WAYDS works with existing local government structures and systems at all level in the implementation of programs in order to enhance community ownership for sustainability of the Integrated Early Childhood Development (IECD) interventions, focusing on four (4) WAYDS Programmatic areas of Nutrition, Stimulation and Early Learning, Health Care, Protection and
Responsive Care.

(a). Early Childhood Development (ECD): Is one of our major focus under Education basically grouped into three (3) levels;

1. Home based ECD program (0-3 years): The key focus is to empower families (parents and caregivers) with children 0-3 years by strengthening their capacities to provide quality responsive and sensitive care to their children. WAYDS selects and train Community Healthcare Workers who conduct home visiting and provide one to one counselling to parents and
caregivers using the Care for Child Development (CCD) package

2. Centre based ECD program (3-4 years): WAYDS collaborates with communities and other stakeholders to establish and manage community based ECD centers. The establishment of community based ECD centers begins with community mobilization and awareness creation through community meetings on the importance of ECD in general. We use Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) approach where communities make decisions on identifying their challenges and priorities before beginning of the intervention.

3. School based ECD program (5-8 years) which can also be split into 2 categories:

1.  Pre-primary schools: focus on improving quality of learning and preparing children of 5 years for primary education (school readiness).
2. Lower Primary school classes: emphasize on improving numeracy and literacy skills for children of 6 to 8 years in class 1, 2 and 3. The focus is on children acquisition of reading, writingand counting skills.

(b). Nutrition and health Care; we promote health and nutrition for pregnant mothers and young children under 5 years, with the understanding that this is the sensitive period of child development including rapid growth of their body and brain. In this regard we pay attention to the health, growth and wellbeing of mothers as well as children as we contribute to achieving
good health and adequate nutrition. WAYDS also support health promotion through mobile clinics especially for communities which are located far from health facilities; we do this through women groups who are organized in a group of 20 members or less in each community, each group has a Coordinator who is trained as Trainer (TOT) and guides the group on regular basis, with focus on nutrition for pregnant women, young children and breastfeeding mothers. Target Coordinators are trained on nutrition,
Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) practices including conducting demonstrations on food preparation and preservation and Essential Nutrition Actions (ENA).

These Coordinators have also the responsibility to create awareness and follow ups at household level on attending clinics for pregnant mothers and young children under 5 years.

Similarly, in promoting nutrition services, WAYDS is doing the following activities;

• Promoting orange fleshed sweet potatoes for vitamins.
• Promotion of homestead food production with emphasis on home gardens for increasing production and consumption of micronutrients.
• Identification of children with malnutrition/stunting and provide linkages and referrals to other nutrition services providers like Hospitals.
• Nutrition education and awareness focusing on Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) and Essential Nutrition Actions (ENA) targeting the first 1,000 days of a child.
• Promote feeding program in community based ECD centers and Pre-primary schools, basically porridge from fortified/nutritious flour.
  Conduct demonstrations on food preparation, preservation and storage with attention to foodstuffs for pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, and young children after exclusive breastfeeding and during complementary feeding.
• Training Women Nutrition Coordinators who work with women groups to provide nutrition education and awareness in communities