Activating Parish Systems to Support Whole Child Development
摘要
Recognizing that each Catholic parish in Haiti operates a school and is deeply integrated into local culture and home life, an initial, narrowly focused education program evolved into broader efforts. These efforts aim to activate parish community networks to address children's holistic needs across three key ecological levels: the home, school, and church or, in Haitian Creole, lakay, lekòl, legliz—collectively referred to as “L3.” This chapter outlines initiatives to incorporate early childhood development (ECD) as a core component of a comprehensive community education system, and to align complementary interventions within these three domains. It highlights the outcomes of iterative research and program learning approaches, including a qualitative systems impact study. Challenges related to donor funding constraints, such as prohibitions on using education funds to address food insecurity and nutritional deficits, are also discussed.