Fortifying nurturing care through multidimensional programmatic approaches to early childhood development: experience from Malawi, Kenya, Zambia and Ghana

• In Event: Poster Session 4
  In Poster Session: Fortifying nurturing care through multidimensional programmatic approaches to early childhood development: experience from Malawi, Kenya, Zambia and Ghana

Proposal

During the crucial first 1,000 days of life, children often experience poor health, inadequate nutrition, and little early stimulation and learning. Many factors can contribute to the absence or breakdown of nurturing care, such as extreme poverty, family and societal conflict, discrimination, lack of support structures, and other forms of individual and social stress. Early childhood development (ECD) provides a critical foundation for lifetime education, physical and mental health and social well-being.

Research has shown that more than two thirds of children under 5 in Sub-Saharan Africa are not on track in their cognitive and social-emotional development, higher than any other region in the world (Black et al. 2016). Children under 3 years are particularly vulnerable due to their rapid brain development and sensitivity to nutrient effects on growth, cognition and school attainment. Caregivers’ poor mental health also contributes to the lack of adequate child care. Faith actors—who are present at the nexus of vital health, education, and family-focused services in communities across Africa—have played a key role in addressing these challenges. Often able to reach vulnerable groups who remain underserved by government and civil society organization, faith actors are trusted and influential figures who play an essential role as agents of change in their communities. CRS has partnered with National Associations and Congregations of faith actors in Kenya, Malawi, Zambia and Ghana to implement the SCORE ECD Project III1 which goal is children 0-3 years old in the target areas live in nurturing environments by 2024 with a theory of change (ToC): if faith actors and their organizations continue to expand and improve their technical and organizational capacities, then they will more effectively and sustainably provide services to caregivers of young children, leading to those caregivers being better able to provide nurturing care, which ultimately improves child development outcomes. Towards achieving this goal, one of the key strategies of the project was to tailor the Nurturing Care Framework to locally responsive and need-based multi-dimensional programmatic approaches for improving the wellbeing of caregivers and their children in Kenya, Zambia, Malawi, and Ghana.



Using a concise verbal explanation and visually engaging format, this poster presentation will share how faith actors adapted and tailored the NCF by generating grassroot multi-dimensional programmatic interventions, which, implemented together, translated into sustainable solutions for the most vulnerable caregivers and their children—caregivers (pregnant and lactating women) began tending their own well-being and coping with daily stressors, which in turn, helped them provide their children adequate care and stimulation. The multi-dimensional programmatic approaches to nurturing care are promising idea which can be replicated and adapted to different contexts and some examples to share in this poster presentation include-- Integrated mother baby course (iMBC) to address maternal mental health during pregnancy and lactation, home and facility-based SafeCare to promote playful caregiver-child interactions and early stimulation, family-based SMART Couple counseling to encourage joint decision making in child care and reduce stress, especially for women, and SILC groups to promote household economic empowerment for healthy family and children.

Author

• Jacqueline Mkwani, Catholic Relief Services