efforts to raise the awareness of service providers on creating a positive learning environment for young children. This year, the Better Parenting Project aims to train 3,000 service providers including teachers, 50 per cent of whom are males, in all governorates in Early Childhood Care and Development-the main umbrella under which the Better Parenting Project falls. Ministry teachers, supervisors, school principals, health education staff, councils, councilors, kindergarten teachers, and parents are being training in child rearing practices. The aim is to encourage and attract male fathers and caregivers to participate in the education sessions. The Better Parenting Project aims to improve parenting skills and increase knowledge in the areas of health , nutrition and the cognitive and social development patterns of their children, through child-friendly, family focused and community based programmes. We hope that the directors of the education directorates will continue to support this Project and ensure that it reaches as many teachers as possible. Thank you.
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