Scalable policies for Early Childhood Development
The aim of this study is to develop and test scalable interventions that promote child development and ultimately improve adult outcomes, thereby breaking the cycle of poverty. The study consists of two projects, both of which implement a stimulation programme that focuses on improving the interactions between mothers or principal caregivers and their infants/children. The programme follows a systematic, weekly curriculum based on the natural developmental stages of a child. The curriculum was originally developed and tested by Sally Grantham-McGregor and colleagues in Jamaica, and has been shown to improve cognitive and socio-emotional outcomes from childhood
through adulthood.
The second and larger study combines stimulation with nutrition communication and will focus on informing and training mothers/caregivers in sound infant and young child feeding practices that have been known to play a crucial role in under-nutrition. In this study, we will test alternative service provisions, which include delivery of the curriculum by local women. The interventions were accompanied by an evaluation based on a randomised control trial.
A. Stimulation in the slums of Cuttack – Odisha (funded by Rushton Turner & Waterloo Foundation)
Duration: 2013 – 2014
Partners: UCL, IFS, J-Pal, ICDDR-B, Pratham Education Foundation – ASER Centre, CECED and Yale University.
Location: Cuttack, Odisha
B. Early Childhood Development: Impacting at Scale
Duration: 2013 – 2018
Partners: Yale University, NIH, IFS, University of Pennsylvania, Pratham Education Foundation – ASER Centre,
CECED, J-Pal
Location: 200 communities in Balasore, Balangir and Cuttack (rural) – Odisha
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