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

“Culture tells peoplehow to view the world,how to experience itemotionally and howto behave in relationto other people, supernaturalforces and inrelation to their environment.It is the ‘lens’through which peopleperceive and understandthe world inwhich they live.”J. Sengendo“Culture and Health”in F. MatrassoRecognizing Culture:ASeries of BriefingPapers on Culture andDevelopmentUNESCOrelation to the roles, attitudes andpractices of all key family and communityactors. In this more holisticapproach, program strategies aim toreinforce the various actors within thefamily system, including grandmothers,who influence children’s well-being.• Assets-based ApproachWhile all families and communitieshave inadequacies and problems, theperception of those weaknesses byprograms and staff significantly determinetheir attitudes toward them andthe type of interventions developed.Kretzmann and McKnight (1993) suggestthat often in social programs thefocus is put on the problems or“deficits” in a community, while inthose same communities there areundoubtedly certain resources, or“assets” on which to build.They referto the latter option as an “assetsbasedapproach.” Applied to childdevelopment programs, this latterapproach implies that programsshould, first, identify existing familyand community resources that contributeto child development, andsecond, aim to strengthen them.Grandmothers constitute one of theexisting resources that can bestrengthened in such programs.• Cultural Structures, Roles, and Valuesas a Foundation for ProgramDevelopmentWhile lip service is often given to theimportance of cultural realities todevelopment programs, often thecultural dimension is absent fromdevelopment planners’ frameworksand program designs (Serageldin1994). In the past few years, itappears that this dimension of developmentplanning is being givensomewhat greater attention. FormerWorld Bank Vice President IsmailSerageldin argues that “A culturalframework is … a sine qua non tohave relevant, effective institutionsrooted in authenticity and traditionyet open to modernity and change”(Serageldin, 19).To some extent the cultural dimensionhas been taken into account indevelopment projects, yet too often“culture” is considered in a verysuperficial way and is equated with acultural practice (i.e. how initiationceremonies for young girls are organized)(Pelto 2003). In this regard,social psychologist Pepitone (1981)proposes a more inclusive definitionof “culture” composed of two interrelatedfacets. First, there are thesocial structures and organizations inwhich individuals exist in relation tothe family, kinship, roles, hierarchies,and communication nets. Second,there are the normative systems thatinclude the values and beliefs promotedwithin the family system thataffect behavior. In child developmentprograms, and development programsin general, the tendency hasbeen to ignore the first facet. Ifchild development programs aim tobuild on existing culturally-definedfamily and community roles, hierarchies,and communication nets, thisimplies that grandmothers and grand­6 UNITED STATES AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT