Tanzania Early Childhood Development Network (TECDEN) is a network that is formed by various Organizations which are working to improve children livelihood in Tanzania.
This Network was established in year 2000 and officially registered in 2004. The headquarters of the Network are based in Dar es Salaam. To date 2015, the Network has a total of more than 200 members’ organizations in 14 Administrative regions of Tanzania Mainland and Zanzibar.
1. Goal:
The Network aimed at improving the livelihood of young children in Tanzania through provision of various services to enable them grow to their full potentials.
2. Objectives.
2.1 Advocating for rights of young children and other issues that affecting young children in Tanzania
2.2 Mobilizing community members to actively participate in promoting early Childhood development in Tanzania through National campaign which is investing to a young child for National Development
2.3 Coordinating information sharing among stakeholders on issues affecting young children in Tanzania
2.4 Conducting research and situational analysis for the purpose of generating evidence based facts to feed Advocacy work to issues affecting young children in Tanzania.
2.5 Strengthening capacities of member organizations on ECD issues to enable them to provide quality services to young children in their respective workplaces.
3. Early Childhood Development Concept
This is a total of all actions, practices and programs that are done to young children from pregnancy to the age of 8 years. The early years, the period up to 8 years of age, is a time of vital growth and development for the whole range of human capacities.
This period starts when the child is in the womb and a newborn’s health is fundamentally dependent on its mother’s level of nutrition and care during pregnancy, for example, nutrition in utero has a major effect on adult height. Following birth, adequate care of the newborn is also closely linked to the mother’s health and nutritional status.
Up to the age of 8 years the young child grows rapidly particularly his/her brain. By the age of 8, while the average person has attained approximately 50% of their adult body weight, the brain has attained 90%. Consequently, this is a time of great importance for cognitive, emotional and psychological development.
Furthermore, there are critical periods when certain kinds of stimulation lead to particular kinds of brain development: emotional control, ages 0-2; vision, ages 0-2; social attachment, ages 0-2; vocabulary, ages 0-3; second language, ages 0-10; math/logic, ages 1-4; and music, ages 3-10 years.
During this key development period, the number of cells in some areas of the brain can almost double within as little as a year. The brains of children aged between two and three are 2.5 times as active as adult brains and remain more active for the first ten years of life.
Based on these facts therefore there is a need to invest to young children to their early ages. The investment should be done on various thematic areas which includes; Child stimulation and parenting, Health, Nutrition, Education and Child Protection.
If all these investment areas to a child are done effectively and efficiently then it guarantee holist child growth to their full potentials. Children will grow physically, cognitively, communication skills, emotionally socially and spiritually.
All these services need to available from family level, health facilities, children day care centres, Nursery schools, Primary schools especially standard one and two and the community at large.
Children need to be given enough opportunity to learn, to play, to interact, to know the traditions so as to enable them growing holistically.
TECDEN has been able to implement these activities under the financial support from Children in Crossfire from Ireland and Better Way Foundation from United States of America.
For further information about TECDEN you can visit our offices which are located at Posta House opposite Ministry of Home affairs 3rd Floor room no 303. You can as well contact the Acting Executive Director through mobile No. +255 754 690556/714 818969 or through e mail ecdnetwork@gmail.com or ghumpibr@yahoo.com or visit our website www. Tecden.org
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