Parents as play leaders: Learning from the remote play labs in Uganda

• In Event: Learning through play across diverse geographies: Culturally- and contextually-responsive approaches in Mexico, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda

Proposal

Since 2016, BRAC's Play Lab model for ECD has been effectively adapted and implemented across various settings in Uganda. The model integrates a play-based curriculum designed to enhance children's cognitive, social-emotional, and physical development through playful, culturally relevant play activities. Key components of the Play Lab model include the training of local women as play leaders, the engagement of parents and communities in establishing and managing the play labs, design culturally and contextually relevant play spaces and materials, the development of responsive caregiving skills through parenting sessions and the incorporation of gender-transformative and climate-aware practices. The purpose of this model was to create a holistic, cost-effective, flexible, culturally relevant, high quality play-based ECD approach for 3 to 6 years old children in Uganda which can be adapted and scaled to various contexts and settings according to the needs of the community.

After the first phase of piloting and implementing 120 play labs in community-based settings and government primary schools, BRAC generated evidence on the effectiveness of the model through a quasi-experimental research. The findings revealed that Play Lab children made notable progress in most subscales of the Ages and Stages Questionnaire test. Improvements in self-regulation and playfulness were observed in the Developmental Index of Pre-School Playfulness scores with Play Lab children outperforming comparison groups. In addition, parents of Play Lab children scored higher than parents of comparison group children on knowledge, attitude and practice questions related to ECD and education. Since then the model has been adapted to multiple contexts and settings in Uganda. Here, we will discuss the remote play lab model developed and adapted during Covid-19 as low-tech ECD intervention using radio and mobile phone in the context of Uganda and reflect on the key learnings from these adaptations.

Play labs for remote learning. BRAC’s Remote Learning Play Labs employed a multi-channel strategy involving mobile SMS, national and community ‘call-in’ radio broadcasts, virtual training sessions for play leaders, and door-to-door distribution of learning materials by play leaders to continue reaching children and their parents/caregivers with play-based education lessons during COVID-19 pandemic. These interventions successfully reached more than 3,000 children directly and 2 million listeners for radio programmes. In 2022-2023, BRAC carried out a cluster RCT study in three districts in Uganda (Wakiso, Luwero, and Masaka) among 1,500 households. The study found that nudge interventions, such as stickers and weekly phone call reminders, significantly increased radio listenership among caregivers. Further, caregiver practices like playing with the child, telling stories to the child, taking the child out to play, singing songs to the child, teaching colours and shapes to the child, and reading books to the child improved significantly from baseline to endline. Caregivers perceived the radio programmes to be the most helpful way to support their children’s learning at home and expressed strong interest in continuing “radio learning” post-pandemic.

BRAC has implemented this model in Tanzania and currently is in the process of adapting the learning from radio play lab in the context of Sierra Leone for implementing parenting education.

Authors

• Anita Anastacio, BRAC International

• Rafiath Rashid, BRAC International