Globally more children than ever are accessing primary school. Millions of children however, particularly marginalized groups including disabled children, are still unlikely to ever attend school. For those that do, many... [ view full abstract ]
Globally more children than ever are accessing primary school. Millions of children however, particularly marginalized groups including disabled children, are still unlikely to ever attend school. For those that do, many experience sub-standard education preventing them achieving age-appropriate learning outcomes; this is true for nearly half of children in early primary.
Children’s early development and learning prior to reaching school age is a critical factor in addressing these twin challenges of access and quality. Globally over 200 million children below age 5 are not meeting their age appropriate learning outcomes and are therefore not ready for school, limiting their access to school and ability to learn when in school. Whilst there has been an increasing focus on expansion of preschool and centre based ECD services there has been less focus on the critical impact that parents’ interactions with infants and children in the first two or three years of life can have on their long-term social and emotional well-being, cognitive capacities, and motor development.
This paper outlines how Save the Children’s First Steps parenting programme in Rwanda has developed an approach with ambition for national level scalability. The parenting package includes specific modules on children’s cognitive development, a radio programme promoting activities for early year’s stimulation, community support and, access to high-quality books and materials. Drawing on data collected between April 2015 and September 2016 (sample of 1610 families in Ngororero), this paper will present findings from the randomized control trial endline, qualitative research results and a summary of the cost effectiveness analysis.
This paper will also explore the challenges and lessons learned, in relation to engaging government partners in the potential for a nationally scalable cost-effective parenting model supporting the Rwandan government’s ambition that all children, including the most marginalised, benefit from strong foundations in their early years.
