Basic Info

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Nominee Information

Institutional Information

Member State Thailand
Institution Name Faculty of Nursing, Mahidol University
Institution Type Ministry
Ministry Type Ministry of Education
Administrative Level National
Name of initiative Driving Early Childhood Issues through the District Quality of Life Development Committee: Central a
Projects Operational Years 3
Website of Institution www.ns.mahidol.ac.th

Question 1: About the Initiative

Is this a public sector initiative? Yes

Question 2: Categories

Is the initiative relevant to one of the UNPSA categories? Enhancing the effectiveness of public institutions to reach the SDGs
UNPSACriteria
NoItems

Question 3: Sustainable Development Goals

Is the initiative relevant to any of the 17 SDG(s)? Yes
If you answered yes above, please specify which SDG is the most relevant to the initiative. (hold Ctrl to select multiple)
Goal 1: No Poverty
Goal 2: Zero Hunger
Goal 3: Good Health
Goal 4: Quality Education
Goal 10: Reduced Inequalities
Goal 17: Partnerships for the goals
Which target(s) within the SDGs specified above is the initiative relevant to? (hold Ctrl to select multiple)
1.4 By 2030, ensure that all men and women, in particular the poor and the vulnerable, have equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to basic services, ownership and control over land and other forms of property, inheritance, natural resources, appropriate new technology and financial services, including microfinance
2.2 By 2030, end all forms of malnutrition, including achieving, by 2025, the internationally agreed targets on stunting and wasting in children under 5 years of age, and address the nutritional needs of adolescent girls, pregnant and lactating women and older persons
3.2 By 2030, end preventable deaths of newborns and children under 5 years of age, with all countries aiming to reduce neonatal mortality to at least as low as 12 per 1,000 live births and under-5 mortality to at least as low as 25 per 1,000 live births
3.3 By 2030, end the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and neglected tropical diseases and combat hepatitis, water-borne diseases and other communicable diseases
3.8 Achieve universal health coverage, including financial risk protection, access to quality essential health-care services and access to safe, effective, quality and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all
4.1 By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education 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
4.b By 2020, substantially expand globally the number of scholarships available to developing countries, in particular least developed countries, small island developing States and African countries, for enrolment in higher education, including vocational training and information and communications technology, technical, engineering and scientific programmes, in developed countries and other developing countries
10.1 By 2030, progressively achieve and sustain income growth of the bottom 40 per cent of the population at a rate higher than the national average
10.2 By 2030, empower and promote the social, economic and political inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or other status
10.3 Ensure equal opportunity and reduce inequalities of outcome, including by eliminating discriminatory laws, policies and practices and promoting appropriate legislation, policies and action in this regard
17.17 Encourage and promote effective public, publicprivate and civil society partnerships, building on the experience and resourcing strategies of partnerships

Question 4: Implementation Date

Has the initiative been implemented for two or more years Yes
Please provide date of implemenation (dd/MM/yyyy) 02 Oct 2017

Question 5: Partners

Has the United Nations or any UN agencies been involved in this initiative? No
Which UN agency was involved? (hold Ctrl to select multiple)
Please provide details

Question 6: Previous Participation

1. Has the initiative submitted an application for consideration in the past 3 years (2017-2019)? No

Question 7: UNPSA Awards

Has the initiative already won a UNPS Award? No

Question 8: Other Awards

Has the initiative won other Public Service Awards? No

Question 9: How did you learn about UNPSA?

How did you learn about UNPSA? UN

Question 10: Validation Consent

I give consent to contact relevant persons and entities to inquire about the initiative for validation purpose. Yes

Question 1: About the Initiative

Is this a public sector initiative? Yes

Question 2: Categories

Is the initiative relevant to one of the UNPSA categories? Enhancing the effectiveness of public institutions to reach the SDGs
UNPSACriteria
NoItems

Question 3: Sustainable Development Goals

Is the initiative relevant to any of the 17 SDG(s)? Yes
If you answered yes above, please specify which SDG is the most relevant to the initiative. (hold Ctrl to select multiple)
Goal 1: No Poverty
Goal 2: Zero Hunger
Goal 3: Good Health
Goal 4: Quality Education
Goal 10: Reduced Inequalities
Goal 17: Partnerships for the goals
Which target(s) within the SDGs specified above is the initiative relevant to? (hold Ctrl to select multiple)
1.4 By 2030, ensure that all men and women, in particular the poor and the vulnerable, have equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to basic services, ownership and control over land and other forms of property, inheritance, natural resources, appropriate new technology and financial services, including microfinance
2.2 By 2030, end all forms of malnutrition, including achieving, by 2025, the internationally agreed targets on stunting and wasting in children under 5 years of age, and address the nutritional needs of adolescent girls, pregnant and lactating women and older persons
3.2 By 2030, end preventable deaths of newborns and children under 5 years of age, with all countries aiming to reduce neonatal mortality to at least as low as 12 per 1,000 live births and under-5 mortality to at least as low as 25 per 1,000 live births
3.3 By 2030, end the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and neglected tropical diseases and combat hepatitis, water-borne diseases and other communicable diseases
3.8 Achieve universal health coverage, including financial risk protection, access to quality essential health-care services and access to safe, effective, quality and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all
4.1 By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education 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
4.b By 2020, substantially expand globally the number of scholarships available to developing countries, in particular least developed countries, small island developing States and African countries, for enrolment in higher education, including vocational training and information and communications technology, technical, engineering and scientific programmes, in developed countries and other developing countries
10.1 By 2030, progressively achieve and sustain income growth of the bottom 40 per cent of the population at a rate higher than the national average
10.2 By 2030, empower and promote the social, economic and political inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or other status
10.3 Ensure equal opportunity and reduce inequalities of outcome, including by eliminating discriminatory laws, policies and practices and promoting appropriate legislation, policies and action in this regard
17.17 Encourage and promote effective public, publicprivate and civil society partnerships, building on the experience and resourcing strategies of partnerships

Question 4: Implementation Date

Has the initiative been implemented for two or more years Yes
Please provide date of implemenation (dd/MM/yyyy) 02 Oct 2017

Question 5: Partners

Has the United Nations or any UN agencies been involved in this initiative? No
Which UN agency was involved? (hold Ctrl to select multiple)
Please provide details

Question 6: Previous Participation

1. Has the initiative submitted an application for consideration in the past 3 years (2017-2019)? No

Question 7: UNPSA Awards

Has the initiative already won a UNPS Award? No

Question 8: Other Awards

Has the initiative won other Public Service Awards? No

Question 9: How did you learn about UNPSA?

How did you learn about UNPSA? UN

Question 10: Validation Consent

I give consent to contact relevant persons and entities to inquire about the initiative for validation purpose. Yes

Nomination form

Questions/Answers

Question 1

Please briefly describe the initiative, what issue or challenge it aims to address and specify its objectives. (300 words maximum)
Early childhood is the most important time since all developments occurs rapidly. It is a foundation of child growth and learning. Many young Thai children have problems about health and development. The child, family, community, and health service factors contribute to these problems. The initiative, Driving Early Childhood Issues Through the District Quality of Life Development Committee: Central and Western Regions” has been funded by the Thai Health Promotion Foundation since 2013. It aims to improve the quality of the early childhood development centers under the local administration supervision in the central and western regions of Thailand. The early phase focused on the mobilization of all stakeholders’ collaboration to transform Ban-Rat-cha-kram early childhood development center in Bang-sai district, Phra Nakhon-Sri Aryuthatya province, to be a learning center. This resulted in quality child care and the learning center which support early childhood development in such area. The academic team further gained opportunities for development through the District Quality Board (DHB). This committee, consisting of the representatives from public and private sectors, the civil societal representatives, worked collaborately to imposed initiative of quality of life improvement as the local policy. Each year, the board committee selected issues for improvement. Then, the academic team presented projects to the DHB concerning the selected issues at district level. The DHB of Bang-sai district proposed strategies to work on early childhood, in which a child’s moral, healthy physical and mental, intelligence, and good social skills were the goals. Base on the stakeholders’ agreement, the issue from 2017 to 2020 were a promotion of executive function (EF) among early childhood. Through effective collaboration of community health volunteers, teachers, parents, nurses, public health professionals, physicians, and the DHB, EF were promoted to early childhood in its catchment area

Question 2

Please explain how the initiative is linked to the selected category. (100 words maximum)
The initiative is linked to increasing efficiency of public sectors for sustainable development. As the DHB of Bang-sai district desired to increase its efficiency and recognized that early childhood care is vital. The structure of DHB was found to enable collaboration work from all stakeholders. With assistive supports from an academic team, the public sector is further strengthened and able to resolve important problems early childhood in the country, leading to continuity and sustainability.

Question 3

a. Please specify which SDGs and target(s) the initiative supports and describe concretely how the initiative has contributed to their implementation. (200 words maximum)
The initiative aligns with the Sustainable Development Goal 1, 2, 3, 4, 10, and 17, that is- all of children residing in the area are targets of care whether he/she are staying at home or attending the early childhood centers. Comprehensive areas of care including health services, education, and right to have good quality of life, were provided to every child. There were processes to form local key leaders, for example, knowledge and skill trainings, empower and build competency of sharing knowledge or training others. In addition, the initiative focused on stakeholders’ participation and mobilized DHB to annually initiate issues about care of early childhood, resulting in continuous and sustain development. Utilization of these strategies helped strengthen the public sectors in term of ongoing work.
b. Please describe what makes the initiative sustainable in social, economic and environmental terms. (100 words maximum)
There was collaborative work between public and private sectors in the initiative. Meeting was scheduled every trimester to plan and mobilize early childhood development strategies. Monitoring activities were conducted to facilitate planning adjustments according to each local context. For example, in case parents are not available to join activities at the center, community health volunteers will visit a family at home in order to help parents promote their children’s EF.In addition to parents’ education,funding from local public sectors is used to design spaces that promotes EF within a community such as playground and activities in the early childhood centers.

Question 4

a. Please explain how the initiative has addressed a significant shortfall in governance, public administration or public service within the context of a given country or region. (200 words maximum)
Overall benefit of this initiative is equality of care provision in Bang-sai area, no matter that they are children living at home, attending an early childhood center, or admitted in a hospital. Together, all sectors work toward the same mission and goal, that is – quality of care for early childhood. The vision of this initiative is that the child being moral, healthy both in physical and mental, and intelligent children with good social skills” Five strategic plans include 1) building family capacity 2) enhancing quality of educational institutes 3) development of system and mechanism for integrative and active work 4) development and utilization of database and 5) accessibility to public health service system and welfare for pregnant women and at-risk children.
b. Please describe how your initiative addresses gender inequality in the country context. (100 words maximum)
There is no direct aim at decreasing gender inequality in this initiative. However, there is no gender bias in the child’s right to take part in this initiative or participate in activities at any level including information provision, data analysis, or even in strategic planning process. It is believed that every person has similar right and vote to give opinion beneficial to early childhood in Bang-sai district. Furthermore, the initiative benefits primarily to children in the local area.
c. Please describe who the target group(s) were, and explain how the initiative improved outcomes for these target groups. (200 words maximum)
The target groups consisted of persons living in five Tambons of Bang-sai district (Ratchakram, TaChang-yai, Kackanang,Chaing-Rark-Noimn,Bang-sai).There were three groups of participants: 1) 47,000 residents of five Tambons 2) 21 members of the Bang-Sai DHB. According to the legislations, members of DHB are composed of a district-chief officer as chairman, a chief of the district public health office as secretary, and representatives from public, private, civil sectors. The DHB is responsible for propelling and encouraging utilization of early childhood strategies, as well as monitoring, evaluation, offering opinions/suggestions for problem solving every year. Moreover,in the past 2 years, the academic team is part of the Bang-sai DHB. 3) 100 public health officers including village health volunteers, nurses, and physicians. These people participated in planning and implementing the strategies.While public health officers of every tambon were the key workers, the village health volunteers acted as leaders to propel implementation in communities, because they had access to every residents, were experienced and trained about early childhood development. 4) 27 teachers/ caregivers who cared for early childhood on day-time. Their responsibilities were to collaborate with parents in a formation of care plan, which helped parents to obtain correct, completed, and updated information.

Question 5

a. Please describe how the initiative was implemented including key developments and steps, monitoring and evaluation activities, and the chronology. (300 words)
The first phase (2013-2016) involved capacity building of the Rat-cha-kram early childhood development center in Bang-sai District. Community participation was the primary focus. The participating organizations were Rat-cha-kram municipal office, Rat-cha-kram health promoting hospital, and other participants, including teachers/caregivers, community members, and parents. Benchmarking tool was used. The outcomes were: 1) an early childhood development learning center, where knowledge was transferred to staffs caring for early childhood to promote quality work according to the Standard of Early Childhood Development Center; 2) the children had standard growth and development; 3) parents and community participation was generated for project sustainability. These outcomes led to the initiative scaling up in 23 tambons of Bang-sai district. The second phase (2017-2020) focused on sustainable development through a public sector in the community, the DHB. This phase aimed to set an annual policy to improve the quality of life in various aspects for Bang-sai district’s population. The academic staff presented the survey results about children’s quality of life to the DHB and encouraged them to construct the early childhood strategies. Activities were conducted with participation of all stakeholders. The implementation process included selection of issue of the year, e.g. caring and referral of under-development children, EF development. The local public health staffs were the primary workers responsible for: provision of education to village health volunteers about child development screening, EF promotion, home visit, teaching parents how to promote EF; supporting teachers as trainers, so that every child and parents recieved similar service/knowledge. Conclusion of outcomes and lesson learned were documented. Local staffs (village health volunteers, teachers/caregivers) reported their work and collaborate with the district-public health officers in each DHB meeting
b. Please clearly explain the obstacles encountered and how they were overcome. (100 words)
DHB is an established board at local level, consisting of public, private, civil sectors, and additional academic sector which belongs to the initiative. The objective was to regularly propel local issues to be developed according to local needs, to modify working process by adding participation of all stakeholders. In this initiative, DHB committee has developed strategies of early childhood care in their area based on local data, designed activities, implemented the plan, and constantly modified them.

Question 6

a. Please explain in what ways the initiative is innovative in the context of your country or region. (100 words maximum)
The innovations of early childhood strategies in Bang-sai district were: 1.Early childhood strategies were conducted and customized according to the characteristics of each setting, instead of the nationwide view point, and utilized in Bang-sai district as a pilot setting. 2.Systemic innovation of early childhood development with family and elderly participation. A center called “3 gen center” was established for activities. 3.EF promotion innovation with local stakeholders’ participation(teachers/caregivers, parents, village health volunteers).A user friendly EF assessment tool for village health volunteers, EF promotion home activities for parents, the EF curriculum for early childhood were established.
b. Please describe, if relevant, how the initiative drew inspiration from successful initiatives in other regions, countries and localities. (100 words maximum)
This initiative was a part of the project entitled “Family and community-based academic support for child well-being”. The Faculty of Nursing, Chiangmai University was responsible in the northern region,Srinakharinwirot University was responsible in the eastern and north-eastern regions,and Ban-dub-Muang Association was responsible in the southern region. Faculty of Nursing, Mahidol University was responsible for the central region. Since 2013, all organizations has together set up the initiative’s goals,consultative meetings every 2 months, implementation guideline. There were share and learn activities about the results with each other to motivate continuing work in every setting, resulting in successful outcomes countrywide.
c. If emerging and frontier technologies were used, please state how these were integrated into the initiative and/or how the initiative embraced digital government. (100 words maximum)
The DHB invited all stakeholders to develop the EF promotion. Easy to use learning activities and medias were conducted. 1.A VDO “Promoting early childhood’s EF for health care team, village health volunteer, teacher/caregiver, and parents.” 2.An early childhood’s EF promotion handbook for parents. 3.EF promotion: home visit guideline for village health volunteers 4.Support for teachers in developing an integrated EF promotion curriculum. 5.Facilitation of training courses on screening and promoting child development and EF to train health care team, village health volunteer, teacher /caregiver to become trainers.

Question 7

a. Has the initiative been transferred and/or adapted to other contexts (e.g. other cities, countries or regions) to your organization’s knowledge? If yes, please explain where and how. (200 words maximum)
Two aspects from this initiative at Bang-sai were adapted in other sites. 1. The process of DHB development was applied in Tha-muang district, Kanchanaburi province. Then, a vulnerable early childhood screening and caring project was conducted. 2. Through participation of various sectors in the settings, EF promoting activities for early childhood were further used in parents training at Bann-Phu-Leab early childhood center, tamnon Nong-bua, Muang district, Kanchanaburi province, and Ayothaya early childhood center, Ayutthaya province. In addition, hospital’s health care staff further developed a next project to build parents’ capabilities of reading story from child illustrated books. The project was designed to collaborate with village health volunteers to promote EF for early childhood, in which activities were integrated in existing hospital’s parenting school sessions.
b. If not yet transferred/adapted to other contexts, please describe the potential for transferability. (200 words maximum)
This initiative composed of capacity building for key workers at all levels, in order to transfer knowledge to others involving early childhood. The DHB committees were able to transfer working processes, according to the planed early childhood strategies, to others in their network. Village health volunteers who were reinforced will powerfully transfer their success to early childhood network. Each year, there were share and learn events among workers from several sites to present outstanding outcomes. Furthermore, the Faculty of Nursing, Mahidol University has a policy to conduct at least 1 research project per year that is relevant to early childhood to synthesize and transfer knowledge to health care professionals.

Question 8

a. What specific resources (i.e. financial, human or others) were used to implement the initiative? (100 words maximum)
Resources used to implement the initiative are as follow: 1.Funding. Public funding was from budgets of DHB scheme, with financial support from the Thai Health Promotion Foundation via the project (responsible by the Faculty of Nursing, Mahidol University) of a local government and civil sector in the setting. 2.Human resource. The project is about local people’s capacity building, based on financial support from item 1, and academic support from the Faculty of Nursing, Mahidol University.
b. Please explain what makes the initiative sustainable over time, in financial and institutional terms. (100 words maximum)
Factors contributing to the initiative sustainability was a local DHB and its working abilities to gain stakeholders participation on early childhood development of in the area via collaboration of every sectors. Each year, the DHB chooses a significant issue from their strategies that they would like to work on, then designs activities e.g. brain executive function for successful life

Question 9

a. Was the initiative formally evaluated either internally or externally?
Yes
b. Please describe how it was evaluated and by whom? (100 words maximum)
There were internal assessments including self-assessment and DHB’s assessment of outcomes at the end of a fiscal year in order to determine an issue next year. External assessment was performed by the Thai Health Promotion Foundation. Suggestion about creating participation in the setting was offered, e.g. implementation of a local team and their budget usage, for example, use of a local government’s or other organizations’ budget, village health volunteer and parental trainings via an elderly club, etc.
c. Please describe the indicators and tools used. (100 words maximum)
Indicators consist of: 1.Outcomes according to the plan e.g. the project of early childhood strategic mobilization at district level at least 25%, quality of local teamwork at the early childhood development center 2.Target’s outcomes 3.Local stakeholder participation, assessed from integrative collaboration 4.The initiative sustainability and continuity in the settings 5.Scaling up in other organizations, e.g. filed study.
d. What were the main findings of the evaluation (e.g. adequacy of resources mobilized for the initiative, quality of implementation and challenges faced, main outcomes, sustainability of the initiative, impacts) and how is this information being used to inform the initiative’s implementation? (200 words maximum)
The initiative impacts included the following. 1. The initiative sustainability: the DHB has been continuously working on early childhood. There was a project about early childhood initiated by hospital staffs. 2. Innovation from routine work of teachers from early childhood centers in the network. An EF curriculum was collaboratively conducted. Teachers/caregivers from Sri-bang –sai center participated in knowledge transfer to teachers in four other centers. 3. Integrative work of various sectors involved multiple domains of early childhood care, e.g. early childhood centers have improved their curriculum and activities, parents receive suggestion from hospital’s parenting school, home visit by village health volunteers, and home activities of parents. 4. Capacity building for community members and health care professionals In term of education, there was application of knowledge and skills, important key persons were identified and raising awareness to further continue the work in the future, even after the academic team left the setting. 5. Children in the setting were equally taken care of. Those who do not attend the early childhood center also be promoted about child development and EF by village health volunteers and parents in parenting schools.

Question 10

Please describe how the initiative is inscribed in the relevant institutional landscape (for example, how is it situated with respect to relevant government agencies, and how have these institutional relationships been operating). (200 words maximum)
public and private sectors and NGOs in terms of: 1. Project implementation, goal setting, and sharing and learning the ongoing processes from each other, the Faculty of Nursing of Mahidol University, Chiang Mai University, Srinakharinwirot University, and Bann-dub-muang Association. 2. The Bang-sai DHB committee who propelled the strategies and project activities in them. 3. Public health staff applied knowledge they gained to parents in parenting school and conduct additional trainings about EF promotion for village health volunteers. e.g. the illustrated story book for EF promotion project. 4. Teachers/caregivers developed EF focus curriculum. 5. The Faculty of Nursing facilitated the project personals and provision of academic support in order to build capacity of local staff, e.g. educational personals (teacher/caregiver), public health professionals (public health staff, nurse, and village health volunteer), parents and community.

Question 11

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development puts emphasis on collaboration, engagement, partnerships, and inclusion. Please describe which stakeholders were engaged in designing, implementing and evaluating the initiative and how this engagement took place. (200 words maximum)
There were stakeholders from every sector participate in this initiative including public and private sectors as well as academic sectors. The collaborations were done in the following ways. 1.Identify key persons in the area who are responsible for each task, e.g. public health staff, teachers/caregivers, village health volunteers, and local administrators/academic staff 2.Construct stakeholder collaboration from designing strategies, plan of implementation, selected issue of interest, and project monitoring via the HDB meetings. 3.Integrative implementation which link and forward children’s information to relevant organizations, for example, a teacher’s assessment of the child was sent to health care professionals. 4.Equality or justice was established for children who do not attend the early childhood center to be promoted for EF through village health volunteers and parenting school in hospital.

Question 12

Please describe the key lessons learned, and how your organization plans to improve the initiative. (200 words maximum)
Lessons learned from this initiative were the process of early childhood district-working group establishment, and the use of early childhood development strategies, strategic and operational plans at district level to guide the initiative implementation. Another lesson learned was from integrative and participative work of relevant sectors to set the district’s public policies about early childhood well-being. Perception and awareness of quality development of early childhood increased. There were models of early childhood learning center and care center for transferring and benchmarking the working processes of early childhood development in settings. As for lessons learned from early childhood aspect, children living in the district were screened for development and make referral if needed. Child outcomes were occurred and similar to the goal of the HDB’s strategic plans. Community and relevant sectors’ participation helped reflect the problems and led to the needed solutions. Active administration and implementation enable the organizations to continue the initiative, establish key actors both at district and tambon levels including district-chief officer, director of public health office, local government officer, teacher/caregiver, and public health staff. Teamwork of these key actors was a vital factor to propel and implement the initiative to be apparently effective and sustainable.

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