Chinacla, Honduras

Photographer: Andrea Borgarello

Year of Submission: 2016 (Educators Edition) 

In Arenales, a community in the town of Chinacla in central Honduras, parents are testing new ways of combining child care, nutrition, stimulation and learning for young children. Their goal is to help their children reach their full development potential by paying special attention to what they do and eat during their most important developmental years, the first two years of life. As part of the programme, launched by the Honduran government with World Bank support in 2007, staff assess each child individually, establishing his or her specific needs. Community volunteers then help parents figure out how to apply the findings of these assessments with regular family visits. The programme emphasises how parents and other caregivers can take care of the emotional and physical needs of their children, playing and talking with them, and exposing them to words, numbers and ideas as they go about their everyday activities.