Africa: Better Parenting Starts With Knowing What Works. We Tested a Project in 8 African Countries
Researchers analyzed data from parenting support programs across eight African countries to determine if controlled trial successes translate to large-scale government and NGO implementation. The study found consistent improvements in parenting quality, mental health, and violence prevention among families receiving support.
Why it matters
This research provides evidence that scalable parenting interventions can effectively address social issues like violence and adolescent wellbeing in diverse, resource-constrained settings.
Raising adolescents can be difficult under the best of circumstances. On top of that, some families are also dealing with poverty, unemployment, conflict, displacement, illness and climate shocks. In these conditions, caregivers may receive very little support themselves.
Governments and NGOs are increasingly using parenting support programmes as part of efforts to reduce violence against children and improve adolescent wellbeing. These programmes help caregivers and adolescents strengthen relationships, communicate better, solve problems together and manage conflict. They are typically delivered in small groups over several weekly sessions by trained facilitators.
Many parenting programmes are first tested in rigorous studies. Families are randomly assigned to receive the programme or to a comparison group. This is a way of finding out whether a programme is the real cause of improvements. The trials usually take place under carefully managed conditions.
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