Taking parenting to the next level
EU and Unicef join forces in supporting Montenegro develop an effective early childhood development programme improving the wellbeing of children and supporting caregivers.
31/08/2022
Mišo Obradović is a father of two, and a well-known actor in Montenegro. He likes spending his free time with his four-year-old daughter and one-year-old son. However, despite his ambition to be a perfect parent, he had communication issues with his daughter. “My daughter stayed at the table for a long time during lunch, which is a problem many parents face, but I didn’t know the best way to solve it,” says Mišo
He admits that he tried to resolve this challenge on his own in various ways – from bribing his daughter with sweets to threatening her with punishment. However, he realised that this approach was not yielding the intended results. “Sometimes, I would lose patience. Other times, I would have too much patience, and in those cases the meals would last forever,” he says.
“I decided to apply for the Caring Families programme not only because of this particular problem but also because of the general desire to be a better parent to my children,” he explains. Using principles from the programme, together with expert advice and conversations with other fathers who participated in the programme, Mišo learned how to motivate his daughter to finish her meal using positive incentives. “She accepted this new situation calmly and I decided to keep my composure, so we are no longer frustrated with lingering around at the table for an hour and a half after lunchtime.”
“Parenting programmes not only help with reducing harsh discipline, but also provide support to children on how to be non-violent as well. Parents are a model for children’s behaviour, so raising children in non-violent families may contribute to non-violent communities.”
Ida Ferdinandi Early Childhood Development office, Unicef MontenegroCaring Families is a parenting programme that supports parents to establish and sustain nurturing relationships with their children. The programme is financed directly by the EU in Montenegro as part of the Early Childhood Development project implemented by Unicef. Ida Ferdinandi is Unicef’s Early Childhood Development officer in Montenegro and she explains that parenting programmes have been recognised globally as one of the key strategies to prevent violence against children. “In fact, Parenting programmes not only help with reducing harsh discipline, but also provide support to children on how to be non-violent as well. Parents are a model for children’s behaviour, so raising children in non-violent families may contribute to non-violent communities.”
Ida explains that there are several evidence-based programmes such as this one around the world, but that these programmes are generally hard to access because of a license fee that is very expensive. The World Health Organisation, as well as experts from various universities and Unicef, therefore developed this particular programme (Parenting for Lifelong Health, called Caring Families in Montenegro) as a licensed, evidence-based but open source programme for low- and middle-income countries such as Montenegro.
In Montenegro, the programme has been implemented for over five years. With two cycles per year, the programme has reached more than 800 parents in seven municipalities. 700 of the parents have successfully completed the programme. A study that measured the impact of the programme among the participants shows that there was a more than 70% reduction in violent parenting, a 30% reduction in child behaviour problems and 45% reduction in parental depression. “The impact of the project is fantastic,” says Ida.
An online version of the Caring Families Programme called ParentChat was piloted during COVID-19 in an effort to mitigate the impacts of COVID-19 on children and families in the Western Balkans and Turkey.
“We are trying to build a human resource capacity for the programme to develop sustainably, and we are also working with the Ministry of Health on a national early childhood development strategy so the programme is integrated into government policy and action as regular service provision.”
Ida Ferdinandi Early Childhood Development officer in Montenegro, UnicefThe Caring Families programme in Montenegro is being delivered by primary health care centres who have counselling units, as well as by kindergartens and several civil society organisations and primary schools. Unicef is also working on scaling up the programme to ensure its sustainability. The programme is providing training for new local facilitators with the aim of building a pool of national trainers, so that it doesn’t have to rely solely on international experts to deliver the programme. “We are trying to build a human resource capacity for the programme to develop sustainably, and we are also working with the Ministry of Health on a national early childhood development strategy so the programme is integrated into government policy and action as regular service provision,” says Ida.
Mišo says that the model of parenting has changed from when he was a child, and that fathers want to be more involved in raising their children. “I want to be a father who is close to his children during the critical periods of their lives; to be a support to them, and provide guidance for the decisions that await them in life,” he says.
About the project
The early childhood development initiative in Montenegro is a three-year programme that will last until July 2023. It is funded by the European Union with €1 million and implemented by Unicef, in cooperation with the Ministries of Health, Education, and Labour and Social Welfare. Thanks to the initiative, the EU and Unicef will help the Montenegrin authorities to develop and implement a national strategy on early childhood development, thereby also raising the overall awareness of the importance of early child development. The capacities of health, protection and education services to deliver appropriate services to families and young children, including children with disabilities, will be increased. Parents and caregivers will also have the opportunity to acquire new knowledge and skills via the programme, making it easier for them to provide their children with positive, responsive and nurturing care.
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Photo credits: Dusko Miljanic,Unicef