Research Around the World

The mission statement of the ECDVU aims to further develop African leadership in the field of early childhood development.  As leadership capacity grows, so will the support towards the well-being of children, families, and communities, as well as broader social and economic development.

Many of the research topics that are currently being studied in the United States are being studied in Africa as well. Among these are:

• Program quality sustainability
• Developing quality in EC leadership
• Assessing program and service quality
• Culturally and developmentally appropriate practices
• Enriching family partnerships
• Enriching teacher training curriculum

A research topic that is new to me and caught my attention was:

• Strengthening capacity of grandparents in providing care to children less than 8 years old affected by HIV/AIDS

In reading more on the topic, I found that is the HIV/AIDS virus has affected 50 percent of all children in Uganda, mostly due to the fact that it is the leading cause of death among Ugandan adults between the ages of 15 and 45, leaving many children in foster care of orphaned (Nyesigomwe, 2004).  1 family out of every 4 in Uganda is taking care of foster children or orphans.  Still, many are left without adults to care for them at all.  Grandparents will care others.  While funding has increased to help fight the epidemic, most funding has gone towards prevention or treatment of the virus.  Very little has gone to supporting the children who have lost their caretakers.  In order to better support the well-being of young children in Uganda, more support must be given to those who are left to support them (Nyesigomwe, 2004).

References

Nyesigomwe, L. (2004). Strengthening the capacity of grandparents in providing

care to children less than 8 years old affected by HIV/AIDS. School of Child

and Youth Care, University of Victoria, 1-135. Retrieved from http://www.ecdvu.org/