Catalogue of Local Inclusive Public Policies

Public policies
catalogue

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Buen Comienzo (Good Start) Program by Medellin City Hall

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Medellín - Colombia

Region
Latin America and the Caribbean
Range of Demographic Size
1,000,000 inhabitants or more (metropolis)

4.1 By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education which must be free, equitable and of quality and leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes.

4.2 By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood development, care and pre-primary education so that they are ready for primary education.

4.5 By 2030, eliminate gender disparities in education and ensure equal access to all levels of education and vocational training for the vulnerable, including persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples and children in vulnerable situations.

5.1 End all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere in the world.

5.2 Eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private spheres, including trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation.

5.c Adopt and strengthen sound policies and enforceable legislation for the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls at all levels.

A - Full integration of population dynamics into sustainable development with equality and respect for human rights.

B - Rights, needs, responsibilities and requirements of girls, boys, adolescents and youth

E - Gender equality

American Convention on Human Rights

International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).

Additional Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights in economic, social and cultural rights (San Salvador Protocol).

Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).

• Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment, and Eradication of Violence against Women (Convention of Belém do Pará)

Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

Summary

Buen Comienzo Program provides care in education, health, nutrition, participation, protection and interaction with families to over 70,000 children from pregnancy until the age of 5 through various forms. The children attend a Child Care Center or a nursery school for 5 or 8 hours a day, from Monday to Friday. There, they receive early education, care, love, protection, nutrition, health, child participation and comprehensive protection actions. All this care is offered under the guidance made by the technical direction team of the Program. In order to achieve quality in comprehensive care, the technical direction team of the Program, apart from making the technical guidance, provides assistance, advice and qualification to the teachers who daily interact with the children.

Implementation Date:

Start: 11 / 30 / 2011

End: End: Currently in force

Education - Education in Human Rights Education - Formal education Education - Non-formal education Gender and sexual diversity - Equality
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It has been observed that childhood pedagogy or first childhood programs have dealt with matters connected to teaching and learning of math, reading and writing topics; as well as aspects related to children’s cognitive development or simply the provision/delivery of food supplements, and has set aside critical and analytical considerations that offer teachers not only experience for their practice but life lessons for their pedagogical practice as well. Authors Lopera and Urrea carried out a qualitative study in the city of Medellin, in which they identified that the interactions the children make are surveilled and controlled by female teachers who have the educational objective to reproduce female and male roles acknowledged in society by means of their teaching strategies. Apart from the fact that gender construction is an issue marked in the actions subjects have before others, these are not defined in themselves, but they are based on situations that occur when meeting with others. Interactions are not socially determined, although this is the assumption in many cases; they are marked by the presence of the other and determine the characterizations acquired on being a woman or a man and the information the other person has about the subject actor of the interaction. In addition, the issue of school spaces becomes relevant since they are pedagogically set and symbolically reshaped by the children. These are spaces aimed at “wanting to be” and not at “being able to be”; the subjects cannot be in territories that belong to others, territories defined by physical and symbolic frontiers that indicate that the other person is different and thus a stranger. It has been evidenced that some educational spaces reduce the possibilities children have to build themselves through the interactions with spaces, although there are some spaces where subjects can learn through games and less watched, more spontaneous interactions.
Ensure that the children of Medellin have a proper, comprehensive, diverse and inclusive development from pregnancy until the age of six (6) through different actions and programs; which contribute to the satisfaction of their emotional, biological and social needs, and to enhance their competences, capacities and skills.
Women’s secretariat-gender equality: its main role is to provide the public policy and the technical guideline of Buen Comienzo conceptual contributions to implement gender perspective in the context of early, comprehensive, diverse and inclusive education for children. Additionally, it endeavors to transform stereotypes that promote gender inequalities, considering diversity a strength that enriches knowledge, people and actions, which opens early education to the creation of co-existence and transformation environments where children with their particular and unique cognitive, emotional and social abilities are respected and accepted, as well as providing elements to give a new meaning to their cultural inheritance. Education Secretariat: its specific role in the context of inclusive education is to eradicate barriers to learning and to enhance the participation of the children, and thus: • Promote strategies from differential aspects that favor interculturalism in the care of children. • Implement social mobilization actions which contribute to the transformation of concepts, which base and guide communities to respect for diversity, generating a social and cultural network that accepts all the children in the Municipality of Medellin. • Generate interinstitutional articulations to qualify education agents and school principals co-responsible for care from diversity. • Participate in the inter-sector working sessions of inclusive education, contributing to dialogue of knowledge, planning and implementation of strategic alternatives of effective intervention in an articulated way. • Implement a transformation strategy of the environments in which children’s life takes place for the timely inclusion and proper early education within the context of comprehensive care, involving families and other important people.
In order to prepare the public policy in 2011, several advisory meetings were held with the participation of: • Child Policy Council; • Inter-institutional Technical Committee of Public Policy for Childhood and Adolescence; • Colombian Family Welfare Institute (ICBF); • Early childhood sessions of Medellin districts led by the quality nursery schools of Buen Comienzo Program.
Political Constitution of Colombia: • Section No. 44 of the National Constitution sets forth children’s fundamental rights, among others: life, physical integrity and particularly important for this call the right to education and culture, recreation and freedom to express their opinion. Similarly, the Constitution holds the different entities that constitute the State responsible for the obligation to assist and protect children and teenagers. Laws: • Law No. 12/1991 passed “the Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 20 November 1989”. • Law No. 1098/2006 (Code for Children and Adolescents) has the objective to guarantee children and adolescents their full and harmonious development so that they can grow within the family and the community, in an environment of happiness, love and understanding. Acknowledgement to human equality and dignity shall prevail without any discrimination. • Law 1804/2016 has the objective to establish the State policy for the Comprehensive Development of the Early Childhood from Zero to Forever, which lays the conceptual, technical and management foundations to guarantee a comprehensive development, in the context of the Comprehensive Protection Principles. Thus, the goal is to strengthen the institutional framework for the recognition, protection and guarantee of the rights of pregnant women and of children from zero to the age of six, as well as the materialization of the Social Welfare State. National-level Decrees: • Social Conpes Document 109/2007 sets forth the “National Public Policy of Early Childhood” as a guiding instrument for the promotion, guarantee and restitution of the necessary conditions for the comprehensive development of children from pregnancy until the age of six. • The National Strategy of Comprehensive Care of Early Childhood “From Zero to Forever” groups a set of actions to a national and territorial level of public and private sectors, non-governmental and international cooperation organizations, aimed at promoting and ensuring child development of early childhood children. • Municipal Resolution 84/2006: Public Policy of Comprehensive Care to Early Childhood of Medellin, which objective is to ensure that the children of the Municipality of Medellin can have a proper, comprehensive, diverse and inclusive development in their early childhood from pregnancy to five years. • Decree No.: 00844/2016: This decree regulates Municipal Resolution 54/2015 which redefines the municipal regulation on the Public Policy of Early Childhood and the Buen Comienzo Program. This decree defines the actions, procedures and players to implement different strategies set forth in the Public Policy of Early Childhood of Medellin.
Children and teenagers
Society in general
Education and training
Social/citizen participation
Awareness and/or information campaigns
uen Comienzo Program provides care in education, health, nutrition, participation, protection and interaction with families to over 70,000 children from pregnancy to the age of five (most vulnerable ones) of Medellin through various forms. The children attend a Child Care Center or a nursery school for 5 or 8 hours a day, from Monday to Friday. There, they receive early education, care, love, protection, nutrition (70% of their nutritional needs are provided by breakfast, a mid-morning snack, lunch and an afternoon snack), health, child participation and comprehensive protection actions. All this care is offered under the guidance made by the technical direction team of the Program. In order to achieve quality in the comprehensive care, the technical direction team of the Program, apart from making the technical orientations, provides assistance, advice and qualification to the teachers who interact daily with the children. Similarly, the technical direction team of Buen Comienzo Program carries out cross-sectional articulation actions for the sake of permeating diverse players and institutions of the city in order to join efforts and resources to promote better care and thus, a comprehensive development of early childhood. Among such articulations, the Gender Equality Secretariat is the entity in charge of providing guidelines and the city’s programs related to the topic. The action of protecting communities seeks to promote communities that identify risk factors and prevent the violation of children’s rights in the environments where early childhood develops (home, neighborhood, public space, children’s centers, etc.) The Inter-university Buen Comienzo Network works with 21 universities that join efforts to promote a city that generates conditions for the good start of life from early childhood, as well as permeating higher education institutions (with their different undergraduate/postgraduate courses) in terms of early childhood.
Children build their gender through others and through what happens with the other person, who classifies and categorizes in the case of female teachers, and parents who discuss, investigate and compare in the case of peers; and finally results in a construction full of social symbols which set the information the subject has and that will subsequently have about what it is to be a woman or a man, or simply a person. That is why the public policy of early childhood, which has the objective of promoting the comprehensive development of children with an inclusive and gender perspective, favors working on training and accompanying actions to parents, teachers and the community in general, in order to transform beliefs, knowledge and practices, promoting the creation of societies with gender equality. It is also expected that actions carried out with the children promote the development of emotional capacity and foster friendship, self-esteem, empathy, affection and satisfaction. Values are embodied in attitudes. When an attitude is coherently developed in all areas the child is involved, over time, this becomes a habit, then a behavior and finally, a capacity.
During the preparation of the public policy in the year 2011, several advisory meetings were held with the participation of: Child Policy Council; Inter-institutional Technical Committee of Public Policy for Childhood and Adolescence; Colombian Family Welfare Institute (ICBF); Early childhood sessions of Medellin districts led by the quality nursery schools of Buen Comienzo Program.
During the preparation of the public policy in the year 2011, several advisory meetings were held with the participation of: Child Policy Council, Inter-institutional Technical Committee of Public Policy for Childhood and Adolescence, ICBF, Early childhood sessions of Medellin districts led by the quality nursery schools of Buen Comienzo program.
The public policy is established by Municipal Resolution No. 54 (and was updated in 2015). Said policy has existed since 2011, and Buen Comienzo Program has existed since 2004. The foregoing shows the degree of political commitment and the empowerment of citizens (promoted through social mobilization actions) to achieve the sustainability for 14 years since Buen Comienzo Program started, and 7 years after establishing the public policy of early childhood.
Currently, the public policy has no monitoring or assessment system. However, Buen Comienzo Program advances a rigorous investigation process with a mixed approach to know the effects of the program in the development of children.
Local goverment
Subnational goverment
The public policy has different dissemination mechanisms: Social networks (respond to specific campaigns); website; learning processes with teachers and parents; implementation of several social mobilization actions.

Instrumentos

4.1 By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education which must be free, equitable and of quality and leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes.

4.2 By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood development, care and pre-primary education so that they are ready for primary education.

4.5 By 2030, eliminate gender disparities in education and ensure equal access to all levels of education and vocational training for the vulnerable, including persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples and children in vulnerable situations.

5.1 End all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere in the world.

5.2 Eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private spheres, including trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation.

5.c Adopt and strengthen sound policies and enforceable legislation for the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls at all levels.

A - Full integration of population dynamics into sustainable development with equality and respect for human rights.
B - Rights, needs, responsibilities and requirements of girls, boys, adolescents and youth
E - Gender equality
American Convention on Human Rights
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).
Additional Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights in economic, social and cultural rights (San Salvador Protocol).
Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).
• Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment, and Eradication of Violence against Women (Convention of Belém do Pará)
Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

Location

Region
Latin America and the Caribbean
Range of Demographic Size
1,000,000 inhabitants or more (metropolis)

Contact details

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