Introducing...

Imagine a website that provides insight into how children are raised around the world. A website that provides not only professionally collected material, but a virtual realm where families from around the world can meet and share their own stories and images. What would we learn?

Culture is revealed through day-to-day routines both large and small, and child-rearing mirrors the very heart of a culture. How are children disciplined, comforted, indulged? When do children work and how do they play? How does a community impart religion, spirituality, and cultural practices to its children? Is the fascination with dinosaurs universal? Is there a “tooth fairy” in China?

Purpose...

Too often we learn about other countries through the troubled lens of the news, leaving us discouraged, fearful, and anxious — whereas in the private sphere of the family home, we also find beauty, humor, and affection. Family life is the most accurate reflection of a nation’s social, economic, spiritual, and political life. The Global Moms Project website will affirm our connectivity and commonality while simultaneously offering the opportunity to learn from other ways of doing things. In an increasingly globalized world, identifying with the fundamental humanity of our neighbors worldwide and recognizing the value of their cultures is key to creating a more peaceful global community.

Methods...

The Global Moms Project will include a User Generated Content section where families from around the world can contribute their own content, curated by The Global Moms Project team.

Visitors to the multimedia database will be able to search either by SUBJECT — “play time” “discipline” “lullabies” etc. or by COUNTRY. The quality of content, ease of access, and engaging material will attract moms, dads, kids, caregivers and early childhood education specialists.

The Global Moms Project will explore how kids are raised from as many of the world’s cultures as possible. The Project also includes American families representing a spectrum of experiences: Asian American, Hispanic, African American, and gay/lesbian, to name a few.

To maintain stylistic consistency, a core team of 4 producers will work with local camera and sound crews. Small cameras will be used in order to lessen the intrusion on participating families and to foster a greater senseof intimacy both during production and within the footage. In some instances families may be loaned cameras in order to capture ordinary life from their own perspective. Supporting material such as audio recordings of lullabies, family home movies, and still photographs will also be collected.

Join the Journey...

Justine Shapiro and Promises Films are uniquely positioned to create and disseminate The Global Moms Project. Promises Films is an established non-profit award-winning documentary filmmaking company. For 10 years Justine Shapiro hosted the internationally broadcast travel series GlobeTrekker, building an important network of production crews and contacts around the world.

The Global Moms Project will cost approximately $250,000 – $400,000 per year to develop and implement. Promises Films is looking for 2 to 3 foundations and/or corporations to underwrite this project. As a sponsor of The Global Moms Project, your company’s logo would appear prominently on each page of the website and on all other promotional and educational materials both online and off.

Please contact Executive Director Justine Shapiro. (justine@globalmoms.org)

Learn more about Promises Films and our internationally recognized, award-winning films at www.promisesfilms.com.