COUABORATION WITH OTHER INTERNATIONAL AGENCIES IN COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMES : THE NIGERIAN EXPERIENCE. Christie Ade Ajayi University of Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria.

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When we talk and work so hard for the welfare of children in preschool institutions, we tend to forget the immediate world they live in. For example, the father and mother who need as much education and development as the child, especially at the grass roots level. In most cases, we in OMEP, do our best to improve the lot of the child in preschool, through inservice training for teachers, in working for children and with children. UNICEF works for the development of both children and parents, as well as the community.

to look after children - supervrsinq their play activities, telling them stories, teaching songs and rhymes and counting in their mother tongue. The other women are usually busy making the gari for consumption and sale, but the roster is made so that all the mothers have a chance to assist in the programme. What I found surprising however, was that most of the mothers do not know the old folklore and rhymes and are unable to sing or tell the children stories!. Some of the teachers had to teach the mothers and the children these.

In the last two years, OMEP Nigeria (Oyo State Chapter), has been involved with other NGO's and agencies like UNICEF and Van Leer Foundation, in the field of community development in the rural areas as well as with the disadvantaged families in the urban cities.

For the nutritional part of the project, UNICEF, assisted by the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA), arranged for the teaching of mothers in producing milk and doughnuts from soya beans (a very nutritious meal), which was served daily to the children. This has improved the diet of the villagers, especially the children. The project has brought much happiness to the whole village - men women and children.

UNICEF Grass-root Day-care centres. Through my representation of OMEP Nigeria, I was invited to the UNICEF/Ministry of Education Technical Committee for Women's Development and Basic Education for the Preschool Child. These projects are usually carried to the villages where UNICEF helps in putting bore-hole wells for the villagers and machines are provided for the women to make gar; (from cassava) which is one of our staple foods. This helped women make extra money for the family.

It was my involvement with this project that encouraged the OMEP Oyo State Chapter to venture into the Market Nursery School. We thank OMEP International for their donation of $1000 towards this project and the $400 given to the Lagos State Chapter for library books for children.

I have been involved in the Basic Education of the Preschool Child both as a consultant and a trainer. We have had three workshops where I served as a resource person as well as a trainer in Early Childhood Education for the rural areas. There are Day Care Centres in the villages where we members of the committee have been able to assist. For example, the Olorunda Day Care Project, where a teacher and basic toys were provided and the village preschool children were housed in their community hall.

OMEP/ Van Leer Nigerian Education Trust. Omep Nigeria has also been involved with the Van Leer Education Trust Project on writing books in the mother tongue for mothers in adult literacy. Having written a paper on the topic of mothers as first teachers of their children, I advocated this to PTA's on several occasions. As a representative of OMEP Nigeria, I became fully involved in their workshops acting as a consultant and later, a reviewer of the Yoruba version of the book - Iya ni Tisa, (Mothers as First Teachers of their Children)

Two mothers take it in turns every week to assist the teacher, thereby learning how

These books were launched in the North, West and East, in the three languages;

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Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa. The series of books 1-3 are now a landmark in the history of adult education in Nigeria. One set of women have used the books as a pilot project and graduated with certificates. Plenty of local nursery rhymes and jingles are in these books and they go from ante-natal to preschool age. Testimonies from the homes of these women comment that the women involved have become more loving and caring, and that the home situation is generally happier. In fact, some of the husbands even came to see what was happening in the adult education class, their interest was so great!. By the end of the pilot classes the women wanted to continue, which made us as happy as the women. Mothers need to know their children and must know what to do with them and how to love and care for them well. This is why it is important to educate mothers in understanding their children.

and the importance of play which involved more than the previous repetition of ABC and 123, was stressed. The need for caregivers and parents to understand their children was stressed. Children were weighed regularly, to record growth and development. Social activities such as excursions were arranged and about what the discussions followed, children saw. Parties were and are arranged during the Christmas and Easter holidays. Life has been generally happier for the children, care-givers as well as their families. Progress of care-givers is slow but it is steady and the project committee is working hard to make sure the funding is well ustilised, as different plans have been made throughout the year. Training of Nursery School Teachers. The greatest achievement of OMEP in the community and social involvement is our success in getting our premier university, The University of Ibadan, Oyo State, to start a course in Nursery School Education. Having been deeply concerned about the non-availability of training for preschool teachers in Nigeria, OMEP Nigeria, Oyo State Chapter, wrote to the University of Ibadan in October 1989, asking if it could start a training programme for Nursery School teachers. After going through the Faculty Board and the Senate of the University, the course started in September 1991. I have now been drafted into teaching one of the course units. Previously, many teacher learned on the job, instructed by proprietors, or through workshops organised by OMEP Nigeria and Nursery Proprietors and Teachers Association. So, this is a major landmark in the history of OMEP Nigeria, as the first set of teachers will be going to their second year in August 1992. We thank OMEP International for lending us its weight in achieving a major breakthrough.

The other project which is really OMEP Nigeria's baby, is the Mushin project of OMEP/Van Leer in Lagos. There are many nursery schools, day care centres and play groups of all sorts and various conditions, some very good and others very bad. Many of the sub-standard schools are in the slum areas and are being run by the unemployed men, women, grandmothers etc.. When the Ministry of Education officials go on inspection and close some down, they re-open after a few weeks. OMEP Nigeria therefore came to the conclusion that the best thing to do was to assist these mushroom preschool institutions in raising their standards. Van Leer came to the aid of OMEP and funding has been granted since 1991. The project planned a strategy for the urgent areas of need. How many of these schools will be involved? 100 such institutions were chosen for the project. Of course in the Mushin area alone, there are over 300!. We had to start with health and nutrition - workshops to bring these caregivers and parents together in a most simple way. Water tanks and first aid boxes were provided for the care-givers. Information on a balanced diet and how to achieve it was provided. Play toys were improvised and care-givers were taught how to make them, and the importance of using them. Stories, songs, rhymes etc.,

One important thing we in OMEP need to improve upon is the publicising of our Organisation and improving funding. We can only get these done through aggressive, positive activities in our different communities, so that governments - Local, State and Federal will get to know us, come to our aid and

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over 70 private nursery/primary schools participated in our State and the whole community knows about OMEP Nigeria and its activities for children. The need to collaborate with other organisations has been proved our experience has shown how valuable it is, and our thanks are due to UNICEF, Van Leer and all the other NGO's and agencies who have helped us. **********

be ready to be of service when assistance is sought. OMEP Nigeria has been celebrating OMEP Children's Day for the past 6 years usually in May. At this time we invite all the VIP's ranging from state governors and wives, to business people, parents and the media. Some of these people come or send representatives and give or send donations. On this day, the children from 0-8 (pregnant women representing 0 children) have a march past. Last year

Nigeria: At the centre after the opening.

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