Holistic child development is about more than just changing the physical aspects of a child’s life. To be released from poverty, a child also needs to be able to grow to their full potential, and that includes their mind.
How cognitive development happens
Through sponsorship, children receive formal primary school education through at least grade 6 and adolescents receive support for secondary school or vocational training.
Poor nutrition is one of the things that threaten a child’s cognitive development. As we mentioned in the last post [insert link], through Compassion’s sponsorship, children get a healthy meal or snack at the Compassion centre, and they also receive extra support if they are malnourished. Having enough to eat can also help children focus in school better.
But having a healthy mind goes beyond just having the fuel to keep our minds going.
Through our holistic child development curriculum, we also give children extra support outside of school. Our dedicated volunteers help supplement children’s formal education with lessons that develop children’s minds, while also equipping adolescents with vocational skills.
Last, we also help adolescents plan for their future through “My Plan for Tomorrow.” This is a workbook that helps adolescents set goals for various areas of their lives and write out a plan for how they are going to meet those goals with the help of their Compassion centre. For example, a boy might write the goal: “I want to be a computer programmer.” His steps to achieving that would probably include learning computer skills, which the centre could help facilitate for him.
Through the holistic child development model, children aren’t just in school for today, they are developing skills and attitudes that will help them to become self-sustaining and responsible adults.