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

“Grandmothers raisechildren; they tellstories in the winterand teach childrenthe skills they needfor survival.Grandmothers arethe central charactersin the daily andsymbolic lives ofNative (American)women—indeed, ofNative people.”Rayna GreenTHERE IS A GAP BETWEENPOLICY STATEMENTS ANDGRANDMOTHERS’ INCLUSION INCHILD DEVELOPMENTPROGRAMS.Policy statements from key internationalagencies involved in children’s developmentadvocate for strengthening thecapacity of all family members to respondto children’s needs. By extrapolation, suchpolicy priorities imply that programsshould involve senior family members,including grandmothers. In reality, thereare few programs in which grandmothersare explicitly and actively involved. Thenon-inclusion of grandmothers in childdevelopment programs represents a significantinconsistency with policy guidelines.GRANDMOTHER LEADERS ANDNETWORKS SHOULD BE VIEWEDAS SOCIAL CAPITAL.Social capital has been defined bySerageldin as “the glue that keeps communitiestogether and that is required for acollective and sustained response to communityneeds.” (Krishna & Uphoff, 1999).While there is much discussion of theneed to strengthen existing communitystructures” in community developmentprograms, limited attention has been givento the potential represented by naturalgrandmother leaders and their social networksfor promotion of children’s development.Several experiences empoweringthese groups suggest that strengtheningthem can contribute to enhancing a community’ssocial capital and to sustainingcommunity action for children’s development.GRANDMOTHERS ARE RECEPTIVETO THE USE OF NONFORMALEDUCATION APPROACHES THATBUILD ON THEIR EXISTINGKNOWLEDGE.In experiences in several countries, nonformal,adult education methods have beenvery successfully used with groups ofgrandmothers. They were very receptiveto these methods that drew on theirexperience and engaged them in dialogueon their existing ideas as well as alternative,“modern” practices. Their receptivityto the approach can be explained by thefact that the approach reinforced their culturally-definedrole, as respected advisorsof younger women and children, whilehelping them to acquire new knowledgeand practices related to child health anddevelopment. (The Mali case study highlightsthe use of these methods).42 UNITED STATES AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT