My references for my blog
Kieff, J. (2009). Informed advocacy in early childhood care and education. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Laureate, Education, Inc. (2009). Merging Vision, Passion, and Practice. Retrieved from http://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?course_id=_8615137_1&content_id=_25824387_1
Disclaimer: I realize that this was supposed to be done last night, but it took me some time to get just the right words to say.
As I look back over the last eight weeks and over the course of this Master’s program all I can say is weeeee…what a ride. Looking back there are certain words that come to mind. These words are grateful, hope, thankful and privileged. All these words have shown themselves to be very important words to me throughout the Master’s program.
I am grateful that I have learned about the importance of passion. Passion is what drives me forward in order to make a difference in the Early Childhood field. It is this passion that I have that has since developed far deeper than it was when I started the program (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011). It is this deep passion that I hope continues to grow as I progress in my professional life.
I am also deeply grateful for learning about what it means to be an effective advocate and policymaker. I also have learned how to be proactive in terms of being an advocate. Kieff (2009) explained that being proactive was to “recognize a problem or issue to study the issue from many different perspectives” (p.7). It is by being proactive I am able and was ale to look at the issue that I did my capstone project on from different contexts.
I am grateful that I also learned on a much deeper level about how to communicate. This knowledge will not only help me to be a better communicator but also taught me the skills necessary on how to be a good collaborator. In order to be effective in the EC field, it is deeply important to be effective as a communicator. This particular learning is important to me now, has been important in the past, but its importance has shown itself to be of vast importance to me in the future.
My greatest hope and my long-term goal is to continue to work for the best of the Early Childhood field, children and families all the while working to continue to learn as much as I can. By working on issues that are important I will be able to make my mark on the Early Childhood field. Another of my greatest hopes is to continue to be a life-long learner. This particular long-term goal ties into my previously mentioned long-term goal.
This is where I am thankful. I am thankful for the opportunity to have learned much from Dr. Johnna Darragh-Ernst. It is through her instruction and direction that I have learned much the last eight weeks. It is also through the other instructors that I have had that I have gained much of the deep knowledge I have acquired. Through their patience and direction, my thoughts have developed and as a result I have learned more about how to think more critically and also take the time to look at more parts of different issues and challenges than just the sides that I am used to looking at these from.
I am very privileged to have worked with the classmates that I have throughout this program. While my classmates have changed depending on the class, I am very privileged to have worked with the groups that I have. I have learned so much from each of you especially through this class. You have been a great source of help for me as we all struggled and worked tirelessly on our Capstone projects. I feel that we have grown into an effective Community of Practice and I would like very much to stay in contact with all of you as we work in the Early Childhood field as professionals. You have given me much encouragement even when I felt like what I was trying to say for certain assignments really didn’t make much sense to me.
“Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it” Prov. 22:6.
My contact information is:
Christina Feigner
email: silver.feigner@gmail.com
Phone: 509-386-8842
On Facebook look me me up by my name: Christina Silver Feigner
One of the organizations that I wrote about that really stood out for me on the national/federal level is the same one that has international roots too. This is Save the Children. Their mission and purpose is to help protect children and help them when they are in the midst of disaster. When I looked at the jobs listing for the International postings for Save the Children, I found plenty of opportunities. There was one that stood out to me the most and that was a Child Protection Adviser. The posting for this particular job is in Bangui, Central African Republic. The requirements for this particular position is as follows:
Qualifications and experience
Essential
Education to MSc/MA/MEng level in Social Work, Human Rights Law, International Relations, Development Studies, or equivalent field experience.
Significant management experience working in an emergency response or fragile states settings, with specific experience working on DDR (demobilisation, disarmament and reintegration)and GBV (gender-based violence) being an asset
Previous first phase and chronic emergency experience is essential
Ability to identify the main child protection needs affecting children and to inform an holistic response for children
Good knowledge of and experience in using inter-agency child protection standards and guidelines, such as the Inter-agency Guidelines on the Paris Principles, SC Child Friendly Spaces Handbook, Separated and Unaccompanied Children, Alternative care, and the Minimum Standards for Child Protection in Humanitarian Settings.
Excellent familiarity with and experience of DDR processes and the MRM system
Experience of and commitment to building and strengthening the participation of and accountability to communities and children in
Strong experience understanding and experience of M&E (monitoring and evaluation) processes and methodologies applied to child protection programmes in emergency, transition and development contexts
Training and capacity building experience – demonstrates to be able to strengthen the capacity of various actors in child protection
Extensive representational experience: can demonstrate the ability to represent SC effectively in external forums.
Experience of preparing successful funding proposals for donors
Excellent communication skills
Politically and culturally sensitive with qualities of patience, tact and diplomacy
A high level of written and spoken English and French (mandatory)
The capacity and willingness to be extremely flexible and accommodating in difficult and sometimes insecure working circumstances.
Commitment to and understanding of child rights, the aims and principles of SC and humanitarian standards such as the Sphere Charter and the Code of Conduct.
A high level of written and spoken French
Desirable
Good working knowledge of the Inter-Agency Child Protection Information Management System
Experience or knowledge of working and living in relevant regions/contexts (Save the Children, 2011).
The second international organization that struck my attention was that of UNESCO. This organization works to create dialogue between nations so that there can be mutual respect about the different rights primarily in the areas of Africa and that of gender equality. There are 66 field offices and they are headquartered in Paris, France (United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), 2011). As far as career opportunities for this particular organization, it gives options for internships and external applicants with an application guide. There really were no specific job postings but because of how many countries that they cover, one of the important requirements and skills that will be necessary is the ability to speak French, Spanish and other languages besides English very fluently and also be able to write in these languages as well.
The third international organization that stood out to me was that of FHI360. The mission of this particular organization is to be able to improve lives of people all over the world by integrating locally driven solutions for human development (FHI360, 2015). When it comes to job opportunities for this organization there are plenty of opportunities but nothing specifically focused that I could see about the EC field. This was one that I stumbled upon by accident.
I looked up a fourth organization that was actually one that I was trying to find and this one was just as interesting. The purpose of this organization is to face social as well as economic challenges. There are 5 major areas that surrounds AED. These areas are: Nutrition, Population, and Global Health Institutional Development and Leadership
Global Learning Workforce and US Education Development Social Change (Academy for Educational Development, 2015). I did not notice any job opportunities that were listed on this site.
References
Academy for Educational Development. (2015). Retrieved from http://academyforeducationaldevelopment.orghub.net/
FHI360. (2015). Retrieved from http://www.fhi360.org/
Save the Children. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.savethechildren.org/site/c.8rKLIXMGIpI4E/b.6115947/k.8D6E/Official_Site.htm
United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). (2011). Retrieved from http://www.unesco.org/new/en/unesco/about-us/who-we-are/introducing-unesco/
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