海角大神

June 1 is 鈥淐hildren鈥檚 Day鈥� in China. It鈥檚 a day when every child can feel important鈥攃elebrated with parties and music and sweet treats by parents, schools, politicians, and the media.

In 2000, before Half the Sky鈥檚 nurture and enrichment programs for orphaned children began to roll out across China, for those who must spend their childhoods inside China鈥檚 welfare institutions, it was pretty much the only day their very existence was acknowledged.

When Half the Sky came along offering an innovative approach to bringing the love of family to orphaned children, the days got considerably brighter, but only for a handful of the hundreds of thousands just waiting for life to begin. Still, even on a small scale, we were making real change.

And the Chinese government was watching. On Children鈥檚 Day in 2006, then President Hu Jintao visited an orphanage in Beijing and made a pronouncement that took our quiet revolution to the entire nation. He spoke of the plight of orphaned and disabled children:

鈥淭hey are the weakest and neediest group in our society. They need most care and love. Party committee and government at all levels must put these special children in their hearts鈥攊mprove their care and education. We must mobilize the whole society to share in care and love for the orphans. We must bring them to the same level as other children, to live and grow happily under the same blue sky of the motherland as us all.鈥�

And change would follow. Not overnight鈥擟hina had other priorities, for sure. But from that day, the Chinese government鈥檚 cooperation with Half the Sky gathered steam. And five years later, in 2011, on another Children鈥檚 Day, a ceremony took place at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing that changed everything.

The hall was filled with dignitaries and donors and Half the Sky staffers and a few dozen singing children. On the screen before us, more children sang鈥攁dopted Chinese children who lived all over the world and children who still lived in orphanages. They sang about wanting the world to be filled with love. For orphans in China, that wish was about to come true on an only-in-China scale. The Rainbow Program was officially launched.

China鈥檚 Rainbow Program is a groundbreaking partnership between government, the JPMorgan Chase Foundation, private family foundations, and Half the Sky鈥攖he first national child welfare initiative in China. Its mission is to train every single child welfare worker in the country in a proven approach to providing family-like care to children who鈥檝e never known love. To help China reimagine its entire child welfare system.

Providing a caring adult in the life of every orphaned child in China was, not so long ago, my 鈥渋mpossible鈥� dream. But here it was utterly possible鈥攅ven likely to be realized鈥攊n the Great Hall of the People, no less.

So, how are we doing?

Three years later, through 159 training sessions in 18 of the country鈥檚 31 provinces and municipalities, we鈥檝e trained 5,446 child welfare workers and administrators from 350 welfare institutions. We鈥檝e already exceeded the original goal of 377 institutions trained over six years.

But, of course, those are only numbers, and training is only the beginning.

To ensure that orphanage directors will have the support they need when they try to replicate our approach, we鈥檝e placed Half the Sky child development experts in each of our model children鈥檚 centers, usually in the provincial capitals. Those permanent Half the Sky staff, along with their government counterparts, continue promoting professional development among welfare workers throughout the province, offering workshops, mentorships, and in-service training to caregivers who wish to create Half the Sky鈥搃nspired programs in their own orphanages, shelters, and medical care facilities.

Through the Rainbow Program, we launched 1jiaren.org, a nationwide online learning platform that brings the child welfare community together to discuss best practices, view a video resource library, and take online courses for further certification. We鈥檝e established a sister foundation in China, so that Chinese citizens can support programs in their communities offering quality care for marginalized children. With government, we鈥檝e developed national standards for care and will soon be offering courses and accreditation through Beijing Normal University.

All of this is about professionalizing what was once a demeaning job, assigned to those who could do nothing else.

The Rainbow Program has inspired caregivers and administrators to make concrete and lasting changes at the orphanages where they work, changes that indicate that the much-publicized failings of institutional care in which children fall behind developmentally because they do not receive the responsive care that is crucial for healthy development, will one day be a distant memory.

Vice Director Liu Fang of the Zhuzhou Children鈥檚 Welfare Institute is one of a number of orphanage administrators who believe that the new dawn for child welfare in China has arrived: 鈥淩ainbow trainings are like a pebble thrown into the lake. Each of the ripples created represents a change that training brings to the institutions.鈥�

Those ripples start with interactive trainings that include lectures and small discussion groups, and then progress to hands-on work with the children. Many of the younger trainees lack practical experience with children and many of the older trainees have experience only with basic care and feeding, so at first they keep their distance.

But when Half the Sky鈥檚 trainers, who are chosen not just for their knowledge and experience but also their inspirational teaching skills, sit down on the mat, intently focusing on one child, the trainees lose their hesitancy. They learn to carefully observe each child, develop a secure attachment, and create a learning environment that encourages the children to explore rather than simply recite 鈥渁 bunch of numbers and facts,鈥� as one trainee said.

Trainees come to understand why, like children in loving families, institutionalized children should not languish in cribs: 鈥淎fter our Rainbow training, we immediately bought comfortable mats with soothing colors. They free the children from their tiny beds,鈥� said caregiver Ye Hong from Sichuan Province.

Invariably trainees are stunned to see the juxtaposition of photos of shattered children when they first enter Half the Sky鈥檚 programs with joyous family photos of the children they have become. The caregivers gain a new appreciation not only of the potential of each child in their care, but also about the importance of their jobs.

鈥淚 was greatly touched by the story of little Feifei. They gave up on her because they believed she had brain disease. Now she is a happy teenager in Holland. I never thought our simple work could change the life of a child,鈥� said Zhou Jijun after her training in Hunan Province.

The simple yet profound message that nurturing children transforms their lives is the essence of the Rainbow Program that province by province and orphanage by orphanage is ushering in a new era for the Chinese child welfare system. It won鈥檛 be long before every day in China is Children鈥檚 Day. For all children.

鈥� is founder and CEO of Half the Sky Foundation.

鈥� at the , the premier international platform for accelerating entrepreneurial approaches and innovative solutions to the world鈥檚 most pressing social issues.