By: Mitos Urgel

Who do we consider to be the significant forces behind the strong foundation, growth and development of young children?

In the communities where WEAVE works — along the Thai-Burma border — immediate family members, communities and caregivers play a vital role.

WEAVE prioritizes community efforts that build teacher’s capacities and empower children through active participatory methods.  This begins by identifying the concerns and issues that are a priority for young children, and then defining viable and culturally appropriate interventions to enhance the capacities of families and communities to act on their decisions.

WEAVE’s 20 years of experience confirm that caregivers, families, and communities are the first line of support to children’s safety and early childhood development.  Moreover, the family and community involvement is crucial to any program of work that advances the rights of children and women and which creates the social change necessary to foster and support improvements.  WEAVE’s experience in designing and implementing community development projects has shown that meaningful participation leads to lasting support for Early Childhood Development interventions.  It is long-term community involvement that results in social change that advances children’s rights.  Improving the rights of young children ensures healthy growth and development though changes in social norms and practices.  Since these changes do not happen overnight, a holistic approach is fundamental to address this deep-rooted social challenge.  It is against this backdrop that WEAVE’s efforts to foster strategic partnerships with community-based groups and direct interventions help displaced and refugee families and communities by encouraging them to adopt health-related and social practices that ultimately help fulfill children’s rights in the early formative years.

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Exciting things are happening in the research section of WEAVE this year!  WEAVE has recently ventured into research that supports the development of WEAVE’s programs and projects and on relevant issues related to the women and the children in the Thai-Burma border.  The new and expanded Publication section of WEAVE is now called Research, Publication, and Documentation (RPD).  RPD is currently conducting a pioneering research, sponsored by the Amy Mahan Research Fellowship, that looks into the roles of Internet/Internet centers and mobile phones in empowering women migrants and refugees politically, economically, socially, and culturally.  The research focuses on

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Last July 25, close to 700 Karen people from at least four villages in the Myawaddy township of Karen state fled to Phop Phra town in Tak province, Thailand.  The…

From June 2-5, 2010, the Global Fund for Children (GFC) held its first-ever regional Knowledge Exchange workshop for its East and Southeast Asia (ESEA) grantee partners.  Held in Phnom Penh,…

For the month of June, the Early Childhood, Care, and Development (ECCD) Project participated in and conducted a training series that covered various topics.  Firstly, as part of the staff development, they attended a training session that was conducted by the Montessori School that provided information on classroom techniques.  These techniques included the use of sensorial materials, mathematics materials, and language and cultural materials.  Secondly, as part of WEAVE’s regular training series, they co-facilitated a five-day training organized by the Child Development Center (CDC) in Mae Sot.  Most of the training participants were nursery school teachers from migrant schools.   The training topics included using indigenous and local materials to make children’s toys, classroom management, children management, child behavior, and child psychology, to mention a few.  Furthermore, another round of refresher training was conducted for the nursery school personnel which included teachers, teacher trainers, and capacity building trainers in Karenni Site 2 on child development.

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