Very promising results from the pilot implementation of the adapted Media Initiative for Children Respecting Difference Programme in Kyrgyzstan

The results of a pilot implementation of the adapted Media Initiative for Children (MIFC) Respecting Difference Programme in Kyrgyzstan, developed by Early Years - the organisation for young children in Northern Ireland, have been launched during a major online International Early Child Development and Peacebuilding conference, hosted by Queen’s University Belfast and Lancaster University, taking place this week.

The research team from Kyrgyzstan, supported by Osh University, Queens University Belfast and the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, used the same research measurement tools that had been used to measure the effectiveness of the programme in Northern Ireland and measured the attitudes of children, parents and teachers to ethnic difference, gender and disability. A pre-test baseline study showed children exhibiting similar views to diversity, but in a post-test follow up, after an implementation group had received the programme, there were positive changes to children’s willingness to play with others from a different ethnic group and gender. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic it was not possible to fully follow up with the teachers and parents. This follow up will happen in the full roll out of the programme in the academic year beginning September 2021.

Teachers found the cartoon messages, the persona dolls and training programme which had been adapted from the Northern Ireland programme especially useful in dealing with issues of difference and ethnicity.

Pauline Walmsley, Chief Executive Officer of Early Years, said “We are delighted to be a member of the LINKS partnership, which has enabled Early Years to support the adaptation of the Media Initiative for Children Respecting Difference Programme in Kyrgyzstan. We have worked with Queen’s University in Northern Ireland over the past 20 years and it is wonderful now to be able to share this knowledge in Kyrgyzstan. We look forward to supporting the full implementation of the programme in the next academic year and are pleased that the Kyrgyzstan Ministry of Education has agreed to mainstream the Programme in the National Preschool Curriculum. This is a major success story for Early Years, for Queen’s and for the children, families and communities in Kyrgyzstan”

Further information on the Media Initiative for Children Respecting Difference Programme is available at: https://www.early-years.org/respecting-difference