In 2011, Avenir d'enfants supported 90 communities spread over 16 administrative regions of Quebec, thus enabling some 1,475 partners to mobilize on behalf of 235,000 children under the age of five. These partners made a commitment to implement actions that promote the overall development of young children, particularly those living in poverty.

Through early, collective efforts, these action strategies should be planned so that they reach families living in poverty, without being exclusively for them. Indeed, although the projects target primarily children living in poverty, the interventions can affect all the children of a given community.

Parental commitment is essential and the involvement of partners is crucial to the success of projects.

To support a collective assumption of responsibility for early childhood development and to provoke lasting change, Avenir d'enfants emphasizes that local partners should work from a shared intention, portrait, analysis and vision, and with common priorities, objectives and strategies.

For this reason, Avenir d'enfants asks local communities wishing to obtain our support to collectively engage in a three-year planning process that allows them to make long-term impact their goal. This process contributes to the concrete mobilization of the group of partners around a unifying project that they have created together and will implement together.

Avenir d'enfants guidance

Avenir d'enfants offers to guide community engagement through the intermediary of a development agent, who intervenes as soon as the intention to submit a project is voiced.

These partners can develop various types of projects related to early childhood and preparing for a successful school entry, such as the following examples:

  • child intervention;
  • parental guidance and networking;
  • pre-natal guidance;
  • awareness-raising, communication and promotion of services, activities, attitudes, best practices, etc., to parents and other citizens;
  • skill development;
  • living environment enhancement;
  • portrait and analysis of the milieu.

If the projects submitted by a grouping of partners are selected, then Avenir d'enfants will guide the partners in the implementation of their actions.

What principles underlie the notion of guidance?

Guidance is based on the five following principles:

  • every community is unique;
  • collaboration between partners and parents is essential to the children's harmonious development;
  • the responsibility for community development and mobilization with regard to child well-being lies first with the community;
  • community development and mobilization constitute a comprehensive process;
  • the community learns by action and by success, and in having fun.

Who can be guided?

A grouping of partners, including parents, who are recognized in their milieu and who work to promote the development of children aged five and under living in poverty, can be coached.

What is guidance?

Guidance consists of providing support to the group throughout the mobilization process and during all stages of its development cycle.

If your project is led by the community, we invite you to communicate with us to ensure that your group and its objectives meet our admissibility criteria.