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

effects of the new ideas, their confidence intheir roles as family health advisor grewand they felt empowered to continue inthis role. One grandmother put it this way,“The grandmother activities have made usfeel much stronger than before. Now notonly do we have our traditional knowledgeand experience, but we also have theknowledge of the doctors” (Ibid 18).This new level of confidence in the grandmothers’role was reflected in the householdsreceiving advice. The mothers appreciatedthat the grandmothers’ advice nowincluded both traditional and modern ideas,and furthermore, the mothers now felt thegrandmothers better understood theirneeds. The mothers also noted the visibleimprovements in their own health and thereduced burden of their daily activities dueto the new advice and support of thegrandmothers (Ibid 10).Additionally, at the household level thestudy found that the project resulted inincreased support from the husbands forthe family’s health needs, improved relationshipsbetween mothers-in-laws and daughters-in-law,and strengthened relationshipsbetween grandmothers and their grandchildren(Ibid 10).The community leaders were also involvedin the strategy and, thus, impacted. As aresult of the project’s involvement ofgrandmothers, the formally-recognizedmale leaders acknowledged the role grandmothershave in promoting maternal andchild health and they learned about beneficialmaternal and child health practices.They also offered increased support for theadvice given by grandmothers at thehousehold and community level (Ibid 8).Lastly, due to the positive outcomes of thegrandmother strategy at the different levelsdescribed above, noticeable changes wereobserved in the community-at-large includingstrengthened grandmother networks,the increased involvement of those networksin promoting community health andincreased support of grandmothers toneighboring households, related to healthneeds.The evaluation concluded that the positivechanges at these four levels (grandmothers,community leaders, households, and community-at-large),appear to be having acombined and positive effect on communitynorms related to the priority practicesconcerning infant and women’s health. Ofcourse, the process of changing communitynorms is a slow one, but the evidence suggeststhat such changes are beginning totake place.While policy planners and program practitionersare often skeptical about includinggrandmothers in child development initiatives,the feedback from communities andgrandmothers themselves, and the impactobserved, is a clear indication of the relevanceof such strategies.36 UNITED STATES AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT