Working together with parents

Early childhood development partners’ collaboration with parents with children aged 0 to 5 is very important so parents can share their points of view and influence the design and implementation of projects that concern them.

This collaboration initiative encourages parents’ participation in community activities. Through their active involvement in organizations, they also get to have a say in projects.

Why is collaboration so important?

For parents, collaboration with partners means they can:

• Establish connections and break down their isolation
• Be useful, advance a cause, and exert influence
• Exercise leadership with regard to early childhood development community action
• Participate in the decision-making processes of organizations
• Act on their environment on behalf of their children

For partners, collaboration with parents means they can:

• Take into account the parents’ views
• Get in touch with parents’ realities and needs
• Benefit from parents’ expertise
• Get parents used to assuming a community leadership role in connection with early childhood development
• Establish guidelines and implement projects that are adapted to the needs of families

Participation, a factor in the development of empowerment

To help encourage parents’ involvement, it is crucial that the opportunities for participation made available to them are varied so that each and everyone’s interests are addressed. The ladder below gives a clear indication of the different types of participation that are possible. They are organized according to their respective degrees of empowerment.

“The term empowerment refers to the successive stages by which an individual or community assumes power as well as the capacity to exercise this power autonomously […] an empowerment approach seeks to support individuals and communities in their efforts to acquire the power they need.”¹

 

Ladder of parent participation

*Adapted from Arnstein, Sherry R. (1969) ‘A Ladder of Citizen Participation,’ Journal of the American Planning Association, 35: 4, 216-224 in the article by J. Donzelot and R. Epstein “Démocratie et participation : l’exemple de la rénovation urbaine.” Published in Esprit, n. 236, 2006 pp. 5-34.

 

Many different initiatives can serve to empower parents. Some specifically target parents from underprivileged backgrounds. To make sure that parents can participate in a meaningful way, certain conditions must be met. It is important that they are offered spaces that enable them to contribute to the decisions of concern to them. They must also be made to feel that the issues concern them and believe in the possibility of change. The projects and outcomes must produce concrete results. This requires ongoing interactions, which take time. As these things cannot be accomplished overnight, this process should receive encouragement and support, rather than be rushed.

Collaboration strategies

To achieve these objectives, many organizations have chosen to make room for parent partners in their decision-making bodies and processes, thereby allowing them to influence guidelines, decisions and project implementations. In addition to La Voix des parents, below are some other examples of collaborations between organizations and parents.

 

For further information:

Pouvoir d'agir des collectivités (community empowerment; Communagir)

1. Ninacs, William A. Empowerment et intervention. Développement de la capacité d’agir et de la solidarité, Presses de l’Université Laval (PUL), Québec, 2008, 140 p.