Wapushii (Venezuela)

• In Event: Early Childhood Innovations in Conflict and Crisis Contexts during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Proposal

Venezuela’s prolonged socioeconomic crisis has meant the vast majority of people have been affected by hyperinflation, scarcity of food and medicine, lack of health and education services, and the deterioration of other basic infrastructure, including water and sanitation. As the wave of coronavirus spread throughout Latin America in 2020, the majority of governments applied strict quarantine measures, forcing many Venezuelan refugees in host countries to relocate, often walking back to their home country.

In 2020, The IRC partnered with a local health organization, the sole health provider in the area, to improve access to essential health services and support pregnant women, lactating women, and their families to strengthen the caregiver-child bond and promote the cognitive stimulation of their children. The IRC prototyped the Reach up Learn curriculum, based on the Jamaican home visiting program (Grantham-McGregor & Smith, 2016), through human-centered design (HCD) methodologies. This approach tested the ways in which materials and services could be designed to inspire and support women and families to initiate playful early learning opportunities within their homes and during group sessions at the local health clinic, while ensuring that the program reflected the needs, values, and norms of the Wayuu indigenous community in Northern Venezuela. Key topics included: healthy eating and hygiene practices, parenting practices, safe hand-washing practices, counseling on responsive feeding, lactation, and stress management for caregivers. The IRC leveraged learnings and previously tested content from the various RUL adaptations including in the Middle East and implemented through the Ahlan Simsim program, as well as in Colombia and Bangladesh to develop Wapushii. Qualitative interviews with caregivers and facilitators as well as pre- post-surveys and implementation cost data will be analyzed to understand the cultural and contextual fit of the adaptation to the indigenous Wayuu community, and to reflect on the scalability and sustainability of the intervention.

Authors

• Eloisa Della Neve, IRC

• Katelin Wilton, International Rescue Committee

• Gabriela Pena, IRC