LINKS Project Programmes

The media based ECD programme is based on a similar intervention called “the Media Initiative for Children” previously implemented and evaluated in Northern Ireland. It is designed for children of 4 age groups, from 3-7 years old and includes 6 common topics. Every topic has an aim to be reached in each age group. The work in each topic lasts for 5 weeks providing time for teachers to engage with each child and each family. Monitoring and evaluation of children’s understanding on each block/topic is fulfilled twice during the year, first after completion of one five-week block and finally at the completion of the programme.

The core elements of the programme are an early Childhood Education (ECE) teacher training on the relationship between early childhood development and peacebuilding, age-appropriate learning materials for children, child friendly media materials/TV animation programme called “the Magic Journey” and parental support programs and community dialogue, which aims to empower children, their parents and ECE teachers to participate fully in all aspects of life and contribute to the creation of an inclusive, tolerant and peaceful society. It is expected that the above-mentioned interventions will improve the children’s’ socio-emotional development and inclusive behaviour, parent and teacher social cohesion outcomes.

The research in Kyrgyzstan involves two strands: a quasi-experimental pilot evaluation and a randomised controlled trial. A quasi-experimental evaluation of the programme took place between September 2018 to May 2019 in 48 preschool settings across the districts of Batken, Osh, Jalal-Abad, Issyk-Kul. The findings showed that there was some evidence of positive effects for children. A randomised controlled trial (RCT) of the programme was also carried out across 80 preschool settings in the four districts where the previous study took place. The pre-test for the RCT took place in December 2019 but the closure of preschools in March 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic has hindered implementation of the programme and had a great impact on the RCT. Kindergartens in Kyrgyzstan reopened in March 2021 and the intervention will continue to implement the programme until the post-test data collection in May 2021. The post-test data collection will assess the impact of the programme and will also measure the implementation with a particular focus on the impact of the covid-19 pandemic.

The ECD programme in Tajikistan has been informed by the media-based ECD programme developed in Northern Ireland by Early Years (Media Initiative for Children: Respecting Difference). The TV animations for use in Tajikistan are based on an existing Kyrgyz TV series called Keremet Koch (Magic Journey). The series consists of 12 episodes and includes 5 episodes aimed at promoting respect for diversity. Three Kyrgyz characters from Keremet Koch (Aktan, Akylai, and their donkey) along with three Tajik characters (Manizha, Bezhan, and their puppy) feature in the animations. The animations also feature two characters with a disability; a boy with a visual impairment and a girl with a physical impairment. Each episode is 10 minutes long and is shown in ECE centres as part of the ECD programme, as well as being aired on National TV each weekday. The curriculum is supported by the use of persona dolls based on each of the 8 characters portrayed in the TV animations. The programme also includes training for parents and teachers on the importance of doing diversity work with young children.

The research in Tajikistan consists of two strands; a baseline survey and an evaluation of the ECD programme. The baseline survey was conducted in 2019 to gather high-quality evidence of pre-school children’s, parents’ and teachers’ existing levels of awareness and attitudes regarding socio-ethnic and cultural differences. The evaluation of the ECD programme employed a quasi-experimental pre-post test design and included 1600 children and 80 teachers from 80 pre-schools (40 intervention; 40 control) at pre-test. Programme implementation began in September 2019 and was due to end in June 2020. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, schools in Tajikistan closed in April 2020 resulting in the programme ending earlier than planned. Due to the fact that the pre-school children involved in the ECD programme/research evaluation would be moving to primary school in the next academic year, the decision was taken to collect the post-test data remotely via telephone interviews with parents (n= 461) and teachers (n=63). As it was not possible to engage children directly for the post-test, the parent questionnaire was adapted to include questions relating to their children’s attitudes towards others.

The outcome measures used in the evaluation were based on those used to evaluate the Media Initiative programme in Northern Ireland and adapted to ensure they were culturally appropriate and relevant to the local context. The various questionnaires were also translated in the Tajik, Kyrgyz, Uzbek and Russian to facilitate involvement of minority ethnic groups in the study.

The majority of the short-term outcomes for the ECD programme in Tajikistan relate to improving awareness of cultural differences and willingness to engage with others who are different. It is proposed that these can contribute to horizontal social cohesion in the longer term by reducing negative stereotypes and prejudices held about different groups, promoting and increasing positive intergroup/cross-community contact and relationships, and building trust between different ethnic groups.

In Vietnam, there is an Integrated Early Childhood Development (IECD) Strategy which is a comprehensive life cycle-based approach involving policies, service provision and programmes for children from conception up to 8 years of age, their parents/caregivers and the communities where they live. The IECD strategy emphasises multi-sectoral service provision addressing essential ECD components including health, nutrition, education, social and child protection. It is an innovation built on five identified drivers of change: reduction of maternal and neonatal deaths, elimination of stunting, clean environment and good hygiene, early stimulation and early learning and a holistic parenting focus on the most vulnerable children to ensure they are safe, healthy, ready to learn and thrive.

The focus of the planned research is to evaluate one programme component in the IECD model in Vietnam, the Holistic Parenting Programme which is an adaptation of the Canadian parenting programme, ‘Nobody’s Perfect’. The programme focuses directly on improving the confidence and competence of parents which will also have a measurable effect on parenting skills and on children’s developmental outcomes. These will be the main outcomes of the evaluation however, secondary outcomes assessing how the parenting programme contributes to social cohesion will also be measured. The programme teaches parents about healthy child development and directs them to relevant, local early child development services which can provide necessary support and promote greater community engagement and in the long term, trust in services provided by the local government. The programme also promotes positive discipline methods aiming to reduce the occurrence of physical punishment and encourage positive relationships between children and their caregivers. The parenting groups established in the programme are composed of parents from different ethnic groups facilitating a forum to discuss parenting issues reducing parental stress and increasing confidence in parenting skills. They also provide a forum for greater engagement and improved relationships with other caregivers from different ethnic and household economic backgrounds. The Holistic Parenting Programme will provide a mechanism for improved child, caregiver and community social cohesion.

Vietnam’s Holistic Parenting Programme is delivered by communal and village trained facilitators to parents of children aged from birth to eight years of age (with a specific focus on the parents of children under 5-year olds) through community-based parenting clubs. The community-based parenting clubs are held in community and village levels and take place weekly over eight weeks. It will be implemented in three provinces, namely Kon Tum, Gia Lai and Dien Bien in 9 selected Districts, 27 Communes and 305 villages targeting approximately 38,000 children and their parents/caregivers.

A post-test only control group design was used to evaluate the impact of the holistic parenting programme on parent and social cohesion outcomes using a quantitative survey administered to 1328 parents in six communes from three provinces in Vietnam. There was one intervention and one control commune from each province. Parental self-efficacy was assessed using three sub-scales of the TOPSE and the social cohesion outcomes were assessed using a questionnaire developed with our partners from the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative to align with their Indicators Framework for Peacebuilding, Education and Social Cohesion (Pham & Vinck, 2017). A qualitative study was also conducted in tandem with the quantitative survey to explore the experiences of the integrated early childhood development programme from the perspectives of parents, teachers and community workers through semi-structured interviews and focus groups.