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

the grandmothers greatly facilitates adoptionof new health-related practices byyounger women.Community activities with grandmothergroups were implemented for 14 monthsand an evaluation of the strategy was carriedout at the end. The evaluationshowed that the grandmothers were veryinterested in the nonformal educationactivities and in the “new practices” theylearned, their knowledge of these practiceshad increased, and their advice to youngerwomen had changed. HKI and Ministry ofHealth staff agreed that whereas past programsexcluded grandmothers, a majorfactor that contributed to the success ofthe grandmother-inclusive strategy wasthat it built on the culturally-defined role ofgrandmothers as respected advisors ofyounger women and families. There wasagreement, from development agents andcommunity members, that another significantfactor that contributed to the successof the strategy was the use of culturallyadaptedcommunication tools, namelysongs, stories, and group discussion. Bothgroups of actors also felt that the nonformaleducation approach involving grandmothergroups can be used in numerousother socio-cultural contexts and toaddress a variety of issues related to thehealth and well-being of women and children.The Mali project clearly demonstrates howbeneficial it is to involve grandmothers inchild development activities and how valuabletheir participation can be for boththem and their community.Through theuse of simple, nonformal education strategiesand approaches, the grandmothersenthusiastically participated in the projectactivities and were open to the new ideaspresented. The activities were not complicatedor cumbersome, but built on traditionalmethods of communication andlearning. They did not require endlessresources, but utilized the learners as theprimary resource through songs and stories.The grandmothers came away fromthe activities feeling good about themselvesand their role as family health advisors.They became advocates of the newideas as they felt included in their development,and they were encouraged toinclude their traditional ideas with thenewly-introduced modern ideas. Thisblending further reinforced their identitywithin the community and resulted ingreater acceptance of the modern ideas.Given the positive results of this project, itis possible that other child developmentactivities, especially children’s access to andacquisition of quality basic education, couldalso benefit from the involvement ofgrandmothers via nonformal educationstrategies.A follow-up evaluation of the project inMali (Touré and Aubel 2004) showed positiveresults related, not only to grandmothers,but also to households, communityleaders, and the community-at-large (SeeDiagram 1 below).The impact on grandmothers was demonstratedby their increased receptivity tonew ideas and practices related to maternaland child health, as well as theirincreased willingness to re-examine theirtraditional practices and beliefs in lieu ofthe new information they received. As thegrandmothers observed the positiveGRANDMOTHERS:THE LEARNING INSTITUTION35