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Development Direct
Organisation: Development Direct
Address: Orchard Cottage, 26a Heddon Banks, Heddon-on-the-Wall, Northumberland NE15 OBU
Country: United Kingdom
Region: Europe
Telephone: +44 (0)1661 852762 (Mobile: 07790660115)
Fax: +44 (0)1661 852384
E-mail: devdir@dial.pipex.com
Contact Name: Gill Blissett
Organisation of Child-to-Child Activities
Our Child-to-Child activities began in April 2002. They take place in schools in Northumberland and Durham local education authority areas. Funding is provided by the Department for International Development via the new organization, One World Network North East. They also provide support in the form of access to continuing professional development for teachers. We also work with the Healthy Schools Initiative in Northumberland and Durham, with the Northumbria Healthcare Trust and with the Moshi Tanzania link. Personnel from the above organisations find schools in Tanzania which schools in Durham and Northumberland can link up with.
Our children are based in urban and rural communities in the UK, as well as in Gambia (5 Schools), Ghana (10 Schools), Kenya (6 Schools) Tanzania (12 Schools) and Peru (1 School). Numbers are growing daily. In the UK 231 children currently participate, together with about 12 teachers. Abroad, the number of children approaches 1,500. This is very approximate as the project is quite new. The children's ages range from 4 – 11 years. The children include disadvantaged and marginalised children, and children with special needs, e.g. disabled children, street children, working children and children in institutions. The adult workers are primary school teachers. A health visitor also participates.
Purpose and programme
Our aim is to empower children to take action about their health and the health of the community locally. We also aim to raise awareness about global health issues by linking children in the North East to a school in the developing world. We are also interested in gender issues, inclusive education, and issues around the promotion of children's rights. We use the ‘Partners in Rights’ resource as a talking point to start the project. ‘Just Like You’ is about promoting similarities and rights across the globe.
Activities are introduced in classroom teaching and through peer counsellors in school. We use the Child-to-Child six-step approach. There are a number of skills we would like to encourage in children, including numeracy, literacy, skills in relation to global responsibility, thinking skills, as well as practical skills to prevent health problems.
Child-to-Child in Northumberland is part of the PSHE and Citizenship strands of the Healthy School Award. Thus far, there are about forty schools involved.
Community and Parental Involvement
The African Arts Association is involved in dance and music workshops between Steps 2 and 3 (while we wait for our letters to be answered). The children write to doctors, hospitals, indeed whoever they think might provide them with some information on the health problem they are looking at.
Use, Adaptation, Translation and Production of Child-to-Child Materials
We use all of the Child-to-Child materials, but particularly the Child-to-Child readers Uncle George, Accidents, Dirty Water, I Can Do It Too, Not Just a Cold, and The Market Dentist.
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