ECC Launches Caribbean’s First App to Track Children’s Development

Kingston, Jamaica, November 22, 2019: The Early Childhood Commission (ECC) has launched the Caribbean’s first mobile application that tracks children’s development – the 1^st 1000 Days Application. The focus of the App is to provide information on caring for children within the 0-2 age cohort.

During the launch of the app at the Terra Nov All-Suite Hotel on Tuesday, November 19, Executive Director of the Commission, Karlene DeGrasse-Deslandes said “The primary objective of the App is that it functions as a source of useful information. Its utilization will lead to change in parenting attitudes and behaviours. The App as a tool, is geared toward supporting parents to achieve positive outcomes for their children.”

The App whose content is funded by UNICEF will primarily target all parents, caregivers and anyone tasked with the responsibility of parenting children 0 to 8 years old. While the App is an extra provision for parents within this cohort, its development and roll-out will be phased and based on the different stages of early childhood. As such, the initial structure of the App will focus on the first 1,000 days and thereafter, expanded incrementally to provide support for parents of children up to age 8.

Parenting Consultant at UNICEF, Ytkse Van Windenstated “With the 1st 1,000 Days App, we have the opportunity to efficiently reach a large number of parents and parents-to-be. Indeed, technology-based approaches are an exciting innovation in the delivery of parenting support, offering benefits such as minimal recurring cost, potential for widespread reach, maintenance of fidelity through content standardization, opportunity for personalisation, and participant convenience.”

The benefits of the App’s development are not only in relation to the expected positive impact on parenting practices in Jamaica, but potentially to extend to further building the ECC’s reputation as an innovator in early childhood development and as a valuable contributor to research within the field.

The launch was sponsored by the Education Sector Transformation Plan Learning and Teaching (Japan funded Inter-American Development Bank Technical Cooperation).