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Ning Fu, Education Officer, UNICEF China

When children came with their parents to the Ma Wang Miao community Early Childhood Development (ECD) Centre, they immediately found a new black thin 'guy' with three legs, a big head (camera) and 7 eyes (lenses) standing in the middle of all the toys from UNICEF. After quite a bit of  'investigation', they decided to ignore this cold, silent and strange-looking guy and joint auntie Yu Yin in the fun reading and game playing activities.
 

This is the first time UNICEF China has used virtual reality (VR) technology for documenting its best practices. With early childhood development a top priority in UNICEF's next five year plan, the decision was made to capture a day in the life of one of UNICEF and AWCF's pilot centres for children aged 0 to 3 years old.   

The Ma Wang Miao community-based ECD centre started offering free ECD service to local children aged 0-3 and caregivers in early 2014. It is one of the 40 ECD 0-3 pilot centres that All China Women's Federation (ACWF), the largest women's organisation in the world, established in China with financial and technical support from UNICEF. Trained volunteers/teachers use materials devised by UNICEF and ACWF through experts, and organize interactive parent-child activities several days a week. UNICEF has also set  up ECD kiosks in the centres to support volunteers providing parental education. The portal uses a parenting website devised by UNICEF with MoE, which has 269 video messages in key developmental areas, such as nutrition, why and how of early stimulation and play, developmental milestones, immunisation, and so on.

©UNICEF/China At a UNICEF community based ECD center, trained volunteers is hosting a session for children and their parents.

"I have become quite a popular figure in my community since I started working as a volunteer in the centre," Yu Yin, the 'actress who played a leading role' in the VR film said, " when parents and grandparents have problems, they come to me and ask for help, not just about their children but other things as well." Besides organizing activities in the centre, Yu Yin also teaches parents how to use simple materials easily accessible at home to play games with their children, facilitating their language and gross and fine motor development. "Although the centre had just been operating for nearly 2 years, it is extremely welcomed by our community members. A little while ago, they wrote a thank you note to the UN secretary Ban Ki-Moon to express their gratitude for UNICEF. Mr. Ban Ki-moon sent a warm reply letter along with a signed picture of himself which are now hanging on the wall of the centre.  “In the future, we are going to establish connections with local healthcare institutions to provide extended services for children in our neighbourhood such as screening and physical check-ups” said Zhang Hong, a district ACWF director.   
 

People say that 2016 is the year of virtual reality. As expected, VR has been in the spot light at the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) 2016. The technology allows users to explore the three dimensional world of virtual reality through immersion in and interaction with a projection of reality or computer simulations. UNICEF may not be an organization that always rides on the crest of technology waves, however, it has never overlooked the power of technological innovation and its benefit to children around the world. UNICEF China office's first attempt into the virtual reality world was not just as a communication tool, but also to explore the great potential of its use in education and training. The technology significantly extends the depth and breadth of learning, especially children in vulnerable situations. Imagine children who may never have a chance to step outside her rural hometown visiting the Forbidden City or exploring the solar system through a VR headset. 
 

Interestingly during the shooting, the VR camera was also on cameras. Local newspaper and TV reporters rushed in as soon as they heard about UNICEF taking a VR production team to document the ECD centre in Xiang Yang city. UNICEF's programme interventions and technological innovations have once again become the headline of local news.