Fostering Equity from the Start: Early Childhood Development Parenting Interventions in Crisis Contexts

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

Due to the protracted nature of many emergencies — many of which last between 10
and 26 years—millions of young children spend the entirety of their childhoods in crisis
contexts, threatening their short and long-term development. The harmful effects of conflict and crisis are especially severe for children in early childhood. When a child is born into an emergency context or experiences severe adversity before the age of five, they face compounding risks that threaten their long-term development and well-being. Despite the importance of providing support to families with young children in crisis, their needs are underfunded and under-prioritized. There is a large gap in how humanitarian response addresses the needs of infants, toddlers, and their caregivers, creating almost certain inequities from the start.

Due to the ‘double emergency’ caused by the COVID-19 pandemic on top of existing humanitarian crises, families of young children affected by crisis need increasing support to mitigate the effects of adversity and ensure their children are developmentally on track by the time they enter primary school. This panel brings together four parent education programs implemented by member organizations of the Moving Minds Alliance. The panelists seek to learn from each other and other CIES participants on how to engage parents in early childhood development and education in a mutually beneficial way for families and educators, to have a lasting impact on child development and learning and caregiver well-being.

Parent education programs in early childhood have gained prominence, especially as COVID-19 has caused widespread shutdowns of education and childcare services. The stressors related to food and financial insecurity, and health challenges are often too great for parents to also focus on the behavioral, social-emotional, and early academic growth of their youngest children. These four programs aim to support parents in unique and innovative ways across all components of the Nurturing Care Framework for young children (good health, adequate nutrition, responsive caregiving, early learning opportunities, and safety and security).

The ‘Play to Grow Parenting Program’ by Right to Play and Unbounded Associates brings together principles of play therapy and child-parent relationship therapy in a parent education resource facilitated by community members over a 6-month period in Tanzania and Uganda. The approach uses playful group sessions to help parents hone skills to improve their own well-being, their relationship with their children, and their children’s pre-academic and social-emotional development. World Vision’s ‘Care and Comfort for Children and Caregiver’ tested both low-dose and high-dose interventions for early learning, responsive caregiving, and safety and security in Rwanda, using combinations of in-person, phone calls, SMS, and radio messaging to determine high-impact and low-cost interventions.

Sesame Workshop and IRC have developed Ahlan Simsim Families, a flexible, short-term parenting program in the Middle East. Through an iterative design process, various versions of this program have reached over 400,000 caregivers in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. The program pivoted to remote delivery via phone during COVID-19 shutdowns, providing an opportunity to continue services while testing various delivery mechanisms.

The Play to Learn Father Engagement Model, developed by Sesame Workshop and BRAC, aims to fill a gap by implementing a parenting program to improve Rohingya fathers’ own well-being, their relationships with their spouses and children, and their responsive caregiving practices. This program was developed through an iterative process with Rohingya fathers.

Across these four interventions, several themes emerge, which will be discussed during the panel. Social and emotional learning is central to these interventions, given what we know today about brain development and adversity in young children. These programs all recognize the neuroscientific evidence that for academic learning to occur, children’s social and emotional needs must be cared for. Disability and inclusion feature in each of these approaches and their research designs. Each intervention works across at least two sectors, such as education, health, child protection, WaSH, and nutrition. The use of technology and play are common across all four approaches.

Research is underway or complete across the four interventions. The session and discussion will focus on how to bring together and amplify the learnings from these projects in a way that spurs action by governments and donors to increase the focus on the need of the youngest children and their caregivers affected by conflict and crisis.

Sub Unit

• Early Childhood Development SIG

Chair

• Joan Lombardi, Stanford and Georgetown

Individual Presentations

• ‘Play to Grow Parenting Program’ Teaches Parents Play Therapy Skills in Uganda and Tanzania - Kate Anderson, Unbounded Associates

• Ahlan Simsim Families: An adaptable model to support caregivers and children in crisis settings in the Middle East - Lina Torossian, International Rescue Organization; Kate Schwartz, Global TIES for Children, New York University; Maram Yousef Shahin, International Rescue Committee

• Play to Learn Father Engagement Model: An Adaptable Approach to Supporting Fathers in Promoting Children’s Development in Crisis Contexts - Deborah Marie Rodriguez Garcia, Save the Children