Grandmothers: A Learning Institution - Basic Education and Policy ...

Education, the Bernard Van LeerFoundation, and UNESCO all advocate forstrengthening the capacity of family membersto respond to children’s needs. Forexample, UNICEF states that programsshould identify “existing strengths of communities,families, and social structures” and“build on local capacity, encourage unity,and strength” (2001, 17). Policy statementssuch as these suggest, but do not explicitlystate, that grandmothers should be involvedin child development programs.Unfortunately, such policy guidelines supportinggrandmother inclusion are reflectedto a very limited extent in actual programs.The second part of the review involvesidentifying child development programs thatexplicitly involve grandmothers. In spite ofthe fact that grandmothers play a significantrole in all aspects of child health and developmentat the household level, few programshave explicitly identified and involvedthem as key actors. Often in programs thatfocus on younger “mothers” some grandmothersmay participate. However, thenumber of child development programstrategies that have deliberately includedgrandmothers as a priority communitygroup is miniscule when compared with thevast number of programs implementedacross the world.This is especially true inbasic education programs.A small number of projects were identifiedthat have involved grandmothers in someway. The grandmother-inclusive projectsreviewed deal with a variety of child developmentissues including early childhooddevelopment (ECD), primary education,newborn health, maternal and child healthand nutrition, and HIV/AIDS. 4 Short summariesare presented on each of theseprojects. Although few in number, andoften poorly documented, these experiencesillustrate how programs can acknowledgegrandmothers’ role and past experience,actively involve them, and in so doingstrengthen their knowledge and skills. Inprograms where a grandmother-inclusiveapproach has been adopted, there hasbeen very positive feedback from grandmothers,from other community members,and from development staff. In most casestheir involvement appears to have contributedto increased program results.The paper then looks closely at one projectin particular.The experience of Helen KellerInternational in Mali illustrates how childdevelopment programs can work withgrandmothers in order to improve thehealth and well-being of children and theirmothers. This case study describes theactivities of the project and details the nonformaleducation methodology that was akey to engaging grandmothers, gaining theirconfidence, and helping them to learn. It isthrough this methodology that grandmothersfelt empowered in their roles as communityhealth advisors.CONCLUSIONSBased on the review of the literature onthe roles of grandmothers in different nonwesterncultures, analysis of the policies ofkey international organizations that promotechild development, and a review ofchild development projects that haveexplicitly engaged grandmothers, a series ofover-arching conclusions was formulated.These include:4 The projects identified predominantly fall in the category of health-related interventions, but as demonstrated by this paper’srecommendations, the roles played by grandmothers in these health-related interventions are potentially transferable to basiceducation projects.GRANDMOTHERS:THE LEARNING INSTITUTIONxi