Interview - George Furnival, Krizevac Project UK Co-ordinator
Friday, July 20, 2012
The charity set up the first children's centre in Malawi, Africa, which is based on the Sure Start model.
What difference has the children's centre made to the children living in Chilomoni?
Building and opening the children's centre has had the biggest impact on the village. There are some early years settings in Malawi, but many are overcrowded, hot and have no resources.
One half of the children's centre that we opened in January is a two-storey, purpose-built setting designed to care for 250 children. Floor and staff ratios are based on UK standards and all eight rooms have access to the outdoors for free-flow play.
What impact has it had on the community?
The centre currently cares for 60 children and is the biggest employer in the area. For many of the staff working at the children's centre, it is their first job. There is a high rate of unemployment in Malawi. Many of the caregivers have said that working at the centre has changed the way they parent.
You recruit volunteers from the UK to go to Chilomoni - what part have they played in launching the children's centre?
Two volunteers - Marian Pearson, an EYP lecturer, and David Meechan, an experienced KS1 teacher and childcarer worker - answered an appeal in Nursery World to develop and deliver a training programme to students. They spent 20 months in Malawi, writing the course and training 75 students who now work as caregivers at the children's centre.
How can early years practitioners in the UK help?
We will be recruiting volunteers to work at the centre for the next two years.
We are looking for experienced people with skills to volunteer to work at the centre. We are also looking for senior practitioners to work as centre managers, childcare managers, childcare trainers and outreach managers. The outreach managers will work in the second part of the centre, which opens in November, and will offer the full range of Sure Start services.
What are your hopes for the children's centre for the future?
The immediate goal is to make the children's centre sustainable without the need for UK volunteers. At the moment we are having to grow the centre team ourselves and bring in volunteers to use their experience to train caregivers and share their good practice. It would be lovely to replicate the children's centre model elsewhere in Africa.
- To find out more, contact George Furnival on 0845 0036004 or e-mail george.furnival@krizevac.org
