April 21, 2016
TFFT believes in the best interest of every child. Therefore, all our programs and activities are focusing on the best opportunities for any child. In regards to this; not only do we focus on children under our care, but we also go beyond that. Our programs reach many children in government and private schools and children in the community too.
We completed a child development training March 21st , 22nd, and 23rd, having a wonderful time with District Social Welfare officers from Meru and Arusha District, Teacher Resources Center Coordinators (TRC), teachers from our partner schools here in Arusha, and four TFFT staff. Training was conducted by Caucus for Children’s Rights. Training was conducted here in Arusha at Arusha Community Church premises. We had 26 participants for the training, who will make changes to the bigger community.
We included TRC Arusha city and Meru District; we expect they will transfer the knowledge to other teachers so that children in government schools will receive better care from teachers. We are happy that teachers who work in our partner schools will be able to reach further than TFFT scholars, and more scholars will benefit from the best care the teachers can provide. The Social Welfare Officer will share the knowledge with other social workers in their office for better care of children in their areas as well.
Our childhood development training covered the various stages of childhood development, including newborns and babies from 4 -14 months on our first day. On the second day, we learned about toddlers from 15-36 months, preschoolers from 3-5 years, and school aged children from 5-9 years. On our final day, we studied pre-teens aged 10-12 years, and teenagers aged 13-18 years.
In this 3-day course, we learned about the stages of child development, the risks that children face at each stage, and how to mitigate these risks. We then learned to apply this knowledge by exploring scenarios where in which teachers are required to resolve a dilemma that one of their students could face in such a way that protects the children’s best interests. We used drama, storytelling, games and dialogue as means to reveal the complexities of children’s developmental unfolding and to navigate how to respond in ways that support the child to reveal their inherent potential.
