Who Are We
Children First Association was founded in 2017 in Diyarbakır with the aim of supporting the psychosocial, cultural-artistic, linguistic, cognitive, and physical development of children within the framework of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and of providing support to individuals and institutions working in this field.
The association aims to develop projects in various themes within the fields of culture and arts, creating productions with the participation and leadership of children; and to deliver these productions to as many children as possible through visual media platforms.
In this regard, the association carries out joint activities with Zarok TV, a children’s channel broadcasting in the Kurmancî and Zazakî/Kirmanckî dialects of Kurdish, particularly to ensure that the content produced reaches children effectively.
Children First Association aims to contribute to the preservation of the Kurdish language and culture and to their transmission to future generations through its activities.
Nearly half of the Kurdish population—estimated to exceed 40 million—consists of children under the age of 15. Children who become alienated from their own culture may experience various challenges in their personality development. As clearly demonstrated in the relevant scientific literature, language is one of the most significant factors in children’s personality development, their process of becoming individuals, gaining a sense of social belonging, and acquiring cultural values.
Children who are unable to grow up with their own language and culture face much higher risks of becoming disconnected from the society they live in and experiencing interruptions in healthy personality development.
The association aims to support Kurdish children in growing up in harmony with their own culture and identity while also developing in a way that is compatible with the society they live in, thereby helping to address this gap.
In this context, through projects developed together with Zarok TV—a children’s channel dedicated to supporting Kurdish children’s growth within their own culture—the association will play an important role in ensuring intergenerational linguistic and cultural transmission.