Child Nutrition Committee - ECDCNC

The Child Nutrition Committee is responsible for the Piloting of Lunch Feeding Programme in Early Childhood Institutions. The Committee is Co- chaired by Dr. Maureen Samms-Vaughan the Executive Chairman of The Early Childhood Commission. The objective of the Pilot Lunch Programme is to:

Developmental (Pre-Intervention)

1. To assess the status of any feeding programme currently operating in the schools and to determine the availability of or need for facilities and staff for the implementation of the proposed programme.
2. To determine the current diet of basic school children, focusing on meals provided at home and meals provided at school.
3. To develop standards to guide the provision of meals and food service related activities.

Intervention Phase

1. To implement a pilot feeding programme.

Evaluation (Post-Intervention) Phase

1. To determine the feasibility of a lunch programme.
2. To determine the acceptability of the lunch provided to parents and children.
3. To evaluate the implementation of the programme.
4. To explore linkages with the community to support the programme
5. To determine the benefits of the programme to participating children on their:
   1. Nutritional status
   2. Attendance
   3. Pre school readiness skills
   4. Behaviour

Screening Project

Funded by the Environmental Foundation of Jamaica and implemented in collaboration with the Section of Child Health, UHWI. The aim of this project is to validate screening tools for children birth to three years for the early detection of developmental disorders. The project evaluated the validity, specificity and reliability of the Ages and Stages Questionnaire on the Jamaican Population. The Screening Project commenced in… and was completed in February 2006. The Final Report is currently being prepared.

Diploma in Child Development Therapy

Environmental Foundation of Jamaica Funded – In Collaboration with the Section of Child Health University Hospital of the West Indies. The goal of this project is to develop modules for the Diploma in Child Development Therapy as well as a Bachelor’s Degree and Master’s Degree in Child Development. The Child Development Therapists will increase the provision of specialists trained to

Parenting Project

The Early Childhood Commission in collaboration with the Department of Child Health has received approval from the Environmental Foundation of Jamaica to implement a Parenting Education Project. The main purpose of this project is to develop a parenting education strategy for communities, aimed at increasing community awareness of the importance of parenting and empowering community members, (including but not limited to parents), to support optimal child care and development. The strategy will stress the importance of active parenting and positive interactions with children from birth through early childhood, but special focus will be on the importance of parenting and early stimulation in the first three years to facilitate optimal child development. The strategy to be employed will bring together the knowledge and experience of community members, community and parenting organisations, providing the base for a co-ordination of parenting activities.

Objectives

• To develop a mechanism for the co-ordination of parenting activities for the Early Childhood Period
• To develop a range of parenting education strategies and modules that is acceptable to communities and is able to be delivered to a variety of target groups at different locations and through varying mechanisms in communities.

To empower communities to promote optimal child care and development by the establishment of Child Care and Development Councils that would guide the development of parenting and child development strategies within communities.