A decade and a half of experience and praxis has significantly contributed to our understanding a series of patterns of living and learning in communities we engage with. Though our concern from the very beginning has been in impacting the situation of child labour, we realise that the treatment of this issue or problem confounding and blocking present day existence essentially has to move away from a symptomatic cure to that of systemic understanding and engaging. This is true for most development related work MAYA has been engaged with, principally in the context of socially disadvantaged communities.
Consolidating our prior experience and outlining future directions has led to a more comprehensive and integrated strategy of work in addressing early childhood related issues and addressing the rights of our children towards quality care and education. This necessitates strengthening people's articulations through building local community institutions and facilitating towards realizing community ownership of the same.
We believe child care is native to all communities. The Early Childhood Care and Education approach of MAYA builds on inherent capacities of communities starting from where they are. The stakeholders engage in various processes of institutionalising community ownership beginning from discussion on the existing situation and concerns of early childcare in the community, moving towards articulating and building a collective vision of caring for their children.
The approach is not proposed to be a substitute for absolving the state of its responsibility, instead is intended to call for a redefinition of the existing perspective of early childhood care and education. The publication also reflects the efforts and resolve of several communities across the districts of Bangalore Urban and Rural, towards addressing issues of early childhood care and education with immediacy, efficiency and sustainability.
