Colombia: Technical Assistance Provided by the IIN

Colombia: Technical Assistance Provided by the IIN

Further to the implementation of the project on the “Promotion and Protection of Children´s Rights in the Inter-American System” with the support of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the First Technical Meeting was held in Bogotá, Colombia, last 13 September, on the subject of conceptual contributions and analysis of experiences tending towards family strengthening for the full development of children.

This activity is included in the work agreement reached last March between authorities of the government of Colombia and representatives of the IIN. The meeting was attended by the Family Board of the Intersectoral Commission for Early Childhood, members of the IIN technical team, consultants and guests of the Colombian authorities.

Work was carried out on a theoretical and conceptual framework, which describes the principal findings regarding the significance, functions and problems of the family as a social organization, in Colombia and the region. At the same time, the framework presents the latest developments in the field of child evolution, with particular emphasis on the significance of interaction between children and their caregivers, as well as the main factors which jeopardize their full development.

This analysis highlighted at all times the perspective of children as rights-holders and active agents in the process of their own development. Questions guiding the exchanges focused on the contributions of this theoretical framework to the design and execution of public policies for the comprehensive protection of early childhood: How can these concepts be included in policy design? What events must take place in children´s lives in order to enable their rights to become a reality in specific experience?

In the second part of the activity, the IIN team of consultants presented developments with regard to the study of experiences involving care provided to early childhood and the family in the region. The draft reports from Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Uruguay were shared.

The meeting ended with an agreement to continue working on the production of a paper which, on the basis of lessons learned in the analysis of the experiences in the region, will propose strategic guidelines to be borne in mind in the implementation of the De Cero a Siempre (From Zero to Forever) strategy established by the State of Colombia.