A Whole-Community Approach to Nurturing Children

“Children are very special, and they are also vulnerable,” said Father Oswald Kasanka, a priest who is part of a collective of faith leaders in Zambia convened by Episcopal Relief & Development. “They depend entirely on the protection of their parents, the protection of their caregivers, which means we should give them a safe environment.”

Recently, Linda Masumo, Program Manager for the Anglican Diocese of Central Zambia’s Moments That Matter® (MTM) integrated early childhood development (ECD) program partnership sat down with Father Kasanka for a brief video interview about the role of the community to protect children from abuse. The Diocese has been implementing MTM since 2017.

MTM is a direct response to the nurturing care imperative, particularly in rural, underserved communities, where access to information about nurturing care and resources are limited. MTM provides long-term (18- 24 months) holistic family support through workshops, accompaniment and resources so that children ages 0-3 have the start to life they need to develop and thrive. 

Through MTM, Episcopal Relief & Development works with communities to help parents and caregivers nurture children through play and gentle discipline, nutrition and health education, and by applying other Episcopal Relief & Development proven approaches to savings and investing, entrepreneurship, family violence intervention and climate adaptation. 

“…children are special, they need our protection, they need to be in a safe environment so that in the future we have a safer community, a safer country and children thrive.”

–Father Kasanka

In order to help share MTM with communities, Episcopal Relief & Development works with local faith leaders, like Father Kasanka, of Christian and Muslim faiths throughout Africa. Through workshops and by using a toolkit, faith leaders are equipped to speak from sacred texts to promote gentleness, kindness, responsibility, unity, hope and dignity. Faith leaders often preach and teach using MTM materials, actively condemning wrongdoing by perpetrators of violence and abuse including corporal punishment, gender-based violence and exclusion, and offer counseling and home visits to their communities. 

During the conversation, Father Kasanka shared, “We would love to see a situation where those in MTM, even those outside the program, are reached. So everyone is aware that children are special, they need our protection, they need to be in a safe environment so that in the future we have a safer community, a safer country and children thrive.”

Watch this short video and hear from Father Kasanka about why he participates in MTM in his community.

Please note: In the video, Father Kasanka discusses abuse and other harms that happen to children. Please take care when watching.