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

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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
DIAGRAM 1:Outcomes of Nonformal Education Activities with Grandmothers in Mali to Promote Newborn HealthGRANDMOTHERS• Openness to new ideas about maternal & child health• Self-assessment of their traditional knowledge and practices• Integration of new ideas and traditional health-related practices• Increased sense of empowerment in their role as family health advisorsHOUSEHOLDS• Improved advice given by GMs on health• Increased appreciation of GMs' role in family health• Improved health practices of young women• Increased support provided to pregnant women by husbands• Increased support by GMs to pregnant and breastfeeding women• Improved relations between mother-in-laws and daughter-in-lawsCOMMUNITY-AT-LARGEEVIDENCE OF POSITIVECHANGES IN COMMUNI-TY NORMS RELATEDTO WOMEN'S ANDINFANTS' HEALTH• Increased involvement of GMs in promoting community health activities• GM networks are strengthened• Informal GM leaders have increased confidence in their community role• Increased support by GMs to neighboring households in health matters• Community leaders encouraging GMs to follow the new health adviceCOMMUNITY LEADERS• Increased public acknowledgment of GMs' important role in community health• Increased knowledge of key maternal & child health topics• Increased support for GMs' advice on healthGRANDMOTHERS:THE LEARNING INSTITUTION37
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GRANDMOTHERS:A LEARNING INSTITUTION
Page 3: GRANDMOTHERS:A LEARNING INSTITUTION
Page 11 and 12: EXECUTIVE SUMMARYSociety itself fai
Page 13 and 14: Education, the Bernard Van LeerFoun
Page 15 and 16: SEVERAL FACTORS CONTRIBUTE TO THELI
Page 17: - Who am I? Assign children to askf
Page 20 and 21: in educational activities on home t
Page 22 and 23: “A grandmother’s understandingo
Page 24 and 25: “Culture tells peoplehow to view
Page 26 and 27: attention given to grandmothers’
Page 28 and 29: social work, including family syste
Page 30 and 31: mation from Azerbaijan (McNulty 200
Page 32 and 33: “The status of eldersin tradition
Page 34 and 35: “As women, thegrandmothers haveli
Page 36 and 37: members often consult the moreexper
Page 38 and 39: “Social capital is a community’
Page 40 and 41: In a collaborative effort between
Page 42 and 43: in-laws and the additional free tim
Page 44 and 45: "Involving grandmothersin community
Page 50 and 51: CULTURALLY-ADAPTED EDUCATIONMATERIA
Page 52 and 53: strated the power of participatory
Page 57 and 58: V. GRANDMOTHERS: A LEARNING INSTITU
Page 59 and 60: Many health and development workers
Page 61 and 62: VI. RECOMMENDATIONS FORBASIC EDUCAT
Page 63 and 64: parents themselves did not go to sc
Page 65 and 66: community ties by increasing teache
Page 67 and 68: of millions. On the other hand, som
Page 69: teachers, teacher abuse of children
Page 73 and 74: APPENDIX B:ANNOTATEDREFERENCES ON T
Page 75 and 76: acceptable for younger women to mak
Page 77 and 78: showed that men are not directly in
Page 79 and 80: ecause they had more time to devote
Page 81 and 82: matrilineal or patrilineal areas
Page 83 and 84: diet, work, fetal development, sexu
Page 85 and 86: in the family and social networks.
Page 87 and 88: elated, for example, to early child
Page 89 and 90: REFERENCESAdams, A. M., S. Madhavan
Page 91 and 92: BASICS and LINKAGES. 1998. Influenc
Page 93 and 94: Childhood Education and Development
Page 95 and 96: Krishna, A. and N. Uphoff. June 199
Page 97 and 98: Sear, R., R. Mace, and I. A. McGreg
Page 99 and 100: ABOUT THE AUTHORThis review was pre
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