Early childhood development: Experts discuss scaling up parenting programs in Eastern Africa
Thrive, an early childhood development research programme being implemented in several low- and middle-income countries, hosted a side event at the 2024 Eastern Africa Regional Early Childhood Conference, Julius Nyerere International Convention Centre, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
Thrive’s session, held on March13, 2024, focused on what has been learnt about scaling responsive caregiving through parenting programmes, and included a lecture by internationally renowned economist Professor Orazio Attanasio from Yale University.
The 2024 Eastern Africa Regional Early Childhood Conference was hosted by the United Republic of Tanzania in collaboration with the Tanzania Early Childhood Development Network (TECDEN) and the Africa Early Childhood Network (AfECN).
Aimed at multisectoral stakeholders interested in improving early childhood outcomes, the in-person event comprised presentations, panel and break-out sessions, roundtable discussions, and an exhibition covering partner initiatives and the sharing of materials and resources.
In addition, side events and learning sessions were organised to support capacity building and enable groups to network and build pathways for collaboration and partnerships to take early childhood development forward in the region.
Thrive’s side event was centred on learnings from research on scaling responsive caregiving through parenting programmes. It brought together renowned early childhood development experts, policymakers, researchers, and practitioners.
Economist Professor Orazio Attanasio from Yale University shared his learnings from research carried out over the last 20 years. He provided a historical overview of parenting programmes and covered the challenges, opportunities and key considerations related to scaling them successfully, sharing valuable insights from his work designing and testing innovative approaches to improve responsive caregiving worldwide.
To deeply dive into the significance of and prospects for the research, a panel of early childhood experts leading the parenting debate in Tanzania – including high-profile representatives of NGOs, government ministries and international organisations – then reflected on the implications for Tanzania and the Eastern Africa region, considering how the lessons learnt can be taken forward.
Dr Honorati Masanja, Thrive Tanzania country principal investigator and chief executive director of the Ifakara Health Institute, said: “It is well known that supporting parents to provide nurturing care can have a hugely positive impact on child development – and parenting programmes that promote responsive care giving in children’s early years have been shown to be highly effective in improving life outcomes. But we need to understand more about how to scale these interventions successfully in varied settings and contexts. We delivered a side event that explored existing research evidence and considered how the insight can be used to inform future parenting programmes.”
Investing in early childhood development is one of the most effective ways for a country to fully realise its social and economic potential. When taken to scale, individual benefits can be nationally transformative, leading to stronger and more equal and inclusive societies, reduced poverty, and improved economic growth.
Working closely with policymakers and other stakeholders, Thrive aims to support low- and middle-income countries to turn what is known about positive early childhood development into practical, scalable, low-cost programmes that can better serve children and communities.
Thrive is funded by the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) and New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT), and is managed by Oxford Policy Management in collaboration with the Institute for Fiscal Studies and Yale University. Thrive’s five focus countries are Bangladesh, Ghana, Kiribati, Sierra Leone, and Tanzania.
