With the aim of creating early childhood care centers for the children of the university community, UIS Rector Hernán Porras Díaz met with Astrid Eliana Cáceres, national director of the Colombian Institute of Family Welfare (ICBF), to explore partnerships that would allow these spaces to be created within the Industrial University of Santander.
According to Cáceres, the idea is to have a space for the care and protection of the children of students and workers. With this partnership, she says, the university would have its first on-campus daycare center, which would allow it to care for the children of students.
“We hope to reach all the other campuses and expand this partnership. The Industrial University of Santander can be an ally for the operation of other early childhood care centers in the country, and we want that to happen in Santander,” says Cáceres.
During the meeting, there was also discussion about the possibility of having coordinated training processes, not only for the teams of nutritionists with whom care and preparation in community nutritional surveillance is agreed upon, but also for other work teams in our areas and our staff.
For Mary Lupe Angulo de Mesa, head of Student Welfare at the UIS, this meeting is beneficial for the university community, the institute, and the child population.
“It is very feasible because, for example, in the area of nutrition, we have a School of Nutrition. We have the School of Social Work, the School of Law, and other schools that can help integrate this agreement from many angles,” says Angulo de Mesa.
Another point of the meeting focused on the possibility of internships and the interaction of students with family welfare programs and services.
Finally, Cáceres points out that the plan is to continue working together to provide various forms of care and reach other places such as Puerto Carreño and Mitú, among other sites where the UIS has been providing education.
Finally, the director of the ICBF reiterates that, although an agreement has already been reached that will be further developed before being signed, the plan is for it to be a state agreement in collaboration with the university, which will provide better welfare for children in the country.
