Total Environment Assessment Model for Early Child Development

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Spheres of Influence: Residential Community sizes the active engagement of members of a community [108]. Stocks of social capital and collective efficacy have been shown to be nurturant for children and their families, both in the context of urban neighbourhoods in resource-rich nations [108] as well as in the village context in resource-poor nations [109]. However neighbourhoods are not the only urban context in which children live. In the resource-poor nations, many children in cities live in slums. Though the scale of the problems encountered by slum dwellers is markedly more distinct than those of children in relatively poor neighbourhoods, the same sets of factors are applicable; the economic, physical, service, and social environments are all critical in this context as well. There are many places in which slums are established, mostly on undesirable land or abandoned properties. Slum homes are usually built from materials that are old and lack durability. The literature on slums suggests that lack of clean water, and adequate sanitation, and the use of cooking fuels in such severely crowded and unventilated abodes result in high levels of acute ailments for young children such as tuberculosis, diarrheal disease, parasitic infections, dengue fever, and acute respiratory infections [110, 111]. Compared to the physical environment, the social and service environments of slums have been far less examined. In part, this may be due to the sheer overwhelming nature of the physical environment. However, there is evidence that social features of slum communities are also critical. In Ahmedabad, India, several slum areas have received a host of social infrastructure from the Self Employed Women’s Association (sewa). sewa is a nonprofit ngo built on an ‘integrated services model’. In addition to micro-loans, sewa provides training, child care, medical, and other social services to its members and their families. Out of this arrangement, slum dwellers have not only received these services, but as well, the grass-roots, member-driven orientation of sewa has also facilitated dramatic development of social capital and collective efficacy in these communities. Children’s cognitive and socio-behavioral outcomes in the context of slums have not been explored in any notable way. Further research should attend to the long term developmental outcomes of children who reside in slums. In addition, ecd outcomes of children living in slums may be influenced by the broader context, and this is also worthy of further investigation. For example, the role of organizations such as sewa in mitigating the adverse effects of slum conditions should be explored systematically. As well, the influence of national governments that provide greater universal access to basic nutrition, schooling, and health services is also an important avenue for future research. Though strategies for improving the prospects of children may vary by the type of the locality, much can be learned and translated from past efforts in different contexts. The example of sewa provides evidence that a multi-sectoral, community-based approach provides great benefits to children and their families. An approach known as Asset Based Community Development (abcd) has also been shown to increase the social capital/collective efficacy of communities in the United States. The principle of abcd is to move from assessing the needs and deficits of communities to identifying and mobilizing their strengths and assets [112]. Five key factors have been identified including 1) the skills and capacities of the individuals who reside in the community, 2) the associations found within the community (i.e. groups of residents from the locality who come together for a common purpose), 3) institutions such as government agencies, businesses, and non-profit organizations, 4) economic development potential and 5) land and other physical assets [112, 113]. In the Seattle, Washington area, a broad-based approach was used to make local neighborhoods more nurturant for children. The public health authority there used a multi-pronged approach, including 1) developing partnerships with ecd stakeholders, 2) building a common knowledge base, 3) developing a local policy agenda, 4) organizing support at the community level, and 5) monitoring the policy environment. 42
Total Environment Assessment Model for Early Child Development The policy changes developed and implemented included those that addressed improvements in basic services in early childhood, as well as improvements in more structural factors, such as improving lowincome housing conditions, and fostering the development of civil society groups in local areas [11 4]. Finally, it is critical that grass-roots efforts (and citizens in general) also engage the larger policy-making levels that have strong influence on the conditions of localities. Though much can be done at a local level, residential communities are embedded within a larger societal context that affect their environments and resources, and that influence inequalities between residential communities. Regions and nations hold considerable accountability for inequities in the extent to which residential communities of children are nurturant. key messages: residential community 1. The integrity and accessibility of physical space in which children can explore and play is critical for all three domains of ecd. 2 . The physical, socioeconomic, and service aspects of residential communities all strongly influence ecd. Spheres of Influence: Residential Community 43
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