WHAT makes our ECCD style MORE EFFECTIVE ?

TEACHER Helen has enough problems dealing with 20 rambunctious preschoolers who fight over scarce workbooks daily. She also has to suffer jealous village officials and government regulators who make a lot of fuss about the substandard conditions of the center she manages in the seedy Magdalena area of impoverished Manila. The leaky roof and dirt floor are simply not child-friendly, they chorus as they pounce on her with inspectors, paperwork and threats of shutting down the facility when they feel like it.

In contrast, a more comfy government-run center nearby hardly attracts attendance. So why do parents flock to Helen’s center? It seems they have their own idea of what child-friendly is all about. They send their kids to places nearer their houses and workplace. They also take pride in participating in the everyday affairs of the center they can call their own.

AKAPBATA developed this child care center in Magdalena and 34 others in Metro Manila with the consistent principle of participatory development. We make sure that teachers are recruited from the communities and equip them with a curriculum that keeps them in touch with the realities of the children. Parents learn to feel confident to be part of the children’s development and not just stand idly by outside the center. We work hard to convince government that

AKAPBATA’s efforts in fact help speed up the efforts of all parties, public and private, to provide 15 million Filipino children the Early Childhood Care and Development under the law. Our grassroots model in fact mobilize more local community resources to complement the tiny sums of money that the government budgets on ECCD.