Eccd Project Proposal

EARLY CHILDHOOD CARE & DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM FOR THE CHILDREN OF BRGY. GULOD MALAYA
A Project Proposal

Submitted by:
Orpah Reodica

Introduction

The number of illiterate Filipinos continues to rise even if the Philippine government claims it remains committed to giving highest priority to the adoption of measures for the total eradication of illiteracy in the country. In 2009, this number has grown to 15 million and is expected to increase further. Although the Philippine government has been allocating the largest share of the national budget to education, still the Philippines has made slow progress in improving the quality of education in the country. On the contrary, the quality of education has declined over the years and ranks among the poorest performers in East Asia and the rest of the world in terms of quality education. This is according to a study on the Philippine education sector funded by USAID in 2011. This problem can be attributed to several reasons but obviously the main cause of the low literacy level in the country is poverty.

According to the report released on February 8, 2011 by National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB), there are about 23.1 million Filipinos or about 20.9% of the total population who are living below the poverty line. These are the same people who could not afford to send their children to school because they do not have enough resources for the daily transportation and “baon” of their children, the quarterly projects and miscellaneous expenses. In the case of other parents, they would rather have their children work as street vendors or “mangangalakal” (collecting and selling recyclable materials) than go to school so they could help finance the family’s needs. This is also the top-most reason why there are about 1,460,000 Filipino pre-school age children (aged 3-5 years) who are not enrolled in school in 2009 (www.tradingeconomics.com). It is not the priority of the parents to send their young children to pre-school.

Recognizing the significant and long-lasting difference education can make on the lives of children, especially those who are experiencing poverty, the Philippine government has enacted the following laws: PD 1567 (1978) “The Barangay Day Care Center Law”, RA 6972 (1987) “The Barangay Level Total Development and Protection of Children Act”, EO 310 (2000) “Child 21” and RA 8980 ‘Early Childhood Care and Development Act” or ECCD law.

In response to the call of the government for non-government, not-for-profit organizations to support the ECCD program, and with our organization’s commitment to help enhance the holistic development of young children, Amazing Grace World Mission Foundation Inc. (AGWMFI) proposes to implement an Early Childhood Care and Development Program (ECCD) for underprivileged children aged 3 to 5 years old living in Brgy. Gulod Malaya, San Mateo, Rizal. Although the ECCD law covers children aged 0-5 years old, our proposed program will only cover the pre-school age (3-5 years old) and greater focus will be on the educational needs of these children.

Project Location

The proposed ECCD program will benefit the poor and underprivileged children living in Barangay Gulod Malaya, one of the 15 barangays in San Mateo, Rizal. The current chairman of the barangay is Captain Josef Roland Balbido and the SK Chairman is Princess Grace Barroa. Brgy. Gulod Malaya has approximately 8,000 residents. The residential areas within the barangay are either a private subdivision or a community of informal settlers. There are three private subdivisions namely, Bancom Subd., Marvi Hills Subd. and Vista Hermosa Subd. The other half of the barangay is composed of communities of informal settlers – Laylayan, Valleyview, some parts of Vista and Looban site which is a relocation site. Although San Mateo is classified as a first-class municipality, a survey of Brgy. Gulod Malaya would show that it is an underdeveloped area in terms of street lighting, road condition and basic infrastructure. In fact, it was only in 2009 when the services of PLDT and Manila Water were made available to the residents. For many years, the people depended on deep well and delivered water from the nearby river.

Within the barangay, there are two private elementary/secondary schools, one public elementary and one public high school, a Barangay Hall with a small lying-in clinic and one ambulance and around 8 small, independent Christian churches. However, there is no parish church, no fire truck/volunteers, no Alternative Learning System for drop outs and no public recreation area. There is a day care center for the young children at the Barangay Hall which is funded by the municipal government but accommodates up to 50 children only. Amazing Grace World Mission Foundation is the only NGO that is involved with this barangay. Since 1990, AGWMFI has organized several medical-dental missions, feeding programs, free circumcision project, free livelihood workshops, sports festival for the youth, free music workshops and offered Alternative Learning System for the out-of-school youth and adults. The most recent program offered by AGWMFI is the educational assistance program for the high school and college students.

Most of the residents in the subdivisions are either full-time employees in private companies or small-scale businessmen. However, the informal settlers are construction workers, tricycle or jeepney drivers or simply unemployed. There is no serious problem in the community as far as health, cleanliness, environment and peace and order are concerned. The community is flood-safe (being at the top of a hill), crime rate is down and the community is generally peaceful except for a few incidence of robbery (cable, PLDT and Meralco wires) and fights between and among neighbors in the slum areas.

According to Brgy. Capt. Josef Balbido and SK Chairman Ms. Barroa, education and livelihood/jobs remain to be the top concerns of Barangay Gulod Malaya. The Day Care Center at the Barangay Hall can only accommodate a limited number of children due to budget constraints, so most of the children go to elementary level directly. Dropout rate among high school students is high due to influence of bad peers, teenage pregnancies and child labor. They claim that the local government of San Mateo is doing everything in its capacity to deliver the basic needs of its constituents but budget is really not sufficient to provide the needs beyond the basic ones. The barangay needs all the help it could get from non-government organizations, private companies and individuals.

Problem Statement

Majority of the children aged 3 to 5 years old or the pre-school age living in Brgy. Gulod Malaya does not have pre-school experience. The barangay leaders estimate the number to be around 85%. This is due to poverty. Only families who can afford to send their children to a private pre-school are privileged to have that experience. There is only one public Day Care Center at the Brgy. Hall but it only accommodates 30-50 children. Extensive body of developmental research has shown that school readiness is a key foundational element and an indicator of success in later life (Effects of Early Education on Children in Poverty, 2006). Since school readiness is one of the objectives of having pre-schools, children with no pre-school experience are already at a disadvantage. Further, children who start school with a disadvantage are unlikely to catch up to their classmates unless educational intervention programs are made available (e.g. Duncan & Magnuson, 2005). If we will go further, we can also posit that those who do not have pre-school experience will have difficulty excelling in the elementary years, and then high school years. Consequently, they will not be able to get into good universities and ultimately end up being an undergraduate or unemployed. It has a domino effect which all started at the pre-school years.

Project Proposal

I. Basic Data

|Name of Proposed Program |Center-Based Early Childhood Care and Development |
|Locale |Brgy. Gulod Malaya, San Mateo, Rizal |
|Budget |P24M |
|Project Duration |10 Years |
|Target Beneficiaries |Underprivileged Children Aged 3 to 5 Years Old |

II. Mission:

Amazing Grace World Mission Foundation is a Christian organization that exists to honor God by supporting the government’s efforts to improve child development and readiness for later productive life through early education and development programs

Vision:

A generation of educated and empowered children, equipped for a productive and bright future and living a life worthy of God

Goal:

To establish a pre-school educational center where underprivileged children aged 3 to 5 years old may be prepared for formal learning system and their holistic development enhanced

Objectives:

1. To facilitate the learning and holistic development of 100 underprivileged children aged 3 to 5 years old per school year in the AGWMFI Educational Center for a period of 10 years

2. Improved school readiness in at least 60% of these children

3. Improved nutrition and health condition of these children

4. To establish an efficient system for early identification, prevention, referral and intervention for development disorders and disabilities in early childhood

5. To establish a strong partnership between the parents, the educators, the caregivers, the agency and the community in taking care of the children and in promoting the ECCD program

III. Categories, Amount and Percentage of Expenditure

|Category |Amount |Percentage |
|1. Civil Works |Php 3,000,000 |12.5% |
|2. Equipment and Supplies |Php 3,500.000 |14.7% |
|3. Salaries & Wages |Php 12,000,000 |50% |
|4. Training, Workshops, |Php 1,000,000 |4.2% |
|Seminars | | |
|5. Food & Nutrition-Related Supplies |Php 2,000,000 |8.3% |
|6. Consulting Services |Php 500,000 |2% |
|7.Admin Costs |Php 2,000,000 |8.3% |
|Total: |Php 24,000,000 |100% |

IV. Organizational Structure

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V. Details of the Proposed Program

A. The following steps must be undertaken in order to ensure an effective, efficient and smooth implementation of the program:

1. Accreditation and licensing of AGWMFI as ECCD service provider 2. Selection of ECCD Learning Materials appropriate to the learner’s age 3. ECCD Early Learning Standards or the identification of expectations of what children should know and are able to do. These should all be age-, developmentally and culturally appropriate, gender-fair, holistic and integrative 3. Adoption of ECCD checklist as standard tool for objectively measuring child development in seven domains: Gross Motor, Fine Motor, Self-Help, Receptive Language, Expressive Language, Cognitive and Social Emotional 4. Integrated health and nutrition components (weight, deworming, micronutrient (iron) supplementation) 5. Food supplementation or supplemental feeding program as part of the over-all child nutrition program 6. Proper system in qualifying children into the program based primarily on the economic status of the family 7. System on early screening, detection and identification of children with disorder or disabilities 8. Framework on Parent Education and Involvement Advocacy and Mobilization of Communities 9. Development of a human resource development program to professionalize the educators, caregivers, volunteers, supervisors and admin staff 10. Capacity building program to continuously train the staff and everyone involved in the program

B. Focus Areas of the Program

1. Advancement of Children’s Growth and Development

a. Assessment of children is the process of observing, recording and documenting children’s development, participation and learning over time. It involves systematic, developmentally appropriate and child-friendly approaches using formal and informal instruments or sources. It must be done regularly.

b. Conduct of individual parent-teacher conference after each assessment and as often as necessary

c. Keeps matters and documents confidential and in a secured place

Health and Nutrition

d. Promotion of children’s right to adequate nutrition and access to safe and nutritious food in reached through the integration of health and nutrition into the program

e. Supplemental Feeding means that the children are served food from the 3 food groups and potable water

f. Children are taught proper food handling and good hygiene

g. Maintain a copy of written health record of each child and secure parent’s permission before administering vitamins and prescribed medicines

h. Refer to the authorities any case of child abuse or neglect

Program Curriculum

i. Curriculum refers to objective, content, activities and learning materials for children

j. Individualized developmental plan for each child

k. Creative activities are provided based on assessment results of the children on all 7 domains of development

l. Utilize a variety of safe materials, facilities and equipments that include storybooks, picture books, musical instruments, art materials, puzzles, etc.

Guidance and Interactions

m. Guidance includes words and actions that adults say or do which influence the child’s behavior and learning. Interactions include the reciprocal actions and influence between adults and children, among children and between children and materials.

n. Employ direct and indirect guidance techniques

2. Partnership with Families, Community and Local Government

a. Parent involvement and education includes conduct of parent’s orientation, signing of Agreement, organizing of parent committee and conduct of parent conference

b. Community involvement includes inviting community members as resource persons or volunteers during special activities or events

3. Human Resource Development

a. Ensure continuous development of competencies and education of the service provider, teachers, caregivers and staff

b. Recruitment and hiring plan

c. Training and development plan

d. Conditions of employment

4. Program Management and Administration

a. Planning and budgeting

b. Implementation, supervision and monitoring system

c. Financial management

5. Physical environment and safety

a. Ensure safety and child-friendliness of the educational center, the location of outdoor activities, etc.

b. Should be a smoke-free zone and an area free from hazards

c. Maintain a well-ventilated and well-lighted center, conducive to learning

References

ADB Grant Assistance Report (January 2008). “Proposed Grant Assistance Socialist Republic of Vietnam: Community-Based Early Childhood Care and Development”.

Barnett, W. S. (1995). Long-term effects of early childhood programs on cognitive and school outcomes. Future of Children.

DILG Memorandum Circular No. 2006-91 (July 2006). “New Standards in the Accreditation of Center-Based ECCD Programs and Service Providers”.

Johnson, Anna (2006). “Effects of Early Education on Children in Poverty”.

National Statistical Coordination Board. http://www.nscb.gov.ph/poverty/portal

PD 1567 (1978) “The Barangay Day Care Center Law”

RA 6972 (1987) “The Barangay Level Total Development and Protection of Children Act”

Republic Act 8980 ‘Early Childhood Care and Development Act”

Theokas, Christina (September 2006). “Profile of the 2005-2006 Kindergarten Students With No

Pre-school Experience”.

Personal Interview with Brgy. Capt. Josef Roland Balbido.

Personal Interview with SK Chairman Princess Grace Barroa.

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Prep Caregiver

Kindergarten Caregiver

Nursery Caregiver

Kindergarten Teacher

Nursery Teacher

Program Director

Program Supervisor (Social Worker)

Prep Teacher

Admin and HR Assistant

References: ADB Grant Assistance Report (January 2008). “Proposed Grant Assistance Socialist Republic of Vietnam: Community-Based Early Childhood Care and Development”. Barnett, W. S. (1995). Long-term effects of early childhood programs on cognitive and school outcomes DILG Memorandum Circular No. 2006-91 (July 2006). “New Standards in the Accreditation of Center-Based ECCD Programs and Service Providers”. Johnson, Anna (2006). “Effects of Early Education on Children in Poverty”. National Statistical Coordination Board. http://www.nscb.gov.ph/poverty/portal PD 1567 (1978) “The Barangay Day Care Center Law” RA 6972 (1987) “The Barangay Level Total Development and Protection of Children Act” Republic Act 8980 ‘Early Childhood Care and Development Act” Theokas, Christina (September 2006). “Profile of the 2005-2006 Kindergarten Students With No Pre-school Experience”.