Providing children with a healthy, stimulating environment in their earliest years pays lifelong dividends. To help ensure policy and practice reflect this fact, the AKU Institute for Human Development is collaborating with other agencies of the Aga Khan Development Network to introduce professionals from government and NGOs to the science of early child development (ECD).
“There is no better way to build strong, prosperous, fair societies than by investing in early child development,” Institute
"There is no better way to build strong, prosperous, fair societies than by investing in early child development.
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Kofi Marfo, Director, AKU Institute for Human Development
Director Kofi Marfo said.
With a US$ 1.5 million grant from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, the Institute and its partners delivered face-to-face seminars and an online course to 190 individuals from 10 countries, providing them with a thorough grounding in the science of ECD, and an understanding of the great potential of programmes that focus on young children.
Most course participants came from organizations working with children affected by HIV/AIDS in Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia. Many said their approach to their work was transformed. “Through what I learned, a paradigm shift has happened within the UNICEF Kenya country office,” said Oscar Kadenge, a UNICEF programme officer. “Early experiences really, really matter.” The online course was developed by Red River College in Manitoba, Canada, and the Aga Khan Development Network. The grant also supported development of a pre- and post-doctoral research education programme at the Institute.
Proponents of the online course include former AKU intern Sabrina Natasha Habib, 28. She and her husband run Kidogo (“small” in Kiswahili), a social enterprise that provides high-quality daycare in informal settlements of Nairobi.
“The science of early child development course helped us get smart on ECD,” she said.
Going forward, the Institute will continue to offer the courses with the support of a second Hilton grant. In addition, under a separate grant, it will undertake its largest field research project since its 2015 launch.
Focused on children in Nairobi up to age 2, it aims to produce evidence that can inform large-scale interventions. A collaboration with the University of Toronto and the Alliance for Human Development at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, the project is supported by a C$ 2 million grant from Canada’s International Development Research Centre and Aga Khan Foundation Canada.