Early Childhood Program for Children exposed to violence

The extreme violence and neglect in which institutionalized children live in Mexico and the world, create gaps in their development, mental structure, skills and emotions, which require a specialized treatment to be remedied. Sadly, the institutions that treat them, lack the specialization and tools needed to work through it. To significantly reduce the negative impact that institutionalized environments have on their lives, in Reinserta we have worked directly, creating a Comprehensive Child Development Program through which we have achieved to significantly offset the negative impact of institutionalized life and to boost their development and strengthen their resiliency. Digitizing our program will help us train the caregivers of all the children in this situation in Mexico, being able to reach other children around the world and contributing to reduce inequality and violence all over the globe.

It is estimated that, globally, up to 1 billion children have experienced physical, sexual, or emotional violence or neglect (Hillis & cols, 2016).  In Mexico, a sector of child population who are particularly at risk are those who live in prisons, those whose parents are deprived of their freedom and those who are in residential care: approximately 11,319 institutionalized children under 9 years old (INEGI, 2016; CNDH, 2019).

This population, that remains invisible, is repeatedly exposed to potentially traumatic events and is at high risk of being abused and neglected. Without appropriate intervention, this situation can impact their lifelong health and well-being (WHO, 2019); research on the biology of stress shows how major adversity in early childhood can weaken developing brain structure and function (Center on the Developing Child, 2007).

Facing the lack of policies and programs that identify and support children who are most at risk, and considering research that demonstrates the positive benefits of strong attachment between caregivers and children as tools to offset the negative impact of institutionalization in children (Byrne & Blanchard-Lewis, 2014), Reinserta has developed a pioneer Model that focuses on giving these children and their caregivers the optimal conditions for their comprehensive development.

Through a Comprehensive Child Development Program, Reinserta seeks to transform lives of institutionalized children who have suffered violence. The program aims to improve child development, resilience, caregiver skills and the bond between caregiver and child. Our intervention is focused on caregivers and is supported by two theoretical perspectives: Attachment Theory (Bowlby, 1969) and Trauma informed intervention (Cook, Etal, 2005).

This year we achieved that more than 50% of the children improve their development in four areas: cognitive, language, motor and socio emotional. Also, mothers have improved their skills to face adversities in daily life and have developed parenting skills based on healthy raising. Every year, our expansion targets about 50 children who live in prison and we expect to impact more children through the digitization of our program.

In addition, we have been working closely with prisons administration to strengthen communication and effectiveness between non-profit organizations and the government. We lobbied to pass the National Criminal Enforcement Law that recognized the rights of children in prison. Furthermore, through our #InvisibleChildren campaign, we received national attention of three presidential candidates and, the current president. 

Because of the success our Comprehensive Child Development Program has had, we are currently working in the design of a digital LMS platform that will allow us to train primary and secondary caregivers (orphanage caregivers, mothers and fathers in prison, prison personnel including guards, social workers and psychologists) of institutionalized children all over the country. Through this online program we seek to impact at least 75% of the institutionalized children ages 0 to 5 years, in Mexico. 

The main goal of our Online Comprehensive Child Development Program is to promote an integral development and strengthen the resiliency of the children who are or have been exposed to violence, by giving the caregivers the theoretical and practical tools required, but adapted to the particular needs of each children, so they can maximize the impacts of our program. The design of our platform will have two mandatory sections:

1)    Online training: Designed to teach and test the caregivers in the following topics:

a.         Caregivers satisfaction, self-care and Vicary Trauma

b.         Child Development

c.         Positive parenting

d.         Secure attachment

e.         Child Rights

f.          Consequences of Toxic Stress

g.         Resiliency

2)    Comprehensive Child Development Program:

a.    Diagnosis stage: After an online evaluation that the caregiver applies, the platform will set tangible goals for each child according to their own needs and areas to develop.

b.   Work sessions: According to age, motor development, socio-emotional, cognitive, language and communication and toxic stress levels, that each child presents. The platform will build individualized sessions, based on set activities.

Sessions are grouped into modules, according to cross-cutting themes (child development, strengthening attachment with a secure base and resilience). Modules address issues ranging from building a safe environment, to responding to the specific emotional needs of children, through observation and detection of those needs and how to solve them.

Each session will have three key elements: stimulation activities catered to promote the development of children in the areas mentioned before; childcare activities designed specifically to counter the effects of trauma and violence; and additional activities to reinforce attachment. Each session will be taught through an interactive platform made up of instructions, manuals and videos.

Our program is informed by scientific research, is measurable and replicable. Children are provided with proper stimulation and opportunities for exploring and learning, and also develop adequate motor, inter-personal, social, cognitive, communication and verbal skills, that promote neural connections that are critical to the child’s immediate and long-term health and wellbeing. Our program specifically addresses the development and well-being of institutionalized children with high dedication to specialization, as well as personalized treatment and trauma informed interventions designed to offset the negative impact that violent contexts have on the children lives. The use of technology allows us to make our interventions cost effective and be able to reach larger scope of children in need. Reinserta has the ability to influence public policy changes and has been recognized internationally for finding new solutions and bringing opportunities for children that have been systematically invisible. We have been approached by other countries such as Colombia, Guatemala, USA and Canada.

We would apply technology to our already proven intervention model through a Learning Management System platform, preferably with GAFA, who is a Mexican based creative design firm who specializes in creating LMS platforms. An LMS platforms allows us to set up, deliver, and track learning modules of our integral development workshops in a self-sufficient manner, based on AI social learning. Users can log on to the LMS platform and have access to all training modules and content, being able to download it and then upload their findings in case of a lack of internet. We can then monitor the findings and adjust accordingly to each of the child’s needs.

Our solution has evidence based on how children can establish healthy relationships in the first stages of their lives. During the first two years alive, children can reverse negative effects of toxic stress (Harvard, 2012). In addition, the pilot stage of our model achieved that 8 out of 9 children and 9 out of 9 women were rated as having a secure attachment. This year we achieved that 7 out of 10 children were rated above the expectative in child’s development. Also, through qualitative evidence, mothers recognized their abilities as caregivers, and they learned how to implement that with their children and pairs. They reported a sense of community which allows them to teach others how to be a good caregiver.

That is why, we seek to promote the integral development of children who are exposed to violence through the training of primary and secondary caregivers. We will achieve this, first, by adapting our program to a virtual modality, developing an LMS platform that will allow more caregivers to be reached. Secondly, caregivers will be trained in theoretical and practical topics, so that they can develop accurate diagnoses and interventions for the children they serve. Finally, there will be a constant monitoring and evaluation, both training process of the caregivers, and of the progress in the development of the children. Through these actions it is estimated to directly impact at least 3,388 institutionalized children.

Reinserta has transformed the life of 436 institutionalized children directly, of whom 97, have been active participants in our Comprehensive Child Development Program. The outstanding results that we have had in development, have driven us to scale our project to institutions throughout the country, as well as beyond the borders of Mexico.

Within a year, through digitizing our Integral Development Program, we will have the capacity to start working with 3,388 institutionalized children under 5 years of age within the country and eventually, in 5 years we will reach approximately 70,409 institutionalized children in Bolivia, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras (RELAF, 2010; Relaf, 2016; UNICEF, 2013).

Our main goal is to contribute reducing inequality and violence around the world, working to give children who have grown up in violent contexts, adequate tools to achieve a full adult life, provided with equal development conditions as children who have grown up in safer environments.

●First year goal: To build the platform and complete digitizing our program so we can begin training caregivers to implement our Online Comprehensive Child Development Program.

●Five years goal: Reach every institutionalized child within Mexico and we will be ready to replicate our program in every Latin-American-Spanish speaking countries which has no specialized programs for institutionalized children.

●Finally thanks to the partnerships that we have achieved in recent years with international organizations such as Vital Voices, Ashoka and Grand Challenges Canada, we will look to make networking to be able to contact other worldwide organizations and governments, so all those countries in need of this program can access to a translated version of it.  

We will also continue to influence policy changes in Mexico and Latin America designed to improve the lives of hundreds of institutionalized children all over the continent.

Financial: Our biggest challenge is getting the resources to hire a specialized team that designs and maintains the digital platform. Also, get funding to develop the diagnostics needed to start implementing outside our national borders.

Technical: Our main challenge is to achieve a platform with the necessary features to host our program effectively. The second is to develop the adequate training on how to use our tool and our program. Finally, to adapt our monitoring and evaluation tools to an online environment, ensuring the scope and accuracy of our tools.

Legal: A lack of structure in Mexico regarding intellectual property protection, copyright, and licensing, promotes a risk of minor changes being applied to our model and registered as original.

Cultural: The online program requires caregivers to make an honest diagnosis of the institution and children's situation. One of the biggest challenges posed by this project is that the information poured to develop the diagnosis is honest and accurate.

Market barriers: Our alliances and contacts in Mexico, have allowed us to have a good relationship with local governments and childcare organizations. However, leaving national borders and expanding into spaces where we are barely making our way can be difficult. Also, getting caregivers to commit to the program throughout all sessions and activities may present a big challenge. 

Financial: With Grand Challenges Canada we can compete to access a fund that allows us to scale and obtain resources to form a specialized team dedicated to the construction of our online training platform. In addition, our funding strategy through grants, fundraisers, private sector allies, as well as the prize of this grant, will help us finance the application of technology.

Technical: We will seek expert advice to achieve an accessible and easy-to-use platform that can host our program and its technicalities. These advisors will work closely with our attachment, trauma and child development team.

Legal: We are pro bono clients of Basham, Ringe & Correa S.C, one of the most prestigious law firms in Mexico. This alliance advises us in a possible intellectual property theft that we may suffer.

Cultural: To attract customers, we will hold callings to fill out a registry of the physical characteristics of the institution home they are representing. With this, customers will be able to participate in the program and seek to make partnerships with other organizations. This will help us solve other needs such as infrastructure or specific trainings that go beyond our program.

Market barriers: We are creating partnerships with organizations in Colombia and Guatemala to have access beyond our border. In addition, we propose to make a personalized follow-up with the participants, such as periodic follow-up calls for progress and biannual regional meetings to share progress and implementation challenges.

10 people will work in this project as full-time staff, including operational, administrative and managing positions, while 4 people will work as workshop facilitators.  

The project is lead by a multidisciplinary team made up of psychologists with specializations in child trauma, early childhood, attachment, gender, public policy. Our team is highly qualified and has extensive experience in research for various fields. Furthermore, members of the team have academic experience as well as participation in the private and public sector of Mexico. This team works tirelessly to improve the lives and guarantee the human rights of vulnerable children in contact with the prison system and with violent environments, while reducing crime and improving the security in Mexico. They have worked to test and improve the project, knowing its strengths and how to improve its areas of opportunity, always committed to growing impact and creating new partnerships.

Currently, Reinserta works with these partners for the implementation of our program:

• Grand Challenges Canada, who was co-financier of our program. They support us with training and advice to develop and implement the scaling of our program.
• Northwestern University has helped in the design of a child-trauma informed program.
• We have worked with the Mexican Prison System to implement our program inside prisons in its pilot stage. They have given us access to other prisons to develop diagnoses of the situation of children living in prison. Thanks to our partnership with the DIF we will be able to connect with the country's institutionalized children population and their caregivers to implement our Online Comprehensive Child Development Program in Mexico. 

We want to impact the lives of at least 75% of the institutionalized children ages 0-5 years in Mexico, through a digital platform that will allow us to train primary and secondary caregivers with the necessary tools to improve and promote early-childhood development. The platform will benefit both children and their caregivers while the National System for the Integral Development of the Children in Mexico, would be the main customer. Improving the development of children in government’s care, is a necessity they should invest in, to continue hosting the thousands of children they already work with. This program can also benefit private institutions that host children with similar vulnerabilities, which can also become customers of this platform.

We will rely on local and national partners, both governmental and private, to approach our beneficiaries and customers in an accessible way; private technology partners can help us refine and maintain the online platform functional. This would imply a cost for its maintaining, as well as the salaries of the team, and the initial design of the online content for the trainings. The surplus desired would be destined to improve the platform development and the overall growth of Reinserta’s projects. The monitoring and evaluation of the platform carried out by the Reinserta team, will allow to give feedback to caregivers on the children’s developmental improvement as well as customers. Working with these children in early childhood interventions will scale their developmental opportunities in the short- and long-term future.

The pilot stage of our model was co-financed by Grand Challenges Canada who provided 150,000 Canadian dollars. The other 50% of the budget was fundraised by our organization through various means. We have a strong fundraising strategy where we apply to national and international grants, as well as host fundraising events and create partnerships with companies to provide funding for our projects. This has allowed us to fundraise more than 2 million dollars in the past three years. Our organization has won grants for the successful implementation of projects with USAID, Open Society Foundation, PayPal, Ford Foundation, Grand Challenges Canada, and other national and governmental agencies in Mexico. Furthermore, Reinserta raises income through annual fundraising events, as well as recurring monthly donations from the general public. With the help of Solve, we can begin to commercialize our online workshops and train government and public staff in charge of dependencies with vulnerable children, which will generate income for our organization to continue growing and will help reach children and their caregivers at a national and then international scale. We expect that the income of providing our intervention to customers, will allow us to cover the costs of maintaining the platform and the salaries of the staff working on this project.

We believe Solve can help us digitalize the intervention, make it sustainable and be able to reach in a cost efficient and innovative way, the hands of families and caregivers of children in need of a better early-childhood development. Our program has delivered tangible and positive results in the development of children in vulnerability and we want Solve to join us in reaching many more children in Mexico and later on, in the world. The incredible tools and partners that Solve has can help us open many doors, for which we are very interested in growing together and continue helping the most vulnerable.

MIT or other technology-based organizations that can help us make this project available to low-technologically skilled populations. For the platform itself we want to partner with GAFA. For our main customers, whom we already have a partnership with, are the Mexican Prison System and the DIF, which is the government agency that hosts all institutionalized children in Mexico.