MAZDAK; The community-based early childhood development (ECD) initiation in Iran

MAZDAK project that is child friendly environment program with community-based approach in terms of all-round development of children in Iran is running as a pilot in the neighborhood of Eivanak in the West of Tehran.
This study was a community-based participatory research (CBPR) of the health system research (HSR). All of the households in Eivanak neighborhood area of Tehran were considered in the study.
MAZDAK was designed to monitor child development, care and safety by organizing local community and participating parents. For facilitating the parent’s participation, some group of local women were organized, named REZAKAR, to connect parents. Now, 300 people of local family are under the study and monitoring the child development (by ASQ) and home safety evaluation (by checklist) and related interventions has been implemented in partnership with parents and the volunteers.
Important requirements, such as inter-sectoral collaboration and cooperation of parents, should be considered for the early childhood development projects to make the better process. Although it has a lot of efficacy, but it has several challenges at different stages of participation and community mobilization and sustainability of the local organizing face. Evidence from a variety of initiatives during the implementation of such projects is the collective wisdom to deal with this challenge is to be able to guide similar efforts.