The Maria Cecília Souto Vidigal Foundation (FMCSV) develops direct intervention activities in communities through Social Projects,
The main goals of FMSCV's Social Projects are:
- Creating evidence of the dissemination and incorporation process by cities for good practices aimed at Child Development.
- Mobilizing and providing instruments for local communities to give priority and qualify early childhood care targeted at the promotion of full (physical, cognitive and psychosocial) and integrated (intersectoral) development. This involves mostly the improvement of care for pregnant women, mothers and children in hospitals and healthcare clinics, maternity wards, daycare centers and other services.
The Social Projects were created to be implemented in medium-sized cities or in districts of metropolitan regions in order to mobilize and provide instruments for services in the areas of Health, Child Education, Social Welfare and local NGOs so they can prioritize and qualify early childhood care.
The projects supported have their own characteristics which take into account the local reality. However, all of them are based on similar principles and necessarily go through the following stages:
1) Selection of the city or district within the criteria set by FMCSV;
2) Local diagnosis and preparation of intervention projects;
3) Execution of an Agreement with the City Government and a local NGO (in charge of managing the financial resources donated by FMCSV). In the case of the metropolitan region, the partnership is formalized only with a local NGO;
4) Execution of an extensive survey, called Marco Zero, of the conditions that the city or region offer in the care of pregnant women and of children. Adaptation of the project in view of challenges pointed out in Marco Zero;
5) Qualification of professionals in the public Healthcare, Education and Social Welfare network related to the principles of full child development through eight basic interventions;
6) Application of Early Development Instrument (EDI), which evaluates the degree of maturity of children at 5 levels: physical wellbeing, social development, emotional development, language and cognitive skills, communication and general knowledge. This instrument was developed by the Offord Center of McMaster University in Canada. FMCSV translated and adapted the instrument so it could be used in Brazil for the assessment of the impact of the Social Projects;
7) Performance of activities for mobilization and awareness of the community.
8) Permanent monitoring and assessment for the generation of knowledge related to processes to be disseminated subsequently.
In order to ensure shared governance and management, local committees were created to implement the projects;
a) Strategic Committee, comprised of city secretaries and other social leaders in charge of guiding and monitoring the projects;
b) Technical Committee, comprised of public administration technicians and other representatives of social organizations in charge of preparing and executing the Action Plan of the projects;
c) Executive Secretary, in charge of coordinating the actions and preparing activity reports.
In the case of project support in the metropolitan region, this structure is not necessary.
The master lines include:
- Financial and technical support of FMCSV from preparation and implementation up to the dissemination of the results of the Social Projects;
- Creation of a governance structure for the Project in order to encourage intersector work in public management and the involvement of other civil society players;
- Constant monitoring and assessment;
- Alignment between project strategies and public policies;
- Articulation between civil society, government and companies;
- Dissemination of knowledge about Early Childhood Development and pregnant women, family members and professionals of the sector.
Training
Except for the Social Project in Cidade Ademar, the other projects started between 2009 and 2010 have already concluded or are concluding the training stage for professionals that assist pregnant women, small children and their families.
The training is comprised of 8 topics considered as priorities by FMCSV for the improvement of quality in the care of early childhood.
1) Prenatal: medical history for a more comprehensive diagnosis in the prenatal period - which includes not only biological issues but also other relevant aspects of child development, such as the mother’s emotional health, the support she receives from family members and the creation of a bond with the baby;
2) Groups of pregnant women: implementation of groups of family members of pregnant women and teenagers for doubts and the exchange of experiences;
3) Humanized part: training of the professionals of the delivery team;
4) Post-natal: care given to mother from the post-natal period to the return of the reproductive function;
5) Childcare:
6) Play areas: implementation of play areas where children can play and interact with their parents and caretakers;
7) Daycare centers: daycare teacher training;
8) Family groups: Training of professionals for interactive reflection meetings with parents and family.
By June 2011, 1,862 professionals of the cities had been directly trained by FMCSV consultants. These professionals, in turn, transferred their knowledge to more than 6,453 people, totaling more than 8 thousand professionals who have been trained.
As of the 2nd half of 2011, the cities enter into a new phase in the project (Phase 2) with differentiated goals and strategies to overcome the challenges involved in improving the quality of care for early childhood in each location.