The Early Childhood Unit “Baby95” project under the roof of Boğaziçi University Psychology Research and Application Center (BUPAM) in cooperation with Mersin Metropolitan Municipality Women and Family Services Department will be implemented in Mersin. Home visit-based family guidance support will be given to the disadvantaged under the name 'Mersin95', to pregnant women affected by the earthquake and to families with children between the ages of 0-3.
What is Bebek95 project?
In the Bebek3 unit, named after 95 cm, which is accepted as the average height of a 95-year-old healthy child by the World Health Organization, studies are carried out to support the basic development processes of babies from prenatal to 3 years old. Among the aims of the project; To raise awareness in the society about the critical importance of the 0-3 age period, to develop family-oriented early intervention programs for early childhood development in the light of scientific data, to help caregivers and babies in families living in disadvantaged conditions such as poverty and refugee status, local governments, non-governmental organizations , developing partnerships with public and private sector organizations, providing support to field teams implementing early intervention programs, researching the effects of programs on families and children, and enabling evidence-based programs to reach more children and families.
Benveniste: “We decided to launch 'Mersin95' together with Mersin Metropolitan Municipality”
Specialist Psychologist Hande Benveniste, Coordinator of Bebek95 Early Childhood Unit at Boğaziçi University, talked about the details of the Bebek95 project and said, “We started working with the Bernard van Leer Foundation in 2017. A pilot study was conducted to measure the impact of the program in 4 district municipalities. We have created a home visit program that starts with pregnancy and visits mothers every two weeks after giving birth. Here, we started to support the mother on issues such as the mental health of the mother, the mother-child relationship, the development of the child, and nutrition. For this, we trained teams in local governments, provided them with field support, and tried to make this a sustainable program. The positive results we achieved at the end of the research project pushed us to expand it in Turkey and a center was established at Boğaziçi University. We are currently in the process of dissemination. After the last sad event, we decided to start 'Mersin95' together with Mersin Metropolitan Municipality in order to support the people who experienced the earthquake.
“The Metropolitan Municipality quickly formed a team”
Explaining that the Metropolitan Municipality is working quickly for the project, Benveniste said, “Mersin Metropolitan Municipality quickly formed a team. Now we will come and train this team. At the same time, we will also add some new modules according to the specific situation. Later, we will start to support mothers and families affected by the earthquake, who are pregnant or have children aged 0-3. The most important feature of the program is continuity. In other words, we will be in constant contact with the families that have experienced earthquakes once every two weeks, which is now once a week. Beyond giving them information; We are trying to provide skills such as improving practice skills, parenting skills, creating behavior change, changing the picture of the child in their minds, appreciating, and positive thinking. Of course, when giving these, a great relationship of trust is formed. A mother's feeling of self-worth increases her self-confidence as her skills improve and she sees the developments in her child, and as a result, it has a positive effect on the whole family. We want to be with them with this constant contact, this trust relationship, and we may also be able to identify the needs that may be needed in the whole family by directing the necessary units of the municipality.
Explaining the meaning of the number 95 in the Bebek95 project, Benveniste said, “'95' is the average height accepted by the World Health Organization of a healthy 3-year-old child. We say; If we look at a city from 95 cm, see and solve the problems, in fact, we will solve the problems for everyone, for the elderly, for the disabled, for adults, and we create a more livable city. One of the pillars of this program, which is known as Kent95 and is implemented in various countries around the world, is the home visit program we carry out, one pillar is transforming public spaces according to the age of 0-3, and another important pillar is to be able to do all these based on data.”
Benveniste stated that he liked and followed the studies on early childhood in Mersin and said, “I came to Mersin for the first time. For the last year, I have been watching all kinds of work on women and childhood in Mersin with great excitement and I was lucky to work. It is really exciting to work with such a team, a municipality with such an understanding and awareness of early childhood. I hope we can establish the program in a very good way and spread it to the environment," he said.
Foggo: “It will be the first pilot project for pregnant women affected by the earthquake”
Hacer Foggo, Poverty Solidarity Coordinator of the Republican People's Party, stated that she had visited Mersin before and examined the social projects of the Metropolitan Municipality and said, “We examined the poverty-related projects of the Mersin Metropolitan Municipality. Mersin Metropolitan Municipality is already working very well in general," he said.
Foggo stated that the reason for their visit this time was the relocation of the Bebek95 project to Mersin and continued as follows:
“The reason we are here today is because the Mersin95 project will come to life. More precisely, the Bebek95 project will also be implemented in Mersin. A very important project in this respect; According to the figures of the United Nations, there are more than 240 thousand pregnant women in the earthquake-affected areas. When we think about Mersin, over 400 thousand people affected by the earthquake moved here. Among them are pregnant women and a project for them will be implemented here. It will be the first pilot project for pregnant women affected by the earthquake. I think it is a very important, very valuable project. After that, maybe it will become widespread in other regions. Why is it important? Because there are not many projects for early childhood education, 0-3 age groups in Turkey. But in fact, all the character and personality actually begins at that time. In other words, it starts in early childhood and is very important in this sense. I also think it is a very important project for mothers affected by the earthquake. We also held a meeting with our Metropolitan Mayor Vahap Seçer. He is very happy that this project will come to life. I would like to thank him here as well.”