Educational Program

First Steps (Intera za Mbere): Promoting healthy early childhood development by extending holistic parenting education nation-wide through radio-facilitated peer learning groups, and by increasing access to emergent literacy materials.

A package of low-cost materials proven to help early cognitive stimulation will be made available online to support in-home interventions by community workers in developing countries, thanks to this project led by Christine Powell and Susan Walker of the Tropical Medicine Research Institute, University of West Indies. The materials can be used despite limited training by any qualified person (NGO, international agency, local government department) and include a curriculum, training manuals, books, play materials, and training videos, all tailored to the children’s culture.

Eight-eight million young children worldwide are estimated to dropout before completing primary school education resulting in serious repercussions for human capital formation. Early Childhood Development interventions that prepare children for school may lead to reduction in early dropout.

Kidogo Early Years is a social enterprise that seeks to transform the trajectory of these young children by providing high-quality, affordable, early childhood care and education in urban slums.

Steps Brain Booster Program

Readiness to Learn in the Early Years: Learning Lessons for Scale

Early cognitive development will be promoted through this program to treat malnourished children in rural Bangladeshi health clinics, improving the knowledge and skills of both mothers and field staff in early cognitive development. The anticipated outcome: improved language skills among children, as well as better mental and psychomotor development. The project takes advantage of a time when kids and their parents are interacting with health clinics to provide more than just calories.