Evaluation report
An evaluation of the effectiveness of a community-based parenting empowerment program to improve nurturing care of young children in Kenya and Zambia
Patricia Kitsao-Wekulo, Elizabeth Wambui Kimani-Murage, Hermann Pythagore Pierre Donfouet, Silas Onyango, Kenneth Okelo et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study evaluates a community-based parenting empowerment program delivered by faith-based organizations in Kenya and Zambia, targeting mothers and caregivers of children under five. The program aims to improve nurturing care and child development outcomes in contexts where many children are at risk of not reaching their developmental potential due to poor nutrition, poverty, and lack of home stimulation. The research uses a cluster-randomized controlled trial with 510 mother-child pairs, combining quantitative and qualitative data to measure causal effects. Results will inform early childhood development practitioners and funders about effective implementation strategies.
Key points
- 250 million children under five in low- and middle-income countries are at risk of not reaching developmental potential, with over 66% in sub-Saharan Africa affected by poor nutrition, poverty, HIV, and insufficient home stimulation
- The intervention is a parenting empowerment program implemented by faith-based organizations in two countries
- Study design is a cluster-randomized controlled trial with a two-arm design comparing intervention and control groups
- Mixed-methods approach combining quantitative and qualitative data with difference-in-differences analysis to estimate causal effects
- Research focuses on child development outcomes and implementation factors for high-quality early childhood development interventions
Limitations
This document is a protocol paper describing a planned study rather than reporting completed results, so no actual intervention outcomes or findings are available. The effectiveness of the parenting empowerment program cannot be determined from this document alone.
Abstract
Background: Investing in parents and children during the critical period between birth and five years of a child’s life can have long-lasting benefits in the life of the child. Recently, the 2016 Lancet Series estimated that 250 million children aged less than five years in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are at risk of not reaching their developmental potential. Over 66 % of these, who live in sub-Saharan Africa and are at risk due to poor nutrition, exposure to poverty, high HIV prevalence as well as under stimulation in the home environment. Methods: The study will employ a cluster-randomized control trial design and will use a mixed-methods approach combining quantitative and qualitative methodologies (Concurrent Triangulation Design). This will be a two-arm study, where the first arm will participate in the parenting empowerment program implemented by the faith-based organizations, while the second (control) will not receive the parenting interventions. A total of 510 mother/primary caregiver-child dyads will be recruited into this study. We will estimate the causal effect of the intervention using mixed linear models and the Difference-in-Differences (DID) estimator. Conclusions: This implementation research will provide greater scientific rigor and a deeper process and outcome evaluation including measurement of child development outcomes. The findings will be useful for early childhood practitioners, multilateral stakeholders and funders as they provide information on the factors to consider in the implementation of high quality ECD interventions. Trial Registration: Ethical approval: ESRC P467/2018 and IRB No.00005948).
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- Community-based parenting empowerment program implemented by faith-based organizations to improve nurturing care
- Population
- 510 mother/primary caregiver-child dyads in Kenya and Zambia