In South Africa, the Early Childhood Development (ECD) sector’s main approach to creating opportunities for early learning is through ECD centres and playgroups. While this is an important avenue for creating early stimulation opportunities, it currently only reaches about 20% of all children under age-6. Mikhulu Trust is developing a parallel approach to capacitate and support parents to enable their children’s early stimulation.
The PLH Toddlers programme has been evaluated in several studies, and has been shown to have positively enhanced children’s language development, wider cognitive development, focal attention and their socio-emotional development. In addition to child outcomes, it has also been shown to enhance parents’ sensitivity and reciprocity, thereby improving the relationship between the parent and child.
South Africa’s Department of Health works with a cadre of Community Health Workers (CHWs) to provide “last-mile” health support through home visits. All pregnant women who visit a public health facility in South Africa will receive a number of visits from CHWs for the duration of their First Thousand Days (FTD) – from pregnancy to the baby’s second birthday. The PLH Toddlers programme has been adapted for delivery by the CHWs with mothers and babies, during the home visits conducted throughout the FTD.
Traditionally, CHWs’ main background and expertise is on health- and nutrition-related topics. Little has been done to systematically expand their knowledge and expertise to include the elements of early stimulation and responsive caregiving into their work with families in the FTD. Mikhulu Trust is providing training, mentorship and support to CHWs on the book-sharing programme. This research study will focus on evaluating this adapted programme.
