Children First, Spring 2006: What’s Happening?

The multi–layered structure of Children First is best demonstrated by the variety of activities underway in support of the project goal of improving child care and protection in Turkey.

Early Childhood Development

Revision of the Family and Child Training (FACT) package, now called My Family, has been completed and is currently being piloted with a view to nationwide expansion following assessment later in the year. MONE and SHÇEK received training in the package during the latter half of 2005.

Recruitment of an international consultant to oversee new pre–school education curriculum and communication tools is underway.

Parenting for 7–19 year–olds

UNICEF recruited a team to oversee development of a parenting programme for older children and adolescents in January. A consultative group of experts and NGOs will provide technical advice and support to the team as they develop the package.

Education

Research on catch–up education will shortly begin at the national level to determine the distribution of children who are out of school in terms of age, gender, socio–economic background of family, and institutions responsible for their well–being. The study will also measure the knowledge, skills and attitude levels of the children.

Catch–up education is in preparation — MONE has begun work in February on the implementation model following an Information and Experience meeting in Ankara, in January. At the meeting, government officials, NGOs, academics and international speakers convened to draft principles and discuss the best means to develop and implement catch–up education in Turkey. The principles will be used as a guide by MONE.

Child Protection

UNICEF has begun recruitment for a team of 7 national and 5 international consultants who will do research to improve policy making and help bring about legislative and institutional changes in support of child protection.

A workshop aimed at strengthening the skills and capacity of the Judiciary to deal with children with specific problems such as drug abuse and anger management is planned for early March.

A coordination, evaluation and planning meeting on the subject of strengthening the juvenile justice system was held in December involving the Ministry of Justice General Directorate of Prisons, administrators from 22 Ministry of Justice Institutions and representatives from 18 Provincial Bars. The meeting provided a forum to strengthen communication and coordination between administrators of institutions and lawyers.

A meeting with parliamentarians regarding draft legislation on institutionalisation of children and monitoring children’s rights is planned for early March.

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Download the Children First Bulletin, Spring 2006 edition, in pdf format. [PDF 1.24MB]

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