Find the right nursery

Mothers' experience with a model nursery established by UNICEF in El-Sayyeda Zeinab with the support of H&M Foundation

Dalia Younis
Mothers' experience with a model nursery established by UNICEF in El-Sayyeda Zeinab with the support of H&M Foundation
UNICEF/Egypt 2021/Karim Soliman
27 June 2021

Finding the right nursery is a concern for many parents, particularly working parents who face more work-life balance challenges.

In the heart of El-Sayyeda Zeinab neighborhood in Cairo, there is a unique model nursery inside the neighborhood’s youth center established as part of the "Voluntary Center for Early Childhood Development (ECD)", a joint initiative between the Ministry of Youth and Sports and UNICEF and supported by the H&M foundation. It is one of 25 nurseries in Cairo, Aswan  and Alexandria.

This model is an excellent example of capitalizing on existing resources of youth centers, where outdoor playgrounds and well-ventilated buildings provide a healthier environment for nurseries’ children.  

The model also capitalizes on the human resources in youth centers (youth female and male volunteers) to support the scaling up of ECD services, improving quality of child nurturing and women’s economic and social empowerment through availing jobs in these nurseries/voluntary centers.

On our visit to this nursery, we met some of the mothers who shared their experience with the nursery in this photo essay.

Mothers' experience with a model nursery established by UNICEF in El-Sayyeda Zeinab with the support of H&M Foundation
UNICEF/Egypt 2021/Karim Soliman
Marwa was one of the first parents who enrolled their children to the nursery. She noticed a big difference in her four-year-old daughter Waad's personality since she joined the nursery. Marwa admires the nursery's unconventional teaching methods as well as the support it provided to parents online during COVID-19 lockdown. She says: "Mobile phones and technology are now part of our lives more than ever. Children of this generation are thinking faster and more progressively. We must keep up with everything new so that we can communicate with them and see the new world from their eyes."
Mothers' experience with a model nursery established by UNICEF in El-Sayyeda Zeinab with the support of H&M Foundation
UNICEF/Egypt 2021/Karim Soliman
Four-year-old Dalida's mother Aya (a housewife) learned about the nursery because her eldest son came to the youth center to do sports. "Other nurseries make children just memorize information,” she says, “but here, they teach them skills, behavior, ways to deal with people and things I can't teach at home, even if I have the time."
Mothers' experience with a model nursery established by UNICEF in El-Sayyeda Zeinab with the support of H&M Foundation
UNICEF/Egypt 2021/Karim Soliman
Rowan's mother says:"Rowan almost didn't talk before she came to the nursery. She tried to express, but no one would understand anything from her. This made her very frustrated and she threw tantrums and screamed most of the time. Her behavior changed a lot since she joined. The first thing she said clearly was “mom, I love you. I love the nursery, Ms. Israa and Mr. Ahmed.”
Mothers' experience with a model nursery established by UNICEF in El-Sayyeda Zeinab with the support of H&M Foundation
UNICEF/Egypt 2021/Dalia Younis
Rasha, Karma's mother, is very grateful to the nursery staff and the support provided to her as a parent: "They keep me updated all the time by sending videos of my daughter in the nursery. They cooperate and support me so I can deal with and help her." In the picture, Karma's younger sister Kenzi is waiting for her turn to join the nursery soon. She doesn't, though, seem to be very keen to join now.