By Vincent Gunde
A non-profit NGO, Opulence Malawi will implement a-36 months Nurturing Spaces Initiative-Community Based Children’s Centres (CBCCs) project targeting 10 Group Village heads under the areas of Senor Chief Chakhaza in Dowa district.
Opulence Malawi says despite Early Childhood Development (ECD) being an important service, the allocation of funds to the section is 0.2 percent of the 10 percent national annual budget allocated to the education sector.
The organization says financing of the Early Childhood Education (ECE) rests on the shoulders of the community contributing at least 85 percent as caregiver motivation and food supplements for their children at the centre.
It says the development is affecting the retention rate of the caregiver which is currently at 50 percent and able to last longer than 12 months observing that bottlenecks are expected to escalate as the country’s exponential population growth and pressure on the available resources.
Opulence Malawi’s Programs Officer Okhifi Dimba, said community engagements with chiefs and other leaders revealed the need to build and renovate Community Based Child Centres (CBCCs) across the district.
Dimba said the project-Nurturing spaces initiative -CBCCs will be sponsored by the funds from the Solar Village for Quality Education (SVQE) project through collected revenue as well as other partners in the district.
He said among the planned activities lined up for the project include renovation pf existing CBCCs, building fully functional CBCCs, training and building capacity of the caregivers in the CBCCs and procuring playing and education materials.
“10 Group Village heads will be targeted under Senior Chief Chakhaza, 100 caregivers, children aged 2-6 years, parents and community leaders,” said Dimba.
He said the project will include inclusion of nutrition in the training and community engagement on the benefits of a balanced diet for the Under-5 children, refurbishing and construction of CBCCs, and contributory construction of the building where the community provides locally available materials, among other interventions.
The officer expressed optimism that the project will improve nutrition through the feeding program, and improved early learning (children aged 36-59 months complete at least one year of early learning.
Opulence Malawi will implement Nurturing spaces initiative-Community Based Children’s Centres (CBCCS) with a total project budget amounting to K300 million from Solar Village for Quality Education (SVQE) and Church of Resurrection (COR).
 project targeting 10 Group Village heads under the areas of Senor…){kind=link}