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On January 20 and 21, 2021, the Training Center for the Ministry of Children and Adolescents (MINNA) in Asuncion, Paraguay held a competencies workshop for early childhood care and education personnel. The event was organized within the framework of actions that MINNA has developed at the regional level as the institution representing Paraguay in the Inter-American Children’s Institute (IIN-OAS) and at the local level through the coordination of the National Strategy for Comprehensive Early Childhood Care Kunu’u.
The workshop’s main goal was to create a platform to reflect on early childhood training conducive to the design of a national competencies framework for early childhood care and education personnel. Approximately 25 representatives from various institutions participated, including the Ministry of Education and Science (MEC), the Ministry of Public Health and Social Welfare (MSPyBS), the National Institute of Higher Education (INAES), the Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Security (MTESS), and the Union of Production Guilds (UGPR).
The event was coordinated by Javier Quesada, former undersecretary of the National Secretariat for Early Childhood, Adolescence and Family of the Argentine Ministry of Social Development, and Claudia Castro, an education and health specialist and advisor to the Argentine Society of Pediatrics. Quesada and Castro have extensive regional experience in early childhood issues and have led the Inter-American Dialogue and Lego Foundation‘s joint technical support initiative.
Among the main workshop’s results were the identification of existing gaps between training needs and existing offers; the formulation of competency guidelines for Paraguay; and proposals and recommendations for the development of training and governmental certification.
As a complementary activity, on Saturday January 22, consultants visited MINNA’s Child Development Center (EDI) Kunu’u Renda and the Child and Family Welfare Center (CEBINFA) Santa Teresita. They conducted interviews with caregivers of the Institute of Social Welfare (IBS) to survey direct care practices of personnel with caregiving experience without professional or technical training.
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