02/19/2009

Impact of Conflict on Children

World Forum Global Leader from Lebanon, Maysoun Chehab, contributed an insightful article, "Children Learn What they Live: Promoting a Sense of Belonging in an Environment of Conflict" in the November 2008 journal of the Bernard van Leer Foundation, Early Childhood Matters. The article describes how her organization, the Arab Resource Collective (ARC), strives to counteract the fact that the "trauma of living in a region torn by violent conflict will leave many children with learning disabilities and with emotional scars from which they will not recover." She gives this example of the impact of war on children...

A participant at a recent ARC workshop "described how frightened her pupils were when soldiers demonstrated their 'goodwill' by entering her classroom. The children trembled. They were unable to grasp the rules of warfare — when are soldiers friendly and why, when are they violent and why? Even after the soldiers left, the children were too upset for learning activities to resume."

The ARC has found that "children can endure a certain level of distress and confusion — as long as there are some 'safe zones' where they experience predictability and security. With such support, children can even develop resilience that will serve them well in later life." To this end, ARC designs and implements early childhood programs for young children that address inclusion and respect for diversity. In these programs it models good practice that "promotes children's sense of belonging in the face of environments that are characterized by multicultural, religious and ethnic tensions or conflict, further exacerbated by poverty."

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Registrations are coming in for the 2009 World Forum at an unprecedented rate! With four months to go until the Forum kicks off on June 16, the day begins with cultural study tours throughout Northern Ireland. Already 415 of the 600 spaces have been reserved, with confirmed delegates coming from 61 countries. If you plan to attend you need to register now before registrations are closed.

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