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

APPENDIX A: METHODOLOGYUSED IN THIS REVIEWGiven the relatively limited documentationon the topic of grandmothers’involvement in children’sdevelopment, it was necessary to adopt amulti-pronged and somewhat unconventionaldata collection strategy. The informationconsidered in this review comesfrom 94 written documents—literaturepublished either in journals or on the web,website descriptions of policies and programsof development organizations, andunpublished,“gray,” literature from developmentorganizations—and 25 key informantinterviews dealing with approximately 75different cultural contexts from six continents.While the information analyzedcame from geographically diverse sources,it is acknowledged that this review did nottake into account all available documentationon all cultures in the world.Published literature: The primary areasexamined were: anthropology, sociology,gerontology, early childhood development,primary education, community health andnutrition, hygiene education, culture anddevelopment.Gray literature (internal company documentsor unpublished documents, such asproject reports): From numerous NGOand government programs in Africa, Asiaand Latin America.Website descriptions of the policies andprograms of development organizationsinvolved in child development including:UNICEF, UNESCO, Bernard Van LeerFoundation, WHO,The AIDS Alliance, Savethe Children, Christian Children’s Fund,CARE and HelpAge International.Key informant contacts were made withchild development specialists at: the WorldBank, Johns Hopkins University, CornellUniversity, UNICEF, the InternationalConsultative Group on Early ChildhoodCare and Development, Mahidol Universityin Bangkok, the University of San Francisco,the Academy for Educational Development(AED), NGO practitioners especially fromSenegal, Bangladesh, Ecuador, and Fiji.GRANDMOTHERS:THE LEARNING INSTITUTION53