The Early Childhood Development Center responds to a need felt by the women of the Rilima community, but at the same time is part of a model promoted by the Rwandan government and already implemented and tested in other contexts .
The Center, built in 2019, has been operational since January 2020 and wants to respond to the need for a place to welcome and care for preschool children who do not currently have a dedicated care facility, especially when mothers are working.
The center promotes adequate intellectual, social and physical development of children, while at the same time supporting the training of mothers, so that they can continue to guarantee proper nutrition and health care at home.
Currently 120 children between 3 and 6 years old are welcomed every day from disadvantaged or single-parent families. and are looked after and accompanied by a staff of the center, consisting of 3 professional educators, a caretaker and a cook.
The program to combat malnutrition, based on food education for mothers, has also been developed at the Center for Early Childhood Development.
In fact, mothers receive training on how to prepare food and practice in the kitchen of the center, then they receive farmyard animals, seeds, mushrooms, the tools to create a vegetable garden so that they can put into practice the training received and improve the nutrition of their children. and of the whole family.
The program to fight malnutrition also includes support for 15 centers located in Bugesera district, the “Model village Kitchen” that monitor children to prevent situations of severe malnutrition and direct the most serious cases to hospitals. As part of this intervention, the Marcegaglia Foundation distributes food parcels to about 600 children reported at risk of malnutrition to strengthen their diet and allow them to develop adequately.
Early childhood support in the Bugesera district is not limited to the Rilima center but also provides support to other centers throughout the area. The local representatives of the Marcegaglia Foundation are responsible for monitoring the centers that need restructuring and adaptation of the structures to make them accessible and safe for children and equipped with everything necessary for education and play. Furthermore, a periodic update is offered to teachers and staff of the centers.
Thanks to the support of all the donors of the Marcegaglia Foundation, it was possible to build the ECD in Rilima and to put other centers in the area back into operation with the supply of food, didactic material and with the support for the realization of structural interventions for ensure the safety of children.
Let’s continue to build change together starting with children and their mothers!
