Programa Cuidarte -

EDUCATION RECREATION AND CULTURE

• The Cuidarte Program is a community and family-based approach to comprehensive early childhood care for rural areas and indigenous regions.
• The Cuidarte Program implemented in two of the nine districts of the Arraiján District (Arraiján Cabecera and Veracruz) , with funds from the Sus Buenos Vecinos Foundation, constitutes a challenge and at the same time an opportunity for children between 6 and 36 months of age who do not have access to early childhood education centers, to receive support through the modality of home visits, and every week receive activities that contribute to the development of skills: motor, socio-emotional, adaptive, cognitive and language .
• The Program began in February 2023, and to date there have been 20 months of continuous implementation.
• According to the Population and Housing Census published in 2023, in the districts of Veracruz and Arraiján The Cabecera area is home to 5,480 children between the ages of 0 and 48 months ; the Cuidarte Program, sponsored by the Fundación sus Buenos Vecinos and implemented by Fondo Unido de Panamá, serves 300 children between 6 and 36 months of age , representing 5.5% of the population of these two districts who did not receive any formal or informal educational services.
• Of the total number of children served by the Cuidarte Program, 151 are boys (50.3%) and 149 are girls (49.7%) .
• 20,359 home visits have been made and support has been provided to mothers and caregivers of infants, which represents 88% of the goal expected by the Cuidarte Program, 215 children and girls of the 300 beneficiaries have received between 85 and 100% of the care.
• It is also important to highlight that the supervisors have carried out a total of 305 supervisions of community promoters during 20 months of implementation.
• 160 weekly meetings have been held . Likewise, the Fondo Unido de Panamá team constantly supervises and makes recommendations on the progress of the Cuidarte Program in order to meet the 26 Quality Standards it requires.

LIFE AND HEALTH

• The Cuidarte program contributes to the attention of the Red Flags, which are warning signs that are intended to be addressed and counteracted through the implementation of inter-institutional alliances of the Public Services Network.
• health services , combating poverty and malnutrition , as well as other needs that have been identified during the reporting period, and which are being addressed with the commitment of the institutions involved in the Local Network.
• During the Second Community Educational Meeting held from September 25 to October 3, 610 vaccines were administered (417 to the girls and boys participating in Cuidarte and 193 to mothers or caregivers)
• Through the inter-institutional action of the Government of West Panama, MINSA, the Social Security Fund and MEDUCA, 193 beneficiaries of the Cuidarte Program have been assisted at the Generoso Guardia Polyclinic in La Chorrera.
• For this period we highlight that in close coordination with the Ministry of Health , it has already been achieved that they are being provided with the health and nutrition services required for child development, with the support of MEDUCA and the Government of West Panama.
• MIDES preselected a first group of 16 mothers participating in the Cuidarte Program who must receive the Program of the National Secretariat for the Food and Nutrition Security Plan ( SENAPAN) , based on the payment of conditional monetary transfers to be made in September 2024, who have met the eligibility requirements and there is a second group of 10 mothers who are in the process of completing the requirements demanded by SENAPAN.
• 171 children (57%) are from the Guna ethnic group, 72 children (24%) are Latino, 36 children (12%) are from another indigenous group ( Ngäbe-Bugléand Emberá-Wounaan ); and 23 children (8%) are Afro-descendants; in other words, 7 out of 10 children enrolled in the Cuidarte Program come from indigenous Panamanian families who have moved from the regional areas to the semi-urban centers of Arraiján.
• During the Second Community Educational Meeting, the Electoral Court carried out 180 procedures to update birth records, requests for new ID cards and replacement of expired ID cards or issue new ones, among others.
• On average, 187 mothers or caregivers have been trained during the Community Educational Meetings in approximately 16 hours in the Positive Parenting Program (Triple P: The Power of Positive Parenting, Raising Successful Boys and Girls and Raising Resilient Boys and Girls), in addition to training in topics of Nutrition, Health, Vaccination, Right to Identity, the Conditional Cash Transfer Programs of MIDES (Red de Oportunidades, Ángel Guardián, 120 a los 65, SENAPAN); the Labor Insertion Programs of MITRADEL, the AMPYME Programs and CONAPREDES training to Prevent Sexual Violence.
• More than 50 community promoters have been trained and participated in the Cuidarte Program in the two districts of Arraiján Cabecera and Veracruz.

PROTECTION AND INCLUSION

20,359

VISITAS DOMICILIARIAS

4

 ENCUENTROS EDUCATIVOS COMUNITARRIOAS

305

SUPERVISIONES

 160

REUNIONES SEMANALES

16

BENFICIARIAS DE SENAPAN

610

VACUNAS

193

CITAS MÉDICAS.

180

TRÁMITES CEDULACIÓN

 
MONITORING AND MANAGING THE QUALITY OF THE CUIDARTE PROGRAM

• The information system allows the following processes to be carried out:
• The socio-family characterization carried out in the preparation phase of the Cuidarte Program and applied to all children at the time of enrollment.
• Monitoring parenting practices and home environment through the Home Environment Quality Survey (HOME Survey), conducted in the first quarter at the start of Cuidarte's operation and upon completion of the first year of implementation or graduation from the Program.
• Monitoring of family and group early childhood education benefits through weekly home visits for 42 weeks.
• Child-by-child monitoring of all health, early education, and identity services
• Administrative and financial information on the implementation of Cuidarte.
• In the pre- versus post-implementation evaluation of the Cuidarte Program on the development of the skills that children must acquire before reaching 36 months of age at the cognitive, sensory, motor, socio-affective and language levels , significant improvements are shown; since most children already carry out the activities alone, as mothers play more frequently with their children (5 to 7 days per week).
• At the beginning of the Cuidarte Program, 41.7% of mothers, fathers or caregivers said they played with their children 5 to 7 days a week; after 29 weeks in the Program, 64.3% said they play with their children with a frequency of 5 to 7 days; which directly supports children to develop on their own the activities that help their comprehensive development as can be observed in this evaluation.

EVALUATION OF DEVELOPMENTAL MILESTONES IN CHILDREN BETWEEN 6 AND 36 MONTHS OF AGE

• In October 2024, after receiving care for 20 months, an evaluation was carried out on a representative sample (n=50), 17% of the total number of children participating in the Cuidarte Program (n=300).
• Of these children evaluated, n=22 (44%) are from the Veracruz Node, n=15 (30%) are from the Cristal Node and n=13 (26%) are from the Arraiján Cabecera Node.
• This assessment describes how children from 6 to 36 months achieved or did not achieve developmental milestones according to their age in the dimensions: Gross Motor, Fine Motor, Language – Communication, Cognitive, Socio-emotional .
• In the evaluation of the Gross Motor development milestones , expected according to their age, n=46 (92%) of the children evaluated managed to perform them alone , and n=4 (8%) achieved them with the help of their mothers or caregivers. (All children can achieve the Gross Motor milestones) 

• In the evaluation of the Fine Motor development milestones expected according to their age, n=41 (85%) of the children evaluated managed to perform them alone , and n=6 (13%) achieved them with the help of their mothers or caregivers, and only n=1 (2%) could not achieve them.

• Language-Communication development milestones , expected according to their age, n=24 (49%) of the children evaluated managed to do them alone , and n=20 (41%) achieved them with the help of their mothers or caregivers, and n=5 (10%) could not achieve them.

• In the evaluation of the Cognitive development milestones expected according to their age, n=40 (82%) of the children evaluated managed to achieve them alone , and n=7 (14%) achieved them with the help of their mothers or caregivers, and n=2 (4%) could not achieve them.

• In the evaluation of the milestones of Socioemotional development , expected according to their age, n=46 (94%) of the children evaluated managed to achieve them Alone , and n=3 (6%) achieved them With the Help of their mothers or caregivers. (All children can achieve the Socioemotional milestones)

• PROGRAMA_CUIDARTE_NOVEMBER_REPORT.pdf (PDF)