Preventing child accidents by modeling their world for adults

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Preventing child accidents by modeling their world for adults

BelarusMinsk, Belarus
Organization type: 
nonprofit/ngo/citizen sector
Project Stage:
Idea
Budget: 
< $1,000
Website:
http://www.opeka.by
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Project Summary
Elevator Pitch

Concise Summary: Help us pitch this solution! Provide an explanation within 3-4 short sentences.

Accidents rank first among child death causes (30% annually). The project raises adults’ awareness on parents’ role in their safety.

About Project

Problem: What problem is this project trying to address?

The rate of child deaths caused by carelessness of parents is alarmingly rising at the moment. Great amount of young parents are unaware of the fact that children face plenty of dangerous situations and can be easily injured during their everyday activities. To a great extent the problem is caused by the fact that parents lack the knowledge concerning their role in children’s safety. The project will raise the awareness of the problem among the society and help to decrease child death rate.

Solution: What is the proposed solution? Please be specific!

The core activity of the project is preparing and holding an exhibition for parents who have little children. The exhibition will represent a kitchen room where all the furniture, kitchenware etc. will be designed in the scale as 1-year-old children see it. This will be supplemented by lectures on child deaths in accidents by a specialist from the Ministry of Health and public awareness raising campaign. Thus the current project will trigger parents’ thoughts about their children’s safety, dangerous situations that may happen and precautions that need to be taken to avoid them. This will contribute to achieving the mission of our organization which is promoting efficient child care and child protection as well as providing favorable conditions for child development.
Impact: How does it Work

Example: Walk us through a specific example(s) of how this solution makes a difference; include its primary activities.

The primary activities are 1. holding an exhibition (practical part); 2. giving lectures on child deaths in accidents (theoretical part) and 3. holding public awareness raising campaign. These three parts will supplement each other and constitute an integrated programme. First, adults will experience the world as their one-year-old children do. They will have an opportunity to climb chairs as children do, to learn how dangerous it is to try to reach a huge glass of milk by climbing drawers of kitchen tables etc. So adults will start thinking of everyday dangers awaiting for their children. This will be a part appealing to emotions and perception. Next, once adults go out of the “kitchen”, they will find themselves in a “theoretical” room with pictures, posters, and a lecturer who will provide information/numbers on child traumatization and death in accidents. The lecture will be read several times during a day. This is a part appealing to logic and rational thinking which will consolidate emotional response to the “kitchen” part of the project. Finally, awareness raising campaign will spread the information about the possibility to visit such rooms and, on the other hand, will additionally make parents increase their supervision.
Sustainability

Marketplace: Who else is addressing the problem outlined here? How does the proposed project differ from these approaches?

These problems are not addressed by any organizations in Belarus. Ministry of Health and NGOs are working to solve a lot of child-related issues but they overlook the aforementioned problems. There also exists one tendency: passive information transfer. Ministry of Health organizes lectures for parents, disseminates information among child institutions, warns rescue services. NGOs, on the other hand, provide psychological support to families after an accident has already happened. Organizations use traditional approaches – disseminating statistics, reading lectures etc. aimed at raising awareness. There is no practical component and there are few preventive measures. Our project seeks to fill these gaps.
Team

Founding Story

Belarusian NGO “Health into the XXI century” is an initiator of the project. The organization develops and implements activities aimed at facilitating child care, child protection as well as providing conditions for child development. We work hand in hand with the Ministry of Health to promote better developmental conditions for children. So sometimes the Ministry sends us a description of a population health-related problem and asks to contribute to its solution. The same situation happened with the current proposal. We received a letter with alarming statistics on child deaths and its external causes along with a request to offer an effective solution. The idea of a large-scale kitchen appeared as a result of a brainstorming session of the project team.
About You
Organization:
International Charitable Public Association "Health into the XXI century"
About You
First Name

Hanna

Last Name

Vardamatskaya

About Your Organization
Organization Name

International Charitable Public Association "Health into the XXI century"

Organization Country

, Minsk

Country where this project is creating social impact
How long has your organization been operating?

More than 5 years

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Innovation
How long have you been in operation?

Still in idea phase, but looking to launch soon

Which of the following best describes the barrier(s) your innovation addresses? Choose up to two

Access, Quality.

Social Impact
Please describe the goal of your initiative; outline what you are trying to achieve

The project tackles two interrelated issues: 1. Increasing number of child deaths of external causes (accidents, injuries and poisoning); 2. Low level of parents’ awareness of their role in children’s safety. Such issues are traditionally tackled by mere disseminating information among target groups. We offer to apply a practical approach: instead of overloading adults with exceeding number of facts we are planning to help adults experience, see, feel the world the way their children do. The goal is to rouse emotions in the first place as emotional info is much better memorized and responded to.

What has been the impact of your solution to date?

The project hasn’t started yet so it’s only possible to provide the indicators measuring the success of the project once it starts. There will be three major variables: 1. number of places where the exhibition will take place; 2. number of adults who will visit it; 3. number of child deaths and injuries in these places in a year after the exhibition is held. The organizers of the exhibition will keep track of the first two numbers. The last indicator will be provided by the Ministry of Health. After all three variables are presented, simple analysis will be carried out. Decreased number of child deaths and injuries and correlation between deaths/injuries and number of places and adults will demonstrate the success of the action.

What is your projected impact over the next five years?

New content will be added. Co-operation will be launched with governmental organizations and NGOs focusing on promoting both child health and overall child wellbeing. A set of classes on child wellbeing will be created. Target groups will be extended to high school and college students and older people who have grandchildren. Additional exhibitions, similar to the “kitchen” one, will be added, adults will be provided with an opportunity to have the same experience as children do. Thus, e.g. there will be a specially designed costume imitating child physical possibilities. The costume will limit adults’ movements and lower their motor skills.

What barriers might hinder the success of your project? How do you plan to overcome them?

The project will be supported by the Ministry of Health which excludes a big number of barriers. However, there can still be some impediments. First, exhibition may be visited by small number of people. In this case, local hospitals will provide parents with the information about the exhibition and will strongly recommend them to go. “Health into the XXI century” will ensure a PR campaign to inform maximum number of people. Second, some hospitals may disagree to host the exhibition. In this case, a letter of support will be asked from the Ministry, which will ensure hospitals’ eagerness to co-operate.

Winning entries present a strong plan for how they will achieve and track growth. Identify your six-month milestone for growing your impact

The exhibition is taken to 6 cities; at least 1800 visitors attracted to the exhibition

Identify three major tasks you will have to complete to reach your six-month milestone
Task 1

To design and build a “kitchen” for adults in the size as it is seen by a one-year-old child.

Task 2

To prepare pictures, posters and a lecture to be read to parents after they visit the exhibition.

Task 3

To finalize a list of places where the exhibition will be taken to, to receive permission to use state hospitals’ premises.

Now think bigger! Identify your 12-month impact milestone

The exhibition is taken to 18 cities; at least 5400 visitors attracted to the exhibition.

Identify three major tasks you will have to complete to reach your 12-month milestone
Task 1

To take the exhibition to 18 cities.

Task 2

To organize public awareness raising campaign aimed at increasing adults’ awareness of the external causes of child death.

Task 3

To establish contacts with child-related governmental organizations/NGOs and involve them into the project.

Sustainability
Tell us about your partnerships

The partnership is composed of two partners – NGO “Health into the XXI century” and the Ministry of Health. The Ministry is an extremely strong partner, whose interest ensures a greater part of the project’s success. The need in an awareness raising project was voiced by it. “Health into the XXI century” designed an idea and now is looking for its funding. The ministry is ready to provide informational and technical support by facilitating technical procedures.

Are you currently targeting other specific populations, locations, or markets for your innovation? If so, where and why?

No, we are not targeting other specific populations, locations, or markets for our innovation at the moment. As this initiative has never been implemented in Belarus before, we are planning to start with Minsk and further involve other cities. Thus, we are targeting the people who visit state hospitals (usually those with medium and low income), primarily, married couples at the age of around 18-35 years old, who have little children.

What type of operating environment and internal organizational factors make your innovation successful?

Our initiative aims at solution of such a serious problem, as child injuries and deaths in accidents, in a very creative and still effective way. For this reason it is likely to draw a lot of public attention and help parents to realize how children’s world really looks like. Our team consists of well-educated and experienced employees, which can ensure qualitative performance of the project. Besides, the government will facilitate various technical procedures: e.g., ensuring co-operation with hospitals all over Belarus, providing premises and lecturers for the exhibition, registering grant, receiving letters of support from relevant institutions etc.

Please elaborate on any needs or offers you have mentioned above and/or suggest categories of support that aren't specified within the list
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