Childhood Poverty Around the World

UNICEF points out that raising awareness and creating policies which help reduce childhood poverty not only helps children have a healthier start to their lives but also helps improve the quality of life for future generations. UNICEF has introduced a new tool for helping to measure the multi-dimensional measurement of poverty. The tool is called Multiple Overlapping Deprivation Analysis (MODA). I chose to explore UNICEF's website and look further into childhood poverty in the country of Uganda. Based on results reported, the following insights were gained:

-Children in urban settings were more likely to experience one deprivation, whereas children from rural settings were most likely to experience at least 3 deprivations.

-Sanitation was a universal deprivation which affected approximately 65% of children along with other deprivations occurring at the same time. The second highest deprivation for children was water falling at approximately 57%.

-Approximately sixteen percent "of all the children who have a mother with no or only primary education are deprived in nutrition, health and water simultaneously, while only 9.1% of all children who have a mother with secondary or higher education are deprived in these three dimensions" (UNICEF, n.d).

UNICEF. (n.d.). Social Inclusion, Policy and Budgeting. Retrieved from: http://www.unicef.org/socialpolicy/index_childpoverty.html

Sharing Web Resources

The name of the organization I have selected is The National Association for the Education of Young Children http://www.naeyc.org/ (NAEYC). NAEYC's mission statement is "to promote high quality learning for all children, birth through age 8 by connecting practice, policy and research. While researching the topic of dual language learners for this week's application assignment, I found this sight particularly helpful. I have found the following position statements to serve as a supportive guide when assessing young children who are dual language learners:

-Screening and Assessment of Young English-Language Learners
 http://naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/ELL_Supplement_Shorter_Version.pdf

-Where we stand on assessing young English language learners
http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/WWSEnglishLanguageLearnersWeb.pdf

Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

Part 1

For this week's blog assignment I chose to use the alternate assignment for part 1 and have reached out to the World Forum Foundation, http://worldforumfoundation.org, to request information regarding international issues related to the field of early childhood education. I have also registered with the site and was able to watch a short pod cast by Ebenezer Lartey, the new World Forum National Representative from Ghana. Mr. Lartey explained on the podcast how very excited he is to be able to be the representative for his country and how he hopes to improve the lives of young children and their families within this new position. Unfortunately, with his heavy accent, the podcast was very difficult to understand. I was not able to access the World Forum Radio.

I then researched the Global Fund for Children website, www.globalfundforchildren.org. This website describes what the organization is about, how to get involved, and also offers a variety of blog topics based on how the Global Fund has helped children around the world. I'm looking forward to accessing these blogs throughout this course and broadening my knowledge related to educational issues occurring around the world.

Part 2

For the second part of this blog assignment, I have selected The National Association for the Education of Young Children http://www.naeyc.org/. I chose this organization because I have found their position statements to be very helpful in the past. This organization is a resource that directly relates to my current work as a Speech Therapist working in Preschool Early Intervention. The position statements found on this website provide guidance to follow for implementing best practices in the field of early childhood.