Early Childhood Literacy & Nutrition in Guatemala

The Riecken Foundation believes that reading to children from an early age (0-5 years), stimulates the mind, develops language, and builds a base to ensure the success of reading in the future. The parents are childrens’ first teachers; so they need to be provided with tools and activities they can do with their families to promote reading at an early age and develop a reading habit that will continue throughout life.

Riecken Community Libraries are betting that growth of young children is best achieved in a healthy environment, at home, in school and in the community, key areas where critical knowledge and values for life are acquired. The libraries offer best practices for infant feeding through reading programs in coordination with health center programs that are responsible for the height and weight measurement of children and mothers over time, key indicators in child development. The interaction between mothers and parents with the children, against a backdrop of community support is essential to the program success.

Strengthening Riecken Community Libraries in Guatemala to improve healthier communities

The library staff in Chiché seized this opportunity with these mothers and responded directly to the community’s need to address the local challenge of high infant and child malnutrition. The Chiché Community Library “Ventanas abiertas al futuro”, developed an early childhood literacy and nutrition class to teach new parents child care and nutrition, including hands-on preparation of nutritional, appropriate, affordable foods for babies and young children, and the importance of reading and interacting with infants and toddlers as a critical part of healthy child development. Using a training guide and other materials, they are training to improve the knowledge of parents and caregivers of children to improve behavioral changes and the modification of inappropriate habits in child maternal health and nutrition through the stimulation of reading and promotion of good practices in hygiene, food and nutrition.

While a library may initially not seem to be the best place to address issues of chronic childhood malnutrition, for the past five years many Riecken community libraries have been doing so. The success we witness today is the result of overall collaboration, sharing and mutual respect, among USAID/ASHA, the Riecken Foundation, and local governments, health and education authorities of each community.

Learn more about the work of the Riecken Foundation and its network of community libraries in Guatemala.

Links:

• Our website