Global Leaders for Young Children 2009 – 2010 Global Leaders, India Dr Jigisha Shastri Dr Joyeeta Sengupta Sharing our Experiences

1 introduction to what we wanted to achieve Synergy Between Paediatricians and Early Childhood Professionals: Optimizing Development of Children

Our belief In order to bring in integration between health, nutrition and psycho social development, it is essential for early childhood practitioners and paediatricians as groups to come together. If they come together to advocate culturally and developmentally appropriate practices to parents within communities, it will positively impact children’s development.

 Focus on creating a platform to bring paediatricians /health professionals and EC professionals together to share views about ‘good practices’ and come up with a common agenda to advocate for the same  To develop, document and disseminate ‘good practices’ to the paediatrician and EC community, related Government Departments in states of Gujarat and Maharashtra (Health; Education; and Women & Child Development Departments) Working from the cities of Mumbai (state of Maharashtra) & Vadodara (state of Gujarat)

2 How did we begin Finding our way

Trying to connect with professional associations: Our experiences! Leveraging personal contacts Shifting from interviews to questionnaire Getting responses

Connecting the two communities Creating forums to establish dialogues Vadodara Mumbai

Date: 17th July, 2010 Saturday Time: 2.00 to 5.00 pm Venue: Kashiba Children’s Hospital, Karelibaug, Vadodara Event 1: Workshop Video

Date: 3 rd & 4 th September, 2010 Friday & Saturday Venue: Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Deonar, Mumbai Event 2: National Round Table Meet

3 who else was involved and in what ways Early Childhood Professionals Developmental Paediatricians Academicians Practitioners Government Departments (Women and Child Welfare, Health, Education) Paediatrics Department in Medical College Non-governmental organisations

4 what were some of the challenges we faced and how were these addressed

Challenges  Initial hearing – high on interest low on action  Making inroads in professional organisations – using personal contacts  Individuals vis-a-vis collectives – talking to the organisation  Government Departments need evidence; each Department ‘separate’  Bringing voices from both groups together - creating synergy through a shared understanding and a common purpose

5 what did we learn about advocacy

Our learning on advocacy  Getting different groups especially professionals is difficult till we can speak a shared language and come to an common understanding but more importantly it is about getting the purpose clarified and well articulated  It is tough to get people to listen! We need to learn the best way to adapt our language to include more people  We need to develop advocacy material (simple but effective to put across the points)  There are many like minded people – we need to persevere in order to connect to them  Stakeholders need each other

6 what did we learn about leadership

Our learning on leadership  Willingness to take responsibility for a collective – it has to be a steady flame!  Persevere, persevere, persevere!!  Connecting with people; getting inspired and inspiring others  People listen when you talk at their level  Listen and learn from others experiences

 To document ‘good practices’ in video  To create posters and other materials for dissemination  To work with both groups on “development”  To synergize the two groups  …and to continue to work in the best interests of the young child Go-forward..