Home-based Early Childhood Development pilot model

In Mozambique, current government early childhood development strategies focus on preschools. Childlife realize that Preschools can only reach a limited number of children each year, and unfortunately not the vast numbers of vulnerable children nationwide whose parents or caretakers have not had access to information to improve their parenting skills.

Childlife would like to propose a new partnership to implement Home-based ECD Model that will enable us to reach 3,000 households with 4,500 children under age 5. To address these interrelated factors, our new proposed partnership will be a community- and home-based ECD and pre-school intervention that focuses on meeting the nutritional needs of young children, early leaning and stimulation.

Childlife Mozambique will thus target Zavala district of Inhambane Province (Chissibuca and Mavila localities) that have particularly high levels of children’s vulnerability and malnutrition. Inhambane, which is prone to droughts and heavily impacted by climate change, is among the country’s top four most chronically food-insecure provinces. The province also has the highest national rate of female-headed households. A 2011 Demographic Health Survey reported a 36 percent stunting rate among children under five. Once stunted, a child’s growth and ability to learn is permanently affected and the child will grow up without developing to his or her full capacity, a cycle that will repeat itself with each new generation. Many mothers in Inhambane suffer from emotional stress such as depression or anxiety, which is exacerbated by the food and nutrition insecurity faced by their young children. 

With 139,145  inhabitants, Zavala district has the second highest population density in Inhambane Province. According to government population projections for 2012, about 25,252 children under age 5 live in Zavala. Consumption poverty rates in Zavala are around 58%, with the majority of the population living along the coastline and along transit routes, resulting in high HIV exposure. If the pilot ECD model works in a more densely populated area suffering from climate change as well as in a mostly coastal setting, the approach is likely to have a very high potential for replicability and scale up nationwide.

Childlife Mozambique and the Distrital and Provincial Department for Gender, Children and Social Welfare will work together in close collaboration to implement this new model. Each Community Volunteer supports between five and eight households through regular visits, once a week initially and diminishing to every two weeks as the parents and caretakers gain knowledge and skills. During each visit, the Community Volunteer will discuss with the caretaker, most often a child’s mother or grandmother or sometimes a single father, about critical parenting skills, using an educational guide that Childlife will train them to use. Topics covered include:  maternal, young child and infant nutrition, health (HIV prevention, malaria prevention, and the importance of immunizations), the importance of play and stimulation for young children, and positive approaches to parenting.

The Community Volunteer will be taught to use a variety of techniques to educate and connect with caretakers. In addition to sharing educational information, for example, they will also demonstrate how to play with children. The Community Volunteer will also be trained how to listen and respond to the adults’ problems and concerns. This simple act of listening is critical considering the high sense of isolation and emotional stress experienced by caretakers. When needed, Community Volunteer will help refer or even accompany the caretaker and child to the relevant authorities, health clinics, police or social services. When there is a nearby preschool in the village, the Community Volunteer will also discuss the benefits of sending young children to school and connect caretakers with the schools where possible.

Because Childlife’s role in the pilot ECD model is one of technical support and facilitation (designing and providing training to Community Volunteer then will monitor and mentoring the Community Volunteer and because there are no payments for the volunteers, the approach is completely community-led and -owned. Volunteers will be chosen by the community and selected households, based on their integrity, their past commitment to helping their community, and their interest in serving. The target households and the community will be involved in evaluating the work of the Community Volunteer and giving feedback, which provides encouragement and recognition and helps the Community Volunteer improve if needed. Childlife will also create Community Volunteer “learning circles” where they will meet once a month to reflect on challenges faced and how they can improve their support to vulnerable households and to each other. 

The project staff including community volunteers will use IT to gather data's on pregnant women, infants, young children and caregivers on positive parenting skills, development outcome of infants and young children and referral system

The propose it's to work with a qualified IT to design the IT system we are looking for

When adult caregivers engage in proper nutrition and psychological stimulation with young children, it builds on children’s physical and cognitive development. Childlife Mozambique sensitizes caregivers at home and in preschools on nutrition and stimulation practices for young children. It also builds the capacity of community-based organizations to effectively use evidence-based advocacy at local and global levels.  This family and community-based approach enables caregivers and pertinent stakeholders to become sensitive and responsive to young children’s needs. Over time, the caregivers will employ positive parenting skills, good health and nutritional practices, and gender equitable behaviors leading to optimal child development. Young Children will have increased school readiness, improved attachment, higher mortality rates, and better health and wellbeing. Moderating factors that may affect caregivers’ ability to benefit from the intervention include poverty, caregiver’s own experiences of adversity, and educational levels

Childlife Mozambique is serving 72 households and 127 children in rural area of Marracuene district.

By the next fiver years, Childlife would like to propose a new partnership to implement Home-based ECD Model that will enable us to reach 3,000 households with 4,500 children under age 5.

Support from the new partnership to community Home-Based ECD pilot model would increase Childlife’s ability to test, refine, and demonstrate the impact of such an approach’s on caretakers’ knowledge, attitudes, and practices towards their children but also on the children’s developmental needs - particularly nutrition, early learning and stimulation. 

Lack of financial resources to implement the project

Documentation of the pilot results (success stories, lessons learnt, atc) will be used to advocate persuasively for scaling up similar community approaches as the fundraising strategy

5 people (1 General Director 40%, 1 Admin &Finance Manager 40%, 1 Program Manager 80%, 2 Field Officers 100%)

The General Director has passion on Early Childhood Development (ECD) and well trained by Aga Khan University and sponsored by Hilton Foundation.

The rest of the team has also passion on ECD and committed to build local solution to reach the potential development of children

Childlife Mozambique is the member of the Mozambican ECD Network and has partnership with Community Health Organization (OCSIDA). Childlife is currently discussing future collaboration with REPSSI 

Childlife Mozambique sensitizes caregivers at home and in preschools on nutrition and stimulation practices for young children. 

Over time, the caregivers will employ positive parenting skills, good health and nutritional practices, and gender equitable behaviors leading to optimal child development. 

Documentation of the best practices, sucess stories and lessons learnt including videos to share at local and global level as fundraising strategy

To provide user-friendly and cheap ECD model which can generate great impact at rural household to reach the full potential development of young children as they deserve a strong beginning.

If my team is chosen, we would first expect from Solve a portion of funding to implement the home-based ECD model. As the result of implementation and progress reporting with evidence of changes (human interest stories, videos, case studies) at community level we would expect together with Solve to get opportunity to share the evidences and papers at regional and global ECD platform so that they can be aware on the sustainable home-based ECD models which can generate great changes and impact at sub-urban and rural setting areas to reach the development outcome of infants and young children living in vulnerable conditions.

REPSSI, Hilton Foundation and other in searching 

The data's gathered from the pregnant women on their status will inform the local health clinic so that they can be provided an appropriate health solution with great contribution to child development. Those data's including after birth will be recorded online by the project team in the tablets

The project team will be using Tablets to gather data's from the field and at programatic level will direct to M&E indicators to produce the reports