Reporting by Hannah Clark
Another exciting few months of capacity strengthening, core systems building, and product development here at PLH!
Within the funding arena, the Parenting for Lifelong Health team have several exciting announcements: Firstly, we are thrilled to announce that Parenting for Lifelong Health has received the Playful Parenting for All grant from the LEGO Foundation. This grant will support PLH over the next 2 years as they establish their internal systems, build their core team, design, evaluate, implement and scale their suite of parenting solutions, and develop partnerships both with the Regional Centers of Excellence that comprise PLH's Global Consortium and beyond.
PLH has also received funding from The Human Safety Net at Generali to pursue their Naungan Kisih at Scale Project in Malaysia. They are overjoyed at the opportunity to be leading a consortium of institutional partners who will aid the scaling of in-person, remote, and digital parenting programmes which aim to improve child learning and development while preventing violence for thousands of Malaysian families.
Capitalising on the generosity of additional funding from UNICEF, PLH is also taking the Naungan Kasih Parenting Module and adapting it to suit Rohingya refugee families in Malaysia. This evidence-based programme will incorporate sections of the new UNICEF Global Gender-Transformative Parenting Programming Resource Pack, and aims to reduce the risk of physical, psychological, and sexual violence against children and to increase positive parenting within vulnerable families.
In addition to providing support in post-crisis settings, such as with the Rohingya Refugees, PLH has also established its Parenting for Children in Crisis initiative. Studies show that playful parenting and child protection are severely affected by humanitarian emergencies and crisis situations. The Parenting for Children in Crisis initiative uses new delivery methods which utilise remote, digital and hybrid parenting resources which offer new possibilities for supporting families and children during immediate crisis contexts. Funding for this initiative has been awarded by Oxford University, in collaboration with UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and GCRF and Newton Fund Consolidation Account (GNCA).
Finally, they were delighted to have been granted core bridging funding from the Tides Foundation! These funds will be essential in supporting the PLH team over the next few months.
Within the realm of PLH’s ongoing projects, they’re pleased to announce that their recent Shared Learning Workshops facilitated by their team in Kampala, Uganda and Nairobi, Kenya were very positively received. These workshops discussed and analysed the implementation challenges of parenting programmes in Uganda and Kenya, with the aim of finding ways to mitigate risks and promote the sustainable uptake and scaling of evidence-based parenting programmes. They are looking forward to completing and sharing the final report on these activities soon.
Additionally, the team working on the World Health Organizations Parenting Intervention Handbook are well on their way to completing the first full draft of the document for review. Meanwhile, the team working on a mapping project for the Pan American Health Organization is currently developing a guide to inform decision making about parenting interventions for the region.
Finally, the team working on establishing a multi-sectoral national parenting consortium dedicated to the scale-up of evidence-based parenting support in Tanzania is successfully strengthening relationships with consortium partners. Meanwhile plans have been put in place for several of the partners to host scaling workshops, which will provide insights into strategy, various pathway options and internal capacity building.
Some other areas that have seen exciting developments are within their suite of products and projects. PLH’s Chief of Solutions, Laurie Markle, has been hard at work with their partners in developing a new and updated version of ParentText. Their aim is to have this established and tested for their Naungan Kasih at Scale Project in Malaysia.
To finish off; their core team continues to grow and they are thrilled to welcome Fiona Burtt as Chief of Sustainability. Fiona has over 15 years of experience working in Early Childhood Development and Grant and Donor management. PLH is also pleased to welcome Hannah Clark as their Office Administrator. Hannah joins us following a previous contract through Oxford University where she worked with Professor Jamie Lachman during the initial phases of establishing Parenting for Lifelong Health as a charity in the UK. Finally, the PLH team is also very happy to welcome on board Faith Dziruni who joins them as their first Parenting for Children in Crisis Manager bringing with her over 10 years of Program Management experience.
