Comprehensive Child Care Program II. Ministerio de la Familia operates in Nicaragua.
In order to break the cycle of poverty and provide children with improved development, health, and nutrition, this program expands the previous Comprehensive Child Care Program (PAININ) by promoting ongoing comprehensive care for vulnerable children, from gestation until the beginning of primary school.. The two components are: (a) comprehensive care projects for children in targeted municipalities; and (b) institutional strengthening and support for the operational framework. Component 1 funds the contracting of civil society organizations, known as participating entities (PEs), to execute comprehensive care projects for poor and extremely poor children under the age of six in municipalities with the greatest needs. PEs will deliver services through community child care centers and the use of mobile teams working out of community-based units. The program funds promotion, technical assistance, and training for establishment, where they do not already exist, of municipal children's commissions (CMN), which will be the local mechanism for coordination, consensus, collaboration, and social control of each project. The subcomponents are: (a) technical assistance to municipal children's commissions; (b) comprehensive care; and (c) investment to cover adapting and equipping of facilities in which care will be provided. Component 2 strengthens institutions responsible for child care and supports the operational framework for implementing PAININ, while institutionalizing it within the Ministry of the Family (MIFAMILIA). Subcomponents are: (a) program administration; (b) development and implementation of the operational instruments for providing MIFAMILIA with the information and tools for monitoring, follow-up, and evaluation of Component 1 projects; and (c) training and social communication to increase awareness and bring civil society organizations into the program.
