Part 1; Establishing Professional Contacts

Hello fellow colleagues as of today I have yet recieved an email from any of the five professionals in which I contacted early part of the week. Being that these contacts are outside of the country; we all are on a different time frame; therefore, I must take their time and schedule into consideration, and hope that I will recieve feed back some time next week.

I'm very interested in learning and gaining information pretaining to all countries on child development procedures, policies and practices, but Africa has always been a country of intrest to me. And learning about Issues and Trends in the Early Childhood area in their country would be phenomenal. In the mean time, I would like to share what I did read about Issues and Trends in Early Childhood education in Africa.

Information obtained: www.worldforumfoundation.org

Topic: Critical Issues in Early Childhood in Africa, By; Barnabas Otaala, Ed.D

People all over the country is struggling with most of the same issues, particular in developing countries such as Africa; endures hunger, rapid population growth, unemployment, poor health, and preventable death of millions of children, wide-spread environmental degradation, and education system thats inadequate for countries needs and people aspirations.

"But the world is at a threshold of a new century, with all its promises and possibilities, with the cumalative experience of reform and innovation. In the case of children, a number of international events in favour of children have marked the last few years"(Olasumbo S. Apanpa, Ph.D (Nigeria).

To name several:

1.The Alma International WHO conference which took place in 1978.

2. The Child-to-Child movement  was started in 1979 shortly after the Alma Ata conference which launched the world-wide commitement to spreading the concept of Primary Health Care (PHC), in preparation for the International year of the (IYC) in 1979.

3. The ratification by the United Nations of the Convention of the Rights of the Child in 1989.

4. The passage by the Organization of Africa Unity of Africa Charter on the Rights and Welfare of  the child.

I'm looking forward to communicating through email with professionals in other parts of the country to learn about all aspects when it comes to Early Childhood development.