Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos and Shakira announced the initiative “Colombians From Birth”, as a result of a strategic alliance with ALAS Foundation, led by Colombian business leader Alejandro Santo Domingo, to improve the nutrition, education and health conditions of children between 0 and 6 years old in the country. “I want Colombia to be at the forefront of early childhood development in the region, and we are going to do everything we can to move forward with this commitment”, announced President Santos during the press conference.

Last summer during a meeting in London, the then elected President Juan Manuel Santos and Shakira committed to join efforts for “An Educated Colombia Without Hunger”. As a result of this first meeting, they met with Alejandro Santo Domingo to launch “Colombians From Birth”, whose purpose is to promote initiatives that will guide Colombia to move forward in these topics and to become a point of reference and lead early childhood initiatives in the region. The Ministries of Education and Health, the Colombian Institute of Family Welfare, and the Presidential Advisory for Special Programs, led by Colombia’s First Lady, and the newly created presidential Advisory for Social Prosperity, will actively participate in the initiative.

President Santos acknowledged ALAS and Shakira’s work in recent years of making a priority in the public agenda the need to implement comprehensive policies regarding early education. “Today, thanks to ALAS work with governments through its platform of experts on early childhood development, there’s awareness among Latin American countries, and many are already improving their policies,” stated President Santos. Shakira, urged the president to treat the topic as an urgent matter given that, in her own words, “a child without the proper education, health and nutritional conditions will never be able to develop his/her potential, and that would be wasting human capital.” She also added, “In Latin America the only way to overcome poverty and inequality is changing the equation in which a child that is born poor will die poor; and that equation can best be solved during the first years of life.”

As part of the initiative the Colombia Government will create an Early Childhood Infrastructure Fund, a public/private fund that will be destined to increase and renew the existent infrastructure in order to significantly improve the life opportunities of children under the age of 6. Shakira and Alejandro Santo Domingo will offer to the President the platform of knowledge created by ALAS regarding early childhood development to facilitate finding innovative solutions to the challenges related to this issue in Colombia. “This constitutes the beginning of an alliance that will lead us to, why not, universal access to early childhood care and development in Colombia”, concluded Santo Domingo.

The challenge is big, but Colombia has the strength to deal with big challenges.

More information on the Early Childhood Fund

The early Childhood Fund is a US$25 million initiative called by the Presidential Advisory for Special Programs and ALAS Foundation that seeks to facilitate the implementation of the government’s early childhood development comprehensive strategy, leveraging funds that the government can’t cover, such as center’s infrastructure and equipment. The resources will be obtained from private corporations, philanthropist, multilateral investments and international cooperation, will be duplicated by compensation funds, and will be used to build 160 centers and serve 50 thousand children. As a result Colombia will be closer to reaching a world level early childhood strategy. The Fund will be led by the Presidential Advisory for Special Programs, headed by the First Lady María Clemencia Rodríguez, and will operate by an international bank with presence in Colombia. More information about the Presidential Advisory for Special Programs The Presidential Advisory for Special Programs was created under the Decree 519 of March 5, 2003, with the objective of supporting the National Government on the fulfillment of goals on social policies stated in the “Towards a Communitarian State” National Development Plan. In order to accomplish this purpose, it uses the advantages given by depending directly from the presidency to implement programs and projects that benefit the vulnerable sectors of the population. The Presidential Advisory for Special programs, leaded by María Clemencia Rodríguez, Colombia’s First Lady, will center its efforts mobilizing resources to support the government’s early childhood development comprehensive strategy.

A few months before the XX Ibero –American Summit of Chiefs of State and Government to be held December 3 and 4 in Mar del Plata Argentina, ALAS, The Organization of Ibero – American States, and the Spanish Bank BBVA, together with Latin American experts, Colombian government authorities and organizations from civil society and the private sector, established the joint and coordinated participation of all these sectors in the fulfillment of the 2021 Goals and its Early Childhood component, as a priority for the achievement of social inclusion through education.

The 1^st Early Childhood Seminar “Cultural and Social Contexts in Early Childhood: Minorities, Government and Civil Society” took place today in Bogotá, Colombia, in a multisectorial effort from ALAS, as a civil society organization, the Organization of Ibero – American States, as an International Organization, and BBVA, as a private sector organization. The Seminar developed under this multisectorial focus, where, Juan Antonio Pungiluppi, Executive Director of ALAS, spoke about the history of the foundation and its efforts to mobilize the different sectors of society in favor of early childhood, highlighted the efforts and contributions of BBVA for the realization of the Seminar, and invited more private sector companies to join this alliance to promote the care and attention of children from 0 to 6 years old in the region. Oscar Cabrera Izquierdo, president of BBVA in Colombia, reaffirmed the bank’s commitment to support Colombia’s childhood through their Corporate Social Responsibility programs.

“We are here because we have a collective commitment with early childhood, and we are sensitive to their needs”, acclaimed Alvaro Marchesi, Secretary General of the Organization of Ibero-American States.  Marchesi emphasized in the need to focus in 2 main strategies: obtain the commitment of all the sectors with early childhood and have a collective project gathered in Educational Goals 2021.  Elvira Forero, Director of the Colombian Institute for Family Welfare qualified the Seminar as the perfect scenario to demonstrate that childhood is the best example of how different spheres of society can work together to accomplish sustainable development. Colombia’s former Minister of Foreign Relations and CEO of Fundación Pies Descalzos, María Emma Mejía, added that the idea is to invite the governments to risk more capital in budgets directed to education, understanding this as the fundamental key for development and social equality.

After this opening remarks, the first panel of discussion titled “Innovative Strategies in Early Childhood”, moderated by Alicia Marin, Deputy Director of ALAS, started with the intervention of Patricia Sarlé, Director of the Masters in Early Childhood of the University of Buenos Aires, who treated the topic of playing, games and esthetics from an academic standpoint as providers of entertainment, discipline and key components for the cognitive development of the children. On the other hand, Nathalia Mesa, Director of Fundación Carulla and its Early Childhood Program aeiotu, presented he topic of early childhood education in contexts of vulnerability with public-private cooperation, which innovation lies in creating teams that work hand by hand to expand and coverage and quality. Mesa affirmed that it is necessary that more actors join to benefit early childhood in a better and more cost-effective way.  In representation of the government, María Mercedes Liévano, Director of Early Childhood of the Ministry of Education, presented the Comprehensive Early Childhood Policy, launched by the Colombian government in 2007.

The second panel of discussion, titled “Social and Cultural Contexts in Early Childhood”, initiated with presentation of Luis Secco, advisor in economic policy for ALAS, who stressed on the importance of investing in this sector of the population given the countless benefits that it brings to society, such as the promotion of economic development, the promotion of peace within the community and the nation, the promotion of social equality and the reduction of political instability. This presentation was followed by Martha Liliana Huertas, Director of Prevention of the Colombian Institute of Family Welfare; Moisés Medrano, Director of Populations of Colombia’s Ministry of Culture, who exposed about the need to attend minorities; and the Peruvian expert in indigenous topics Luis Lopez. This panel of discussion set the need of integrality in actions directed to early childhood addressing minorities under their cultural and social context.

Colombia’s Minister of Education, Cecilia María Velez White, closed the event highlighting the efforts of Colombia’s government and its openness to generate alliances to benefit early childhood, such as the one represented by this Seminar. “This is one of the most important topics, that has no reverse, not only because of the scientific importance it has been given, but also because we have been able to palpate  the results  in basic and middle education because of the basis that have been set since early childhood”. She thanked ALAS stating that it “has not only being accompanying us, but also prioritizing the topic in the public agenda of the Ibero – American governments, which contributes to generate a greater movement within the sector”, concluded.

This way, the 1st Early Childhood Seminar concluded, an association between ALAS, the Organization of Ibero – American States, and the Spanish Bank BBVA, as a prelude to the XX Ibero – American Summit, to be held December 3 and 4 in Mar del Plata, Argentina.

 

ALAS invites you to watch the State of the Planet 2010 Conference, where experts and world leaders will talk about key topics for the future development of our planet. You can watch the live webcast this coming Thursday, March 25 at http://www.stateoftheplanet.org/

 

The State of the Planet conference, held every two years, brings together insights on critical issues from the world’s most influential thinkers and leaders. This year, the Earth Institute, The Economist and Ericsson join forces to bring the conversation to the global community. With broadband access enabled by Ericsson, live events in five cities will be brought together in real time, moderated by Economist journalists. Viewers at home can participate via interactive online tools and discussion boards.

 

Four major topics are on the table: the science and politics of climate change; healing the world economy in an environmentally sustainable way; the ongoing challenge of ending extreme poverty; and how we can build and strengthen international systems able to deal with continuing crises that span borders.

 

 Speakers include: 

 

-          UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon

-          President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa of Mexico

-          Prince Albert II of Monaco

-          Sanjeev Chadha, CEO of Pepsico India

-          Achim Steiner, executive director of the UN Environment Programme

-          Xu Jintao, head of theenvironmental economics program, Peking University

 

Moderator: Al Jazeera journalist Riz Khan.

 

Hosts of the event are:

 

-          Earth Institute director Jeffrey D. Sachs

-          Ericsson president and CEO Hans Vestberg

-          Matthew Bishop, American business editor and New York bureau chief of The Economist.

 

 

The Special Meeting of the OAS Permanent Council and the Permanent Executive Committee of the Inter – American Council for integral Development on the importance of investing in early childhood for the development of the region is taking place today Under the title “Investing in early childhood: a sure strategy for combating poverty and for promoting social development and equity”.

 

The meeting, hat started at 10:00 am. And will go on until 1.00 pm, is divided in three panels in which top experts will expose about Why invest in early Childhood and the Promotion of Social Development and Equity.

 

The purpose of the Inter-American Program on Comprehensive Attention to Early Childhood is to consolidate and make further headway on fulfilling the Hemispheric Commitment to Early Childhood Education adopted in 2007 and ratified by the Ministers of Education of the Americas in August 2009.  The program works to promote the activities, projects and technical assistance that the OAS, UNICEF and the Bernard Van Leer Foundation are sponsoring, heading up and executing within the hemisphere, in partnership with government institutions, civil society and businesses.

 

Early childhood is a critical phase in the life of every human being, and the investment made in quality comprehensive care in this decisive phase of life is an opportunity to conquer or mitigate some of the major challenges that the OAS member states face:  chronic poverty, inequality, an elevated school dropout rate, nagging unemployment, crime and social violence.  Affording all the children in our countries a good start is one of the keys to shaping and developing human beings capable of living together in society as affective, cognitive, communicative and creative individuals.   A veritable chorus of economists, scientists, physicians and policy-makers have concluded that the investment in attention to early childhood is perhaps the most important that a society can make to induce the most positive social and economic results.  The research also finds that to be effective, the attention administered in early childhood must be of good quality and comprehensive; in other words, it must involve a variety of strategically articulated services in areas like nutrition, health, education, welfare, labor measures, etc., all in order to actually achieve an optimum, equitable impact.  This kind of comprehensive attention requires discerning public policy, which in turn demands enormous political commitment, especially in times of economic crisis and political change.

 

The early Childhood Development Secretariat for Latin America and the Caribbean, founded by ALAS and the earth Institute at Columbia University, is represented by Dr. Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the EI and cofounder of the Secretariat, who will be approaching the audience of ambassadors and Latin American delegations to the OAS about the importance of investing in early childhood for the social and economical development of the region. Maria Estela Ortiz, Vice president of the Board of Chilean Kindergartens and Chile’s delegate for the Secretariat, will speak about how to promote social equity and development since early childhood development.

Watch the complete livestream in http://www.oas.org/en/media_center/webcast.asp?lang=ORI

 

Artist and activist Shakira and World Bank President Robert Zoellick announce “The Early Childhood Initiative: An Investment for Life” in Latin America and the Caribbean

ALAS Foundation’s activist and founding member Shakira and World Bank President Robert Zoellick today launched a groundbreaking $US 300 million joint initiative aimed at expanding development programs for young children in Latin America and the Caribbean.

“This initiative seeks to mobilize opinion, policies, and resources in the region, as a cost-effective way to fight inequality and improve opportunities for its citizens,” said President Zoellick during a signing ceremony of the partnership agreement between Shakira’s ALAS Foundation, Columbia University’s Earth Institute, and the World Bank, held at the Bank’s Washington, D.C. headquarters. 

Early Childhood Development (ECD) programs provide children with adequate nutrition, healthcare, and stimulating environments from the moment of conception through age 6—a period of development crucial for achieving a child’s full potential. The initiative will help expand ECD programs in a region where 9 million children under 5 suffer from chronic malnutrition and 22 million lack access to early basic care.

 “If we want to build a better world, we have to give children the chance to improve their lives, no matter where they are born or how difficult their circumstances.  By giving every child a fair start in life, we are improving our collective future,” Shakira told the an audience of 100 VIPs, including Latin American and Caribbean ambassadors and officials from the education sector, along with  representatives from other international organizations. 

“We look forward to working closely with ALAS and the Earth Institute in the months and years to come as we move this important agenda forward. ALAS—Shakira in particular—have made an enormous contribution toward placing young children at the heart of the public policy discourse in Latin America,” said Zoellick.

Zoellick and Shakira explained that ECD programs are among the most effective—and cost-effective—development inverventions. Children who participate in ECD programs demonstrate improved health and academic outcomes, while showing higher productivity and income in later years. Conversely, delays in early childhood interventions are difficult and costly to reverse later in life, as the Bank’s recent publication The Promise for Early Childhood Development in Latin America illustrates. 

Citing Haiti’s emergency response as a timely example of working with partners, Zoellick said that ECD initiatives will play a critical role in Haiti’s reconstruction, where attention will be placed on rebuilding not only the country’s infrastructure, but also the potential of its people. He stressed the importance of partnering with organizations including UNICEF, UNESCO, and the World Food Program to provide urgent relief to the Haitian children and mitigate the long-term impact of the January 12 earthquake on a generation of young Haitians. 

One of the initiative’s first programs will be a partnership with Mexico’s state agency CONAFE to provide training for parents and caregivers to improve their competencies and practices in caring for children 0-4.  The initiative will focus on the poorest 172 municipalities in Mexico, located primarily in its southern states.  

In addition to providing loans and grants to participating countries, the initiative will work with the ECD Secretariat for Latin America and the Caribbean, a project of ALAS, the Earth Institute, and the governments of Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Panama, Paraguay and Argentina, to develop best practices and identify promising pilot projects for children under 6.  This work will be presented at the UN’s Millennium Development Goals Summit in September and the XX Ibero-American Summit of the regional Heads of State in November in Mar del Plata, Argentina.

Over the last 20 years, the World Bank has been helping governments from over 50 countries invest in ECD. In Latin America and the Caribbean, the Bank has financed more than 30 projects, totaling over US$1billion. At present, private and public investments range from less than 1 percent to roughly 12 percent of the total educational expenditures of countries in the region, according to World Bank estimates.

 

ALAS Foundation’s founder and activist Shakira met with President Obama and at the White House today to discuss their shared interest in early childhood development and universal education.

“It was such a privilege to sit down with the President in the Oval Office to discuss our shared commitment to education and early childhood development. We agreed that investing in our children is the smartest strategy governments can use to boost economic growth, fight poverty, and promote global security and peace,” said Shakira. “We will be working closely with the President and his staff to implement his vision—for Latinos, children in the United States, and around the world.”

 

“I briefed the President on the progress made this year through ALAS with the heads of state of Latin American governments, and explained that we have made early childhood development a central topic of discussion during the next Ibero-American Summit to take place in Argentina later this year.”

Shakira and President Obama first met at his inaugural ceremonies last January. 

Before the meeting with President Obama, Shakira met with members of his staff where she inquired about the status of government policies to legalize 11 million undocumented immigrants who live in the United States. White House officials told Shakira that they are working hard to find a solution, and said they hope to reach an agreement this year with the Republican Party to legalize the undocumented immigrants.

 Shakira also met with a group of the President’s advisors on education, national security, and social innovation. Members of both Obama’s and Shakira’s teams agreed to convene again next week to advance specific ideas to develop early childhood development programs among the Hispanic community in the United States.

 The Colombian artist is a leading activist for children and the founder of ALAS, a coalition of Latin American artists and business leaders advocating for comprehensive ECD programs. She’s on her way to the World Bank to announce a groundbreaking $300 million initiative with World Bank President Robert Zoellick aimed at expanding development programs for young children in Latin America and the Caribbean.

 Early Childhood Development (ECD) programs provide children with adequate nutrition, healthcare, and stimulating environments from the moment of conception through age 6—a period of development crucial for achieving a child’s full potential. The initiative will help expand ECD programs in a region where 9 million children under 5 suffer from chronic malnutrition and 22 million lack access to early basic care.

 

Internationally-renowned artist and founder of the ALAS Foundation Shakira Mebarak and World Bank President Robert B. Zoellick will launch a groundbreaking new venture, “The Early Childhood Initiative: An Investment for Life,” on Monday, February 22, 2010 at 1:00 pm at the World Bank headquarters in Washington, DC.

 

The Early Childhood Initiative will provide US$300 million in new funding and technical support to help countries create Early Childhood Development (ECD) programs in Latin America and the Caribbean. The initiative, together with the ECD Secretariat for Latin America and the Caribbean, will present new policy options to the Millennium Development Goals Summit 2010 (scheduled for September) and the XX Ibero-American Summit, which will take place in Argentina later this year.

 

“The Early Childhood Initiative” aims to mobilize policymakers and decision makers to scale up implementation of Early Childhood Development (ECD) programs in Latin America and the Caribbean by improving the capacity of countries to design ECD policy frameworks, deliver comprehensive quality services to their citizens and increase financing for these programs, as a cost effective way to increase social mobility, fight inequality and improve human capital in the region.

Join us in the webcast live of the event at 1:00 pm. EST through www.alasthemovement.org

 

 

 

 

 

 

The World Bank launched today ThePromise of Early Childhood Development in Latin America and the Caribbean, a book by the Bank’s Senior Education Economist Emiliana Vegas and Lucrecia Santibañez that provides the tools to close the gaps in the knowledge about the Early Childhood Development (ECD) efforts in the region through an overview of selected cases in the region and providing the lessons related to their design, implementation and institutionalization.

 

The authors reviewed a total of eleven programs from Chile, Colombia, Honduras, México and Peru, from which only Chile and Colombia have comprehensive ECD policies. They list the impact that ECD interventions have in the future of children such as cognitive and socio- emotional development, the probability of continuing in school and reduced participation in risky behaviors, among other impacts.

 

Vegas and Santibañez conclude that in Latin America and the Caribbean it is especially important to invest in ECD to reduce initial disadvantages and maximize all children’s potential.

 

ALAS congratulates the authors and the World Bank for providing this systematic perspective of ECD in the region, what is known and how to move forward with it.

 

To download the synopses of the book please access:

http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTLAC/Resources/ECDPromise.pdf

 

 

Haiti, considered the poorest country in the continent, faces today one of its biggest challenges after the great devastation caused by an earthquake that destroyed most of its infrastructure and left hundreds of thousands of casualties. This is, without question, a tragedy without precedents for a nation where 80% of its population lives in extreme poverty, and where the index of infant mortality is the highest in the hemisphere: 76 for every thousand births.

During emergencies like this children are always the most vulnerable. As our partners of Save the Children reported, families whose homes were damaged or destroyed were forced into the open, leaving children vulnerable and at increased risk of disease. They are without security and comfort of possessions, daily routines and contact with friends. For their well being and recovery, it is imperative that they return to a normal routine as soon as possible. It is imperative that we all contribute to make this happen!

May this catastrophe help raise awareness among governments, organizations and individuals about the tough reality Haiti has been facing throughout its history of poverty and misery and to contribute to its recovery and development; to contribute to better opportunities for the future of the children of Haiti.

ALAS expresses its solidarity to the people of Haiti who need our help more than ever. For information about how to help, access the following links:

Yele

www.yele.org

 

UNICEF

https://secure.unicefusa.org/site/Donation2?df_id=6680&6680.donation=form1

http://www.unicef.org/spanish/index.php

 

Save the Children

https://secure.savethechildren.org/01/web_e_haiti_earthquake_10?source=sp_dnbutton_pg

 

 

World Food Program

https://es.wfp.org/donate/ayuda-a-haiti

 

American Red Cross

https://american.redcross.org/site/Donation2?4306.donation=form1&idb=520717783&df_id=4306&s_subsrc=RCO_NewsArticle

 

 

Red Cross International

http://www.icrc.org/web/spa/sitespa0.nsf/html/helpicrc

 

Panamerican Development Foundation

http://www.panamericanrelief.org/

 

Doctors without Borders

 

https://donate.doctorswithoutborders.org

 

 

Panama’s government, through the office of the First Lady and the Secretary of Social Development, sealed the alliance between governmental entities, the private sector and civil society for the implementation of early childhood public policies in the country. This Alliance, also known as the Early Childhood national Council, will work for the education, health and nutrition of children between 0 and 6 years old, and will favor the joint work of public and private institutions that currently support early childhood, in order to align common goals and avoid duplicity of actions.

 

ALAS congratulates the government of Panama for undertaking this important initiative that constitutes a significant advance in the goal of accomplishing universal coverage of programs for children younger than 6 years old.

 

For more information on the launch of the national Council please enter

http://www.presidencia.gob.pa/noticia-presidente-numero-774.html