ParentText Optimisation and Evaluation in South Africa Updates October-November 2022

Reporting by Paula Zinser

October 2022

October has been a very busy and exciting month for the ParentText South Africa team. We have been preparing for the deployment of ParentText and we are finally soft launching ParentText in November with a webinar hosted by UNICEF.  

We have grown  from a team of three to seven and have managed to hire our project coordinator who will commence duties soon.   

Our team is currently working on the formative evaluation phase of our study. The formative evaluation is exploring how we could embed ParentText into existing delivery systems in South Africa, as well as the facilitators and barriers to implementation and digital interventions. After months of stakeholder engagement and analysis we began collecting qualitative data. Throughout the month the team conducted online stakeholder meetings using the Nominal Group Technique (NGT) with Faith leaders based in KwaZulu Natal. We also conducted Focus Group Discussions, and In-depth Interviews with stakeholders both online and in-person in Mpumalanga. We are very excited that the stakeholders we engaged with represent the various sectors of the community, including faith-based organisations, the health and education sector, research, local and international NGOs, and government bodies. In total, we have interviewed over 130 participants. Data collection will conclude in November, and we are beginning analysis of the qualitative data in the coming week. 

November 2022

ParentText South Africa Launch

ParentText has launched in South Africa! 

The online webinar launch was hosted by UNICEF South Africa on Monday, 21 November 2022. In her opening, UNICEF South Africa Child Protection Officer Sinah Moruane, noted that, "ParentText comes at the right time and is an innovative solution that will really ensure that our parents are being supported in doing their parenting responsibilities”. The ParentText team was very happy with the launch, and we want to thank UNICEF SA and Clowns Without Borders South Africa, for making the launch a success!

The piloting of ParentText, will allow us to collect data to help prepare us for the RCT in 2023. Our formative evaluation is currently in its final stages, with the team conducting data cleaning and analysis. We are aiming to finalise the formative evaluation by early 2023.