How UNICEF is supporting young children left behind in rural China
Story of ECD centre in Dacaotan village
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Four-year-old Ningning took his first steps in a small cottage in the foothills of a mountain in northwest China. Sitting in his home next to his grandfather, Ningning says: “My parents work in Xinjiang”. The conversation turns to how often Ningning’s parents can come back. “Not even once a year” says his grandfather Hu Zhenping.
Like many other children in Dacaotan village, Ningning is looked after by his grandparents while his parents work in another part of China. Luckily, he is able to attend an early childhood development (ECD) centre, supported by UNICEF.
When Zhenping first brought Ningning to the ECD centre in Dacaotan village, the boy was scared and would cry. A volunteer at the centre, Wang Wen, found other kids for Ningning to play with, and encouraged him to come to the centre with them. Step by step, he gained the confidence to take part in the centre’s activities.
“Ningning used to fear leaving the house and going to new places,” Zhenping comments. “But after having been to the centre several times and interacted with more people, he is a lot more confident now.”
The ECD centre gives children an opportunity to learn through play and take part in group activities. Its main room is bright, with colourful soft matting so that children have a safe area to play with the centre’s many toys, games and books.
It also supports caregivers with advice on raising children. “While the children play together, we also sit down with the other caregivers and discuss how to better raise our children,” says Hu Zhenping.
Early childhood development
Early childhood is a critical window of opportunity to shape the trajectory of a child’s development and build a firm foundation for their future. In the first few years of life, more than one million neural connections are formed each second – a pace never repeated again.
For children to achieve their full potential, they need health care and nutrition, protection from harm and a sense of security, opportunities for early learning, and responsive caregiving – like talking, singing and playing – with parents and caregivers who love them. All of this is needed to nourish developing brains and fuel growing bodies.
For many disadvantaged children in China and around the world – including children left behind, migrant children or children with disabilities – we are often missing this window of opportunity.
Many of these children are not receiving the nutrition or health care they need, growing up exposed to violence, polluted environments and stress. They miss out on opportunities to learn and are deprived of the stimulation that their developing brains need to thrive. Their parents and caregivers struggle to get the time, resources and services necessary to provide their children with nurturing care.
When children miss out on this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, they pay the price in lost potential – going through life with poor physical and mental health; struggling to learn and, later, to earn a living. And we all pay the price. Failing to give children the best start in life perpetuates disadvantage that can span generations, undermining societies.
Volunteering for children
Wang Wen has been volunteering at the centre for the past year. Sitting amid toys, a swing set with a slide, and a long bookshelf packed with books, he explains how most of the children at the centre are left behind by parents who are working in other regions. Wang Wen received training through the ECD programme. He says, “I have been through a series of training curriculums on ECD. Experts introduced so many creative methods for facilitating learning through play.”
The volunteers in this programme are often members of the communities they serve, which helps reduce barriers between volunteers and caregivers. Wang Wen gets to know the families in the local areas by visiting them in their homes, taking a kit with toys to ignite the children’s interest while he talks to their caregivers. There are 97 children registered at the centre.
Through the training and his daily work, Wang Wen has become more confident in organizing activities. At the centre, he leads a song in a circle of children and caregivers, who sing along and keep the rhythm with tambourines. Children take turns in the centre of the circle, to help boost their confidence.
“Before, I had limited experience with children” he says, adding, “Through the training, I learned how to communicate effectively with children.”
China programme
The need for a programme to support early learning for younger children affected by migration was identified in 2015, based on work with partners and research. In 2020, 22 percent of all children in China were left behind. Over 33 percent of rural children aged 0-2 years were not living with their mothers.
In many communities affected by migration, the caregivers, families and communities responsible for children often lack the knowledge, skills and resources to give young children what they need to develop to their full potential.
That’s why UNICEF has been working with the All China Women’s Federation (ACWF) to set up early childhood development centres that support early learning and care for children aged 0-6 years in communities affected by migration.
The programme helps caregivers support the development of their children through responsive caregiving and learning through play. The services are designed with a child-centred approach, which adapts to the developmental needs of individual children by following their interests and supporting their exploration and learning.
The programme empowers local governments, communities and family members to provide community-based services. It has supported over 135,000 children so far and reached nearly 144,000 caregivers. The centres established in 10 less developed provinces or autonomous regions also provide an example for scaling up similar services across the country, which is underway.
Early Childhood Development Specialist at UNICEF, Xuefeng Chen, says: “Through the establishment of these exemplary service sites, we hope that we can promote a scalable and sustainable community-based family support service system nationwide.”
The programme is run in partnership with the All China Women’s Federation (ACWF). Jia Chunjuan, Chairwoman of the Women’s Federation of Zhang County, Gansu Province, said, “After this programme was introduced to Zhang County, our county government has attached great significance to it. The programme has been implemented in three communities and villages.”
The volunteers also visit families at home. During one such home visit, Wang Wen plays with Junjun, 2 years old, in a courtyard lined with houseplants. Squatting next to his grandmother as she washes clothes, Junjun determinedly explores the containers in his own red bucket of soapy water with his hands. Wang Wen decided to use the bubble toys in the play kit when he noticed the family was doing laundry. “Many items we use in daily life can help children build cognitive skills and stimulate their development,” he says.
Wang Wen blows some bubbles, and Junjun’s face lights up as he chases them around the yard.