Jordan Times
Tuesday, September 6, 2005
Queen discusses ECD,
educational collaboration between Jordan, Turkey
NCFA, UNICEF sign agreement with Turkish Mother Child Education Foundation
Her Majesty Queen Rania with Mother Child
Education Foundation General Manager Izin Ozygine during a meeting on Monday,
where they discussed prospective collaboration between Jordan and the Turkish
institution in the field of education and early childhood development (Photo by
Nasser Ayoub)
AMMAN (JT) — Programmes offered by the Mother Child Education Foundation (A?EV)
were the focus of a meeting between Her Majesty Queen Rania and A?EV General
Manager Izin Ozygine on Monday.
The meeting included discussions on prospective collaboration between the
foundation and Jordan in terms of exchanging scientific expertise in the field
of Early Childhood Development (ECD) and education in particular.
National Council for Family Affairs (NCFA) acting Secretary General Lara
Hussein, UNICEF Representative in Jordan Anne Skatvedt, as well as other
representatives from the three organisations attended the meeting.
Earlier on Monday, NCFA signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with UNICEF
and A?EV at the NCFA premises.
The MoU stipulates exchanging knowledge and expertise among the three
signatories in addition to building the capacity of ECD and better parenting
workers targeting children in the 3-6 years age group.
According to the MoU, education material will be developed in Arabic for ECD
workers, parents and service providers, while A?EV will provide training,
consultancy and supervisory services as required by NCFA and UNICEF within the
parameters of this agreement.
A?EV, a Turkish nonprofit organisation established in 1993, works on improving
the family's quality of life through implementing educational programmes in the
fields of ECD and combating illiteracy. The Mother Child Education Programme
supports and raises the awareness of parents with regards to the development and
growth of their children. The programme is also designed to expand parents'
knowledge to further contribute to the mental, cognitive and social development
of their children.
The programme is considered an unofficial source of information about education
and development for preschool children. Within its scope of work, A?EV
implements a father-support programme to encourage fathers to assume a positive
role in raising and rearing their children. Training parents on how to develop
their children's mathematical and linguistic skills in preparation for them to
go to school is yet another programme implemented by A?EV.
The initiative of a Mother Child Education Programme in Jordan complements and
enhances the Better Parenting Programme executed by 15 national partners with
the support of UNICEF. The programme is designed to educate parents about better
parenting practices and providing a safe environment for their children
conducive to their growth and development. This goal is achieved through the
proper use of media and community-based initiatives, such as holding discussion
sessions with parents, and organising training workshops for service providers,
physicians and midwives.
Headed by Queen Rania, NCFA acts as an umbrella organisation for all issues
relevant to the child and the family. The National Plan of Action (2004-2013),
which was launched by NCFA in 2004, aims at providing a safe environment that
secures children's right to survival, development, protection and participation
from birth till 18 years of age.
Through its ECD programme, UNICEF works on raising public awareness to ensure
the sound and proper upbringing of children up to 8 years of age.