Abstract
The contribution deals with the educational programs as they are launched by international organizations, especially the Early Child Development programs of World Bank. What are the effects of such programs on local practices and values of child rearing? It is evident that such programs are indifferent as to the local societies in which they work. It is not the local starting point in which they are interested but the global goal at which they aim. At the same time, it is not that easy to assess the quality of childhood which is produced in the interplay of global influences and local realities. Based on a study of more than hundred preschool childrens and their parents in Kyrgyzstan such an assessment is attempted and its inevitable biases are discussed.
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Notes
- 1.
While somewhat more than half of Kyrgyz households are nuclear families, this means, that old couples almost never live alone; as there are always several siblings that might live with old parents once they are married (UNDP 2010).
- 2.
Art. 37.2, Constitution of the Kyrgyz Republic, 2010, http://www.wipo.int/wipolex/en/text.jsp?file_id=254747 (Accessed 24 February 2015).
- 3.
We thank our Kyrgyz exchange students and research partners for precious insights into their everyday knowledge.
- 4.
VOC is a well-established question battery in intercultural comparisons and asks for the actual and future expectations towards the child. We used it in our parents’ interviews according to Nauck and Klaus (2007).
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Bühler-Niederberger, D. (2016). Qualities of Childhood: Kyrgyz Preschoolers Between Local Exigencies and Global Promises. In: Hunner-Kreisel, C., Bohne, S. (eds) Childhood, Youth and Migration. Children’s Well-Being: Indicators and Research, vol 12. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31111-1_12
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