Playful Parenting Insights Corner: Delivering an e-intervention to 4 million families in the Philippines

From September 2021 to March 2022, the GPI’s Parenting for Lifelong Health - Philippines (PLH-PH) team, in collaboration with the Filipino Department of Social Welfare and Development, successfully reached four million families across the Philippines in an adapted electronic intervention delivered nationwide through social media cards, small group neighbourhood sessions, distribution of printed materials, home visits, text messages, and phone chats. We asked the team to tell us more about the intervention, why it was so successful ,and what they think were some of the key ingredients for success.

Tell us more about the intervention?

Parenting for Lifelong Health - Philippines (PLH-PH) collaborated with the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), the Philippine’s conditional cash transfer program, to provide support to 4Ps beneficiaries during the COVID-19 pandemic. PLH-PH and 4Ps created a Technical Working Group (TWG) that worked together for the adaptation, integration, and scale up of the Masayang Pamilya Program (MaPa) in the 4Ps’s electronic Family Development Sessions (eFDS). After a series of consultations with experts from both MaPa and 4Ps teams, the TWG came up with six eFDS-MaPa modules which covered the following topics – One-on-One Time with your Child, Talking about Feelings and Managing Stress, Positive Directions and Praise, Household Rules and Routines, Managing Negative Behaviours, and Problem Solving within the Family.

How and when was the intervention delivered?

From September 2021 to March 2022, the eFDS-MaPa topics were delivered nationwide to all four million 4Ps families through different modalities: social media cards posted on 4Ps Facebook page, small group neighbourhood sessions, distribution of printed materials, home visits, text messages, and phone chats.

An unprecedented number of frontline workers were trained for this intervention. Can you tell us more about this?

Before disseminating the modules to the 4Ps beneficiaries, the PLH-PH training team conducted a two-part online training to a total of 3,569 city and municipal links (CLs/MLs), social workers, and regional focal officers in July and August, and in November and January. The CLs/MLs delivered the eFDS-MaPa to beneficiaries. The training included discussions on parenting principles based on the framework of MaPa, online practice sessions, and modelling of facilitation skills by trainers.

Why was the intervention considered a success?

The integration of MaPa in 4Ps was a great opportunity and achievement in reaching and supporting Filipino families during the pandemic, not only because of the scale of delivery, but also because of the positive results hinted at in preliminary findings. The surveyed community service providers and 4Ps beneficiaries evaluated the modules as relevant, helpful, and of high quality. The qualitative evaluations also underscored relevant lessons on child behaviour management and stress management.

What were the core ingredients for the success of this intervention?

The close partnership of PLH-PH with the Family Development Division team and creation of TWG, identifying the opportunity on how to integrate MaPa in 4Ps, the use of technology for training of community service providers nationwide and for dissemination of MaPa modules, and the flexibility and adaptability of the MaPa program to consider the needs and context of the beneficiaries were all key ingredients in the success of the scale up of MaPa in the Pantawid program.

What’s next for the team?

The PLH-PH team continuously collaborates with 4Ps to integrate MaPa into their existing in-person Family Development Sessions (FDS). Currently, the team is working on the Parenting in the Social Welfare System in the Philippines project, where at least two MaPa parenting modules are proposed to be included in the FDS 7-Year Transformative Path (FDS 7YTLP). These new and enhanced FDSs will focus on the themes education and health-seeking behaviours, positive family life management practices, responsible financial behaviours, and strengthening parent groups. The first two MaPa modules that will be implemented in Year 1 of FDS 7YTLP are One-on-One Time, which includes strategies in creating and maintaining positive relationship between parent and child, and Keeping the Child Safe, which covers giving clear instructions, establishing rules and routines, and use of non-violent discipline strategies.