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Story-Telling Project for Early-childhood Parenting Support (STEPS) ProjectCountryBelize, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Guyana, Suriname RegionGlobal, Latin America, Caribbean Programme SummaryLaunched in early 2004, the Story-Telling Project for Early-childhood Parenting Support (STEPS) is a 30-month initiative to meet the developmental needs of at-risk children (birth to age 8) in selected Caribbean territories through community-based projects drawing on storytelling. The lead agency - the Arts-in-Action Unit of the Centre for Creative and Festival Arts (University of the West Indies) - is liaising with, collaborating with, lending creative and technical support to, and coordinating the activities of local agencies in Belize, Cayman Islands, Guyana, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago. Specific project objectives include:
Communication StrategiesSTEPS uses storytelling as an approach for addressing the social, physical, intellectual, cultural, emotional, and spiritual needs of Caribbean children. STEPS defines storytelling as "a living document". It is an act of sharing which incorporates the expressive arts to communicate, entertain, educate and enlighten. Partnership is envisioned as a crucial component of programme development and sustainability. As lead agency, Arts-in-Action will coordinate and support local projects by facilitating local proposal development, building local capacity, and conducting training workshops, as well as organising materials for dissemination and exchange. The affiliation that the agencies in Belize, Cayman Islands, Guyana and Suriname share with their respective government ministries and early childhood caregivers, coupled with Arts-in-Action's work in schools and communities in the field of educative theatre (including story-theatre), is thought to create an effective mix of administrative and creative scope and stakeholder reach. These connections will, it is hoped, be fruitful in creating additional linkages between participating local agencies and stakeholders, from which continuities and extensions for the project can be spawned. Interpersonal, face-to-face communication is the key means of building the capacity for the use of storytelling as a development tool. Specifically, the project is being implemented in 3 phases: Development IssuesEarly Childhood Development. Key PointsCreated in 1994, Arts-in-Action ventures out into communities, schools and places of employment, with the primary mandate of educating people through indigenous forms of street theatre, using folk forms such as storytelling and carnival and Caribbean music. Through this work, the importance of storytelling, in particular, came to the forefront is the seed of the Caribbean identity and ideology. "Storytelling has, for time immemorial been a vital part of our historical development and has always had a place in the education of the Caribbean people." PartnersFunded by the Bernard van Leer Foundation. ContactMs. Samantha Pierre
STEPS Project Coordinator Tel: 1868 6630327 steps_aia2004@hotmail.com steps_aia2004@yahoo.com Funded by the Bernard van Leer Foundation.
Related SummariesSourceEmails from Colleen Wint-Smith to The Communication Initiative, January 21 2006 and January 23 2006; Caribbean Support Initiative website; and email from Samantha Pierre to The Communication Initiative, March 4 2007. Placed on the Communication Initiative site January 26 2006 Last Updated March 05 2007 |
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