Desarrollo temprano

The reduction of maternal and infant mortality through supporting the women in exercising motherhood, Providing conditions so that mothers who have no family support and show clinical and social risk can take care of their pregnancy and baby. Through identifying situations that lead to abortions or premature childbirths, we try to intervene and avoid these events. Premature babies need special care that the primiparous with no adequate support cannot provide.

The innovative solution is the intense and differentiated care, to avoid avoidable maternal and infant deaths. It is a simple low-cost model that consists in training people from the community to help at risk mothers to have as safe pregnancy, breast-feed their babies and promote the development of the children. These assistants, Social Moms, are initially trained and accompanied with permanent education. The supervision is done by the project's nurse and by the health team of the Unity where the family is registered. The Social Mom stays in the family's house until necessary, working eight hours per day. She can accompany the other child during hospitalizations, so that the mother can nurse and breast-feed her baby.

The model is centered in the vision that infant and maternal mortality have an important social component that the organicist biomedical model cannot take into account. Before a needy population, other factors are fundamental in determining the harms. The model uses as reference the social determinants of health according to the Dahlgren and Whitehead model to identify what are the main interventions to be done when aiming to reach better health, education and social development levels. The general objective is reducing infant and maternal mortality and provide adequate conditions for pregnancy and child development. Besides that, involving the civil society in the responsibility for the infant and maternal survival.

Since this is not a traditional business, it is difficult to estimate a value proposition.
Below is a breakdown of the costs of the Project:
The cost of the Social Mothers in the period of 2001 to 2011, was on average U$ 24.191.91 per year.
The human resources are tied to Sobral's Municipal Secretariat of Health, as well as the costs from logistic and the infrastructure of the Project.

The customers of the Project are the pregnant women, women in labor, mothers and children attended at Sobral's Primary Health Care that show clinical and social risk and are identified by the Family Health team, from Sobral's Basic Health. The Family Health teams are composed by 1 doctor, 1 nurse, 1 nursing technician and 4 to 5 Community Health Agents (CHA, members of the community who is responsible for the relations between people from the microarea and the Family Health teams of this microarea.

There is a close contact between our team and the municipality Health Family teams.These professionals identify the pregnant women and mothers who need social support and forward a request to the Project, that visits the family to evaluate their conditions and needs.
To increase the number of participants, we promote the project in the media and through social events to get new partners.(social godfathers and godmothers and private companies) and so that the women in need can also request this support.

Evaluation of the Social Mothers' work
Care services to the mothers, in the house and health care duties
Accompaning hospitalized children so that the mother can nurse her baby
Mobilizing social godmothers and godfathers and private companies that empathize with the project
Training and permanent educating Social Mothers
Analysis of the infant and maternal deaths of the municipality
Identifying new problems and new strategies to solve them
Evaluation of the activities developed by the project
Monitoring and evaluating the municipality's infant and maternal indicators

In this Project we only have pairs and partners. The pairs are the health professionals who provide different health services in Sobral's Health Secretariat, specially the Family Health teams. The partners are the Social Godfathers and Godmothers, the solidary private companies, the Children and Teenager's Right Municipal Fund, the Tutelar Council, the city's Social Assistance Foundation. Given the characteristics of the Project, we do not have competitors, because we work together with all the health professionals of the city and count on the support of the municipal managers and the civil society.

We have not identified challenges that can hinder the future success of the Project, because we currently count on the support of the public managers and the federal government through "Rede Cegonha", that ensure us of the growth of the project.

Associate with the strategy of the Health Ministry's Rede Cegonha, a policy of the federal government that aims to improve the conditions of care of the pregnant women, the childbirth, the puerperium and the baby, with the objective of reducing maternal and infant mortality.
This network (Rede Cegonha) counts on great financial resources that are transferred to the municipalities for improving the hospital and ambulatorial structure.

The team's experience, the consolidation of the work organization and the instruments utilized, the support of the municipal managers and the results achieved in reducing maternal and infant mortality. Moreover, the positive feedback of the women that received support from the Social Mothers. The proposal is to expand the project to neighboring municipalities that are part of the Northwest Region of the state of Ceará.

Develop new strategies in the care of premature and low weight infants
Increase the number of Social Mothers
Increasing the number of Social Godfathers and Godmothers
Reduce premature childbirths and the birth of low weight babies
Early identification of women who need support of the Social Mother
Publicize the Project in the media
Eliminate avoidable maternal and child deaths

In one year - increase the contribution of the partners and the number of Social Moms
In one year - implement the continuing education process of the Social Mothers
In three years - reduce infant mortality to 1 digit
In three years - eliminate avoidable maternal deaths
In three years - expand the project to other municipalities.

Over 52 million children in India have a Developmental Disability or are at risk of acquiring a disability. With little or no awareness and facilities to address the issues around Early Childhood Development, these children and their families will have no recourse to any facility or knowledge on working with their special child or mitigate the incidences of developmental disabilities. Ummeed works at different levels to address this issue through its clinic while building the capacity of community workers and other organizations to address the issues in their communities through its training programs .

Almost 15% of the children in India have or at risk of a Developmental Disability.It is a known fact that early detection and care especially during the age of 0-6 years helps a child attain his/her maximum potential. In India almost 65% of the population lives in the rural areas which would mean that around 35 million children who have or are at risk of a developmental disability, are from these areas and hail from low income families, with little or no access to information and resources on issues around Early childhood Development. Ummeed through its training programs builds the capacity of organizations working in these under-served communities to work in prevention & mitigation for children and families at risk while building resources for the care of children with a disability.

Ummeed helps children with disabilities or at risk of disabilities attain their full potential and be included in society. Ummeed endeavors to scale up its training programs and using this vehicle be able to reach out and change the lives of 40,000 children each year, by 2018.

Ummeed will reach out to 40,000 children at risk or with developmental disabilities, annually, at half its current cost per beneficiary.

1.Community based gov’t organizations ( Anganwadi's, Balwadi's etc)
2.Community based NGOs
3.Orphanages, Remand homes for juveniles
4.Disability organizations
5.Schools

1. Word of mouth - recommendations by other organizations who have undergone the trainings
2. Awareness creation among the target group and enlisting of support telephonically by Ummeed's team
3.Ummeed's network of NGO's and well wishers
4. Going forward will do face to face Awareness creation and assess needs among the target group and enlist support

1. Provision of Clinical services for children and families of children with Developmental Disabilities.
2. Training and capacity building of community workers of other NGO's and of organizations to take forward the work in their communities.
3. Advocacy
4. Research - Currently doing research for developing a tool for monitoring Early Childhood Development sponsored by the National Institute of Health,USA.

There are few organizations In India which offer some of the services Ummeed offers but No organizations offer the trainings programs offered by Ummeed especially in the area of Child Development Aide's.

We do not see any real problem being posed by the organizations, as we have also trained a number of community workers from these organizations to work or add - on, the Early Intervention program in their communities and in their portfolio of services offered. They are our partners in growth.

1. Reaching out to organizations with access to young children
who have or could develop disabilities.

2. Convincing Organizations the need to invest in Early Childhood Development

The way Ummeed proposes to overcome these challenges is by building its organizational capacity by hiring personnel with strong networks and training capabilities to supplement the current team. The manpower requirement has been identified as ;
1. Senior Program Manager - Training ( 1 no)
2. Asst Training Coordinators ( 2 nos)
3. Fund raiser ( 1 no)

Ummeed proposes to train community workers of NGO's and organizations working with children with a view share our knowledge to build their capacity to address issues around Early Childhood Development in their communities. Ummeed proposes to train a 100 community workers from organizations to reach out to 40,000 children annually by 2018.

Ummeed has been working in the field of Early Childhood Development for the past 12 years and has developed best practices that are incorporated into the design of the curricula of the training programs. These trainings have been piloted and modified over the last 3 years to give the form and readiness to help achieve Ummeed strategic goals and for taking Ummeed's reach to scale through trainings.

1. To reach out to 40,000 children at risk of developmental disabilities,annually by 2018.
2. Reduce the cost per beneficiary by half the current cost.
3. Create necessary awareness among organizations on the need for adoption and implementation early childhood development programs in their communities.

2013-14 - 11,500 beneficiaries reached @Rs. 440 per beneficiary; 2014-15 - 18,500 beneficiaries reached @ Rs.335 per beneficiary ; 2015-16 - 25,250 beneficiaries reached @ Rs. 295 per beneficiary; 2016-17 - 33,000 beneficiaries reached @ Rs.260 per beneficiary. 2017-2018 - 40,000 beneficiaries reached @ Rs.236 per beneficiary.

En Colombia, el 13,6% de los niños menores de 5 años sufren de desnutrición crónica, ya que no alcanzan a consumir el minimo nivel de micronutrientes mínimo. Asimismo, de los niños menores de 4 años, el 50% cuenta con deficiencias en Vitamina A, el 50% con deficiencias de Zinc y el 25% con deficiencias de Hierro. La principal y más alarmante consecuencia de estas deficiencias es la anemia ferropenia relacionada con la falta de Hierro. A nivel mundial la anemia ferropénica afecta al 47,4% de los niños en edad preescolar, 25,4% en edad escolar y al 41,8% de madres embarazadas, y es considerado un problema de salud pública. Sin embargo, el gobierno colombiano aún está iniciando el proceso de consideración de este problema, fortificando por ley solamente 2 alimentos: la sal y la harina de trig

Vitalius es un negocio social que contribuye a mejorar el estado nutricional de los niños en condición de inseguridad alimentaria, por medio de la fortificación de alimentos con micronutrientes (Vitaminas A, B, C, B1, B2, B3, B9, B12, hierro y zinc) básicos requeridos para una correcta formación y crecimiento de los infantes. Nuestros alimentos contribuyen a la prevención de enfermedades relacionadas con el déficit de micronutrientes como es el caso de la anemia ferropénica. El resultado; niños saludables, bien nutridos y completamente desarrollados con todas sus capacidades físicas y mentales en óptimas condiciones para ser más productivos y así romper el llamado "Circulo de la Pobreza".

Vitalius visiona para el 2015, ser la empresa líder en producción y comercialización de alimentos fortificados en la región centro occidente de Colombia.
Nuestros objetivos generales son:
Desarrollar y entregar alimentos fortificados inocuos bajo una política de innovación, con base en las necesidades y expectativas de nuestros clientes, cumpliendo con la normatividad legal vigente.
Diseñar, implementar y evaluar estrategias de mercado que permitan alcanzar los objetivos comerciales de Vitalius, mejorando su participación en el mercado.
Gestionar Optimizar adecuadamente los diferentes recursos asignados, asegurando una correcta ejecución y control de los mismos.
Mejorar las condiciones nutricionales y de salud de al menos 1.000.000 personas,
Escalar este modelo al mundo entero.

Nuestra empresa cuenta con varios elementos que hacen que nuestros consumidores nos prefieran, como ser una empresa enfocada a fortificar alimentos, mejorando productos existentes y aceptados en el mercado, adicionándole fortificación que permite mejorar la situación nutricional, al mismo precio de los productos corriente y con las mismas características, por ejemplo con la panela se convirtió de ser un producto de calorías vacías a un producto nutritivo que no solo da energía si no una buena nutrición. Se pretende posicionar a Vitalius como una Marca líder en fortificación de alimentos ¡Mas nutrición, Mas vida! Maximizando el impacto social con productos costo eficientes con estudio de desempeño y identificación de deficiencias de micronutrientes.

Según la última encuesta del ENSIN, existe una desnutrición crónica del 13.6% en niños menores de 5 años, faltante de zinc del 50% en niños menores de 4 años y 25% de anemia en los niños menores de 4 años
Año Numero Beneficiarios Directos
1 9.644
3 38.000
5 400.569
10 902.216
Año Numero Beneficiarios Indirectos
1 182
3 728
5 7.674
10 18.036
Vitalius realizará la evaluación del impacto social esperado, por medio de una prueba de desempeño de producto, a través de valoraciones clínicas y diagnóstico final de una muestra de beneficiarios, mediante el uso de análisis e indicadores bioquímicos, en donde se observara el comportamiento de los siguientes micronutrientes en sangre: Vitaminas B1, B2, B3, B9, B12, y minerales hierro y zinc

Características del producto: para maximizar el impacto social nosotros entregaremos los productos de forma similar como lo consume el cliente, un ejemplo de esto es la Panela Fortificada, sale al mercado al mismo precio de la panela normal, con el mismo color y con un adicional en micronutrientes que nos permite tener un valor alegrado, esta metodología será una política para sacar productos fortificados.

Canales de comercialización: El portafolio de productos fortificados Vitalius llegará a la población con deficiencias nutricionales con un enfoque de negocios sociales. La creación de una red de distribuidoras (madres cabeza de familia), Canal Institucionales y el tradicional (Tiendas y Supermercados)

Vitalius tiene como actividad principal la producción y comercialización de alimentos fortificados de consumo masivo y de fácil acceso a la población en estado de inseguridad alimentaria que percibe bajos ingresos económicos.
Desarrollar metodología de desarrollo nuevos productos fortificados que nos permitan combatir el hambre oculta maximizando el impacto social.
Realizar estudios de desempeños que nos permita validar el impacto social y cuantificarlo por medio de una validación Investigativa sustentada en lo científico y estadístico.
Reducción de las deficiencias de micronutrientes por medio de la consolidación de Vitalius como marca de alimentos fortificados con una excelente cobertura nacional y con capacidad de expandirnos a Latinoamérica o el mundo.

Competidores directos:
• Fortipanela de Fedepanela, 5 micronutrientes.
• Consentido de Alpina: panela pulverizada + leche en Polvo + Fortificante.

Competidores indirectos:
• El gobierno colombiano está tratando de hacer un esfuerzo, al fortificar por ley 2 alimentos: sal (con Yodo y Flúor) y la Harina de Trigo (Hierro, Vit B1, B2, B3 y B9), sin embargo es un esfuerzo aislado para enfrentar la problemática actual.
• Arroz Fortificado por metodología de aspersión, pero el 90 % de la población colombiana laba el arroz y se pierde la fortificación.
• Existen otros productos como la leche en polvo, las pastas, entre otros existe una tendencia a fortificar alimentos como valor agregado.

1. Estandarizar cualquier proceso de producción para poder garantizar la fortificación de alimentos, por eso se ha estudiado la metodología y se espera patentar para proteger el capital intelectual.
2. Las empresas de alimentos de consumo masivo cuentan con un dinero, tecnología y departamentos completos para desarrollar nuevos productos, pero para tomar decisiones o desarrollarlos se demoran 3 años, nuestra metodología está planeada para máximo un año.
3. Poca experiencia en el mercado masivo, pero por eso se quiere soportar el negocio en esta canal estudiándolo y contratando un experto, para darle cobertura e incursionar con éxito y soportar la estrategia de otros canales como son las venta uno a uno con las madres distribuidoras y con el mercado institucional por medio de relaciones

Desarrollar nuevos productos, Mejorar la cobertura nacional y consolidar en las diferentes los 3 canales de distribución que tenemos, producir en las regiones buscando maquiladores, buscar aliados estratégicos y desarrollar para cada producto un estudio de desempeño que permita medir el impacto. Todo esto sustentado en ser la empresa líder en fortificación de alimentos en Colombia.

Mercado Institucional, Tradicional y Madres.
Consolidación eje cafetero y en el corto plazo expansión en el Valle del Cauca, Nariño y Bogota
Nuestro primer prototipo de producto ha sido aceptado y validado en 30 comedores comunitarios de la Fundación Nutrir. Tenemos tres cartas de intención del mercado institucional, cuatro investigaciones de mercado en las que se encontró aceptación

Para el 2015, Vitalius espera estar posicionado como la marca líder en fortificación de alimentos en el centro occidente de Colombia, permitiéndonos llegar a un mercado importante como lo es Bogotá, en donde hay 8.000.000 de potenciales consumidores, de los cuales 1.000.000 son atendidos a través de comedores comunitarios. Nuevos Productos fortificados segun la deficiencia de micronutrientes.

1er año 3 productos fortificados ventas por COP: 252 750.000 millones de pesos, consolidación del eje cafetero.
2do año 6 productos fortificados ventas por COP: 1.168.000.000 millones de pesos, entrada a grandes superficies, valle del cauca y Nariño.
3er año 9 productos fortificados ventas por COP: 3.578.000.000 millones de pesos, entrada a Cundinamarca y Antioquia.

Incremento porcentual según investigación de mercado

NOMBRE PRODUCTO TOTAL AÑO 1 (En Unidades) TOTAL AÑO 2 (En Unidades) TOTAL AÑO 3
Panela Fortificada Vitalius Institucional 10.000 80.000 240.000
Panela Fortificada Vitalius Tienda a Tienda 60.000 480.000 1.440.000
Panela Fortificada Vitalius Madres Distribuidoras 10.000 80.000 240.000
Bolis a Base de Agua 5.000 40.000 120.000

Child mortality in India is a major issue to be solved based on the UN’s Millennium Development Campaign. In 2010 WHO reported, 1.8 million infants die before age 5 in India and 7.6 million world-wide. Respiratory distress in India is a major cause of death for infants with 648k annual deaths due to respiratory distress. Many parents do not know the signals of respiratory distress before it is too late. Additionally, parents in India especially resource-constrained settings do not have access to home monitoring devices available to parents in developed parts of the world. 75% of infant mortality in India arise from specific high-risk states: Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Assam, and Gujarat.

Our low-cost, disposable wearable micro-sensor technology can help prevent the deaths of the 645,000 children under the age of five who die annually of respiratory distress in India. Project Shwas addresses India’s high neonatal and post-neonatal mortality rate by monitoring the quality of the respiratory system in the home environment using simple to use wearable sensors. This endeavor is in-line with the goals of UNICEF through their Integrated Management of Newborn and Childhood Illness (IMNCI) program, which encourages home-based care solutions. The algorithms being developed will be capable of alerting parents at the earliest signs of respiratory complications, giving them additional time to seek life-saving medical care.

The vision is to empower parents in India to utilize low-cost technologies designed for resource poor environments to reduce infant and childhood mortality relating to respiratory distress. The overall objectives include 1) developing products using technologies that are high-quality and low-cost in rural health settings; 2) educating parents about respiratory distress and infant mortality; 3) creating a distribution system where products are accessible to masses.

We want to empower a new segment of the Indian population to be health consumers of services for their infants. These individuals will have both the access and spending power to purchase affordable consumer health products that are of sophisticated sensor technologies.

HITLAB and its partners will offer parents in India with a wireless wearable sensor patch to monitor the breathing of their child to serve as an alert monitor when infant stops breathing. The embedded algorithm on the sensor collects objective, standardized breathing data to determine good, mediocre, or poor breathing with outputs of LED color displays of green, yellow, and red, respectively. The consumer sensor product will be low-cost and accessible to Indian parents who currently do not have technology tools to prevent infant respiratory distress and infant mortality. The combination of education and technology provides an entire experience for parents.

Project Shwas will focus on customers such as state governments, local clinics in the states, Indian healthcare delivery systems, NGOs, and parents with disposable income to purchase the proposed product. In Year 1, the focus is to complete a pilot in state of Assam so the customer is Assam's Ministry of Health and its leading hospital, Guwahati Neurological Research Centre. Project Shwas will identify local health clinics in Assam to serve as customers too. Project Shwas will also identify customers who have vast health delivery networks in India like Apollo Hospitals. In Year 2, the Project Shwas will focus on high-risk states besides Assam. In Year 3, full awareness, marketing, and advertising can focus on customers like parents expecting children or with infants.

Project Shwas has its own network to reach its customer however certain organizations can help bring awareness. For example, Project Shwas can get the help of Save the Children’s Smita Baruah who is Director of Global Health Policy and Advocacy. Project Shwas will reach customers by getting its educational material and sensor product to be perceived like any other consumer product. An ideal partner may be an Indian consumer company selling baby/infant products as a distributor. These firms already have access and contact with parents and the educational material and sensor patch can be co-marketed. HITLAB can be innovative and even partner with a firm like Coca-Cola to help extend reach into rural areas and bring awareness of the sensor patch and educational material.

There are five primary activities. First, educational material about infant mortality and respiratory distress need to be developed that will accompany the sensor products. Next, the sensor product has to be designed, fabricated, and tested. Thirdly, pilot testing of the program and experience from the educational material and sensor products must be completed. Fourthly, research and connections with the Indian government and NGOs must be made when bringing to products into the country. Finally, the full ramp-up of the education and product distribution must take place.

Current competitors are baby monitoring firms like Fisher-Price who currently do not cater to resource-constrained regions like India to address infant mortality especially respiratory distress. Also these types of firms do not have expertise in mobile health sensor technologies. Other NGOs like the Gates Foundation may deploy technologies addressing respiratory distress. The saturation or contact of the same Indian partners or individuals may make it harder for the implementation of Project Shwas.

HITLAB manages many different programs besides this proposal. The proper attention and focus is required for a project like this where overseas coordination is required. Success can be ensured with an assigned, formal project manager so that all objectives and day-to-day activities are addressed.

While India's economy is growing, we don't know if the growth will sustain. Project Shwas assumes consumer spending empowerment where they can afford consumer health products. These parents can be of any socio-economic background and any educational level in India but the product will be priced at <$20 US or lower assuming consumer can afford this - similar to throw-away cell phones available in India.

Invest in educational programs and partnering with marketing providers. These programs require making parents aware of the need for home-testing of respiratory distress to prevent death. Awareness can start as posters or pamphlets in pediatric clinics and other health clinics. Foster partnerships with local clinics, NGOs (Save the Children), and health delivery systems (e.g. Apollo Hospitals).

Project Shwas has a full prototype that can measure respiratory rate, breathing rhythms, and quality of breathing. The prototype adheres to the “lean startup” methodology being a minimum viable product. India is considered a growing economy with a new middle class in all socio-economic groups and adopting technologies like cell phones. Healthcare for newborns/infants will be in high demand.

The first objective is to partner with the state of Assam in Year 1 and then create local awareness and education about respiratory distress and home monitoring systems at pediatric and health clinics in Assam. The next objective will be to reach out to other state governments in India and leading health delivery networks like Apollo Hospitals to ramp-up in Year 2 and 3.

In Year 1, the goal is to produce 100 units of the sensor monitoring units and then test with 20 – 50 infants in Assam, India as a pilot study. Also, Project Shwas will develop initial awareness and educational materials to be placed in approved clinics in Assam to help parents understand the importance of respiratory distress and home monitoring. Finally, Project Shwas will cultivate strong relationships with Indian state governments, health delivery systems like Apollo Hospitals, and NGOs like Save the Children. In Year 2 and 3, Project Shwas will have expanded into at least two other high-risk infant mortality states. The selection will be determined by feedback from Indian government, NGOs, partners, etc. Also, in Year 2 and 3, Project Shwas will be able to produce thousands of units.

A data from Rumah Cemara shows that at least 300 children (Aged 0-19) are recorded as HIV+ in West Java.

While some have accessed Anti Retroviral Treatment, many have to cope with other opportunistic infections which include multi-drug combination for treatment. Vulnerability to side effects and lack of knowledge among home caregivers have caused these children to suffer health problem.

In terms of socio-psychological problem, many of these children have to bear witness of their parents’ drug addiction/ illness/ death and rejection from family members and society. Such emotional trauma in golden age period will affect children’s socio-psychological development.

Our solution is Integrated Early Childhood Center for HIV infected/affected children, in which we provide:
1) Day care, respite care, and 24-hour emergency care in a safe, loving environment for children infected & affected by HIV/AIDS.
2) Parental education and caregiver training enhance the quality of care, and thus quality of family life. Included here referral to rehab program for parents with drug addiction problem.
3) Public education about HIV/AIDS to prevent the disease from spreading and to eliminate the stigma. In collaboration with other community resources the center will also prepare pre-school children for inclusion and entry into primary school

We envision that every child (including HIV infected/ affected) can access the service needed to ensure optimal growth and development toward a better quality of life in the future.
Objective:
a) To fulfill children’s physical and psycho-social need through health, nutrition, and development program
b) To educate parents and caregiver the know-how of optimizing children growth and development
c) To educate public about HIV/AIDS, thus preventing the disease and eliminating the stigma

Integrated Early Childhood Center: one stop health, nutrition, and psycho-social development service for HIV infected/ affected children and their family to optimize children’s potential in order to ensure a good quality of life.

HIV infected/ affected children and their family.

We use both direct approach through existing community (HIV and IDU support group), also referral system from hospital/ medical facility/ health infrastructure.

1) Day care, respite care, and 24-hour emergency care in a safe, loving environment for children infected & affected by HIV/AIDS.
2) Parental education and caregiver training enhance the quality of care, and thus quality of family life. Included here referral to rehab program for parents with drug addiction problem.
3) Public education about HIV/AIDS to prevent the disease from spreading and to eliminate the stigma. In collaboration with other community resources the center will also prepare preschool children for inclusion and entry into primary school.

By far, we saw no competitor providing service like Integrated Early Childhood Care for HIV infected/affected children and their family.
We expect to collaborate with the following: organization working on HIV issue, medical institution/ professionals, early childhood education institution/ professionals, also health related governmental bodies.

The biggest challenge is environmental: the stigma of HIV/AIDS in the society. Thus this initiative must be coupled with efforts to educate the public about the truth and myth of the disease, such that they can avoid the virus, not the people.

Replication of the pilot nationwide, particularly in areas where HIV case rate is high among general population. To do so we aim to collaborate with local and international NGO and government.

With a decade of field experience, F2H has already the expertise and network needed in implementing integrated childhood care and development. We work in partnership with Rumah Cemara, as a pioneer in integrated IDU and HIV community based program, adding the expertise and network needed from HIV field.

To make the service accessible nationwide (particularly where demand is high/ high number of target population) on the first stage, and preparing a transition to inclusion of such service in the existing infrastructure on the second stage.

Growth milestones:
1st year: pilot is up and running, ready as a franchise model
3rd year: replication in most affected area (presumably Papua and Nusa Tenggara), in partnership with NGO and government
5th year: preparation of inclusion to existing infrastructure (e.g. hospital, public school)

Children need help and support, especially in this uncertain and violent environment. Some of the problems is childhood depression, anxiety, or low self-esteem that many times lead to a poor performance at school. On the other hand, parents and educators need some guidance on how to treat children to develop balanced and creative personalities. Many parents and teachers do not know how to cope with the challenges encountered in the nurture and upbringing of a child. Due to the poor economic situation, Greek state fails to create those structures that would help children overcome their issues and also seems to be unable to train and guide parents and teachers to properly manage those challenges. There are around 1,300 schools with more than 300,000 children at the chosen area.

The goal of 'Happy Dickens' is to provide the necessary resources and knowledge to help children develop a creative and firm personality, by offering high quality customized services, such as counseling, coaching and specialized day programs. On the other hand, 'Happy Dickens' aims to offer training and workshops to parents and caregivers, schools, child care centers and more in order to help them succeed in the difficult task of raising and upbringing a child.

The Center for Positive Behavior 'Happy Dickens' is a non profit organization, which offers practical solutions to a number of challenges and issues faced by children (aged 18 months to 14 years), parents, teachers and caregivers. The goal is to help children develop a creative and firm personality and also to support and guide the people who care to do the hard work of raising and upbringing a child.

Parents interact with schools, childcare centers as well as with the extracurricular activities of children. The children live in a community where the financial and psychological pressure and the social turmoil add stress to their everyday life. On the other hand, every child has their own unique abilities and preferences. The Centre collects all this information after consultation with parents and teachers in order to create customized services that meet the needs of both children and caregivers.

Children, Parents & Guardians, Teachers & Educators, Caregivers of Children

The methods used to approach customers is special internet portals, advertising brochures, contacts with parents and guardians associations, contacts with health professionals (e.g. psychologists, speech therapists, etc.).

The Centre's aim is to develop services that will help children with issues such as Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), nutritional problems, violence, disobedience and so on. Yet, the Center develops programs for talented and creative children, which are aimed at supporting and developing their talents. It also provides training and workshops to parents and teachers and helps children to enhance their social and learning skills.

Peers are defined as those who collaborate with the Center, such as the health specialists, scientists, researchers and so on. On the other hand, there is no competition in the narrow sense, since “Happy Dickens” is the only center of its kind in the selected geographical area. Both individual private companies, based on profit, and public-community organizations, which focus on the needs of the population are trying to meet specialized needs. This makes them partly competitors, but considering that the Center intends to develop such activities, those companies can and should become customers of “Happy Dickens”. This prospect also shows the potential development of the Centre.

By the formation of the core founding team, the basic conditions have been created for the Center to start its operation. One’s personal weakness can be covered with the addition of other partners. The plethora of the programs, the coordination of partners, the knowledge transfer, and the exchange of experience, are some of the challenges to be faced by the Center. On the other hand, the evaluation of the programs during the implementation, the weekly management team meetings, and the written reports, are the first steps to ensure that “Happy Dickens” has developed its own expertise, which will not depend exclusively on the experience of the partners.

Tailored services that meet the needs of children for the challenges and difficulties that arise in their lives and help to shape their personality. Development and implemention of individual and group programs that target in long-term positive and lasting change in the lives of children and those involved with their nurture and education. Customers’ feedback is a critical factor for improvement.

The core team has been created and, the right place has been found, which will house the Centre. Additionally, the initial Capital is being gathered and the first programs and activities for children are being designed.

The key growth objectives of the Center will operate in three directions:
a) Develop activities concerning children and their family at the premises of the Centre.
b) Implementation of programs in schools in collaboration with educators and the Parents and Guardians Association.
c) Collaboration with university faculty in research programs.

The time frame for the development of this initiative is as follows:
February 2013: Company registration, rental and renovation sites, development of programs.
September 2013: Launch of the first activities in the premises of the Centre - (ADHD Management Programs, Social Skills Development Programs, Support Services for Parents, Development of Personalized programs).
November - December 2013: Development of contacts with schools and university faculties.