Colombian Government Advocates for Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) in Education to Promote Wellbeing and Social Justice
Executive Summary
The children and families served by the Colombian Institute of Family Welfare (ICBF) through its early education services are a vulnerable population exposed to stressful situations such as pandemics, impoverished households, and violence that put their socioemotional development, emotional well-being and mental health at risk. “Sanar para Crecer” (Healing to Grow) was created by the ICBF as a strategy to prioritize mental health and socioemotional development in early childhood within the national agenda, based on the fact that the first 5 years of life of any human being are crucial for his or her future development. This strategy has started with a pilot implemented between March and June of 2022 and consisted of 2 modules with a total of 10 sessions: Module 1: Knowing myself through mindfulness (5 sessions) and Module 2: Transforming my relationships through mindfulness (5 sessions). Currently a second version is being implemented with 3 modules, which now include sessions specialized in contents to be applied with children and families and with a total duration of 11 face-to-face sessions, each one of two hours.
Implementation
The strategy is implemented in two target populations at different levels:
Level 1. Human talent that leads the early childhood care services participates in the training sessions strengthening their emotional well-being and mental health and acquiring tools for working with girls, boys and families fostering the development of their socioemotional skills through mindfulness.
Level 2. Children, pregnant women and families who benefit from the early childhood care services offered by the human talent that participate in “Sanar para Crecer” are accompanied by this human talent, who make use of tools to promote their emotional wellbeing through mindfulness.
Stakeholders and partners involved
Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) through the support of Innovation for Poverty Actions (IPA); ICBF ecosystem, such as regional, zonal centers and service operators
Impact
Stress reduction, emotions identification and management, workload management; Increased empowerment (ability to set limits); Increased self-esteem (self-worth or self-esteem); Increased motivation and energy in daily tasks; Improved relationships with co-workers, children, and pregnant women; Perceived improvement in health (related to less frequent headaches)
Benefits identified by facilitators: Less reactive and non-judgmental communication with families; Loving and compassionate treatment of self, children, and pregnant women.
Innovations
An Innovative Approach Promoting Stakeholder Engagement, Mindfulness-based Early Education, and Socioemotional Skill Development
“Sanar para Crecer” is an innovative approach that, from a systemic view of mental health and emotional well-being, understands the fundamental role played by key stakeholders (fathers, mothers, caregivers) in the development of socioemotional skills that children in early childhood must develop in order to relate to each other in a healthy and harmonious way.It also involves an innovation exercise with the use of methodologies and pedagogical practices within the reach of the early childhood population, adapting practices based on: programmes based on Mindfulness (Kabat- Zinn, 2003) adapted to the educational context (Mañas, 2014) and specifically in early education. Socioemotional skills learning model (CASEL, 2018)
Constraints
Since the programme is still in a pilot and refinement phase, the main constraints have been financial, but have not seriously affected the development of the implementation.
Key Factors for Successful Initiatives: Tailored Programs, Pre-enrollment Experiences, Resources, and Monitoring
Defining Targeting Characteristics that recognize the heterogeneity of human talent in terms of stress levels, work overload, emotional regulation, and discomfort. This ensures that programmes cater to the diverse needs of participants while recognizing existing coverage restrictions.
Addressing Lack of Knowledge and Uncertainty by designing a pre-enrollment session (´Session 0´). This allows human talent to experience the strategy before enrolling, aligning their expectations by providing information on the initiative´s scope and logistical aspects.
Importance of Providing Tangible Resources such as physical materials beyond the programme sessions. Participants showed interest in having these resources to support their learning and growth.
Effective Monitoring Strategies by constructing a monitoring plan aligned with the identified indicators in the strategy´s theory of change. This enables effective tracking of progress and evaluation of outcomes by the Laboratory team and the ´Sanar para Crecer´ team in September 2022.