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

on tea plantations where nuclear familiesare more common, the critical role ofgrandmothers in cultural transmission isseverely reduced. The researchers concludedthat in areas where the extendedfamily still predominates, the most sustainablestrategy for enhancing EarlyChildhood Care and Development(ECCE) would involve home-based activitiesto strengthen the ability of grandmothersto organize playgroups composed ofonly a few children.This recommendationwas strongly supported by communityinformants insofar as it would build ongrandmothers’ traditional role in childcare.Also in Kenya, among the Taita, as in manyethnic groups in Africa, it is taboo for parentsto speak to their children about sex(Epstein 1993). A critical role played bythe grandmothers is orienting and advisingyoung girls about sexual values and roles.The grandmothers spend between one tothree months secluded with young adolescentgirls teaching them about their role aschild-bearers and wives. This critical roleof senior women in initiating girls to womanhoodis common to virtually all culturesin Sub-Saharan Africa (Gordon 2003).Ethiopia: In a study of traditional childcarein the Shewa region (Negussie 1989), itwas found that many of the grandmothers’practices are beneficial related to the careand feeding of infants, deliveries, maternalhealth and traditional home remedies forcommon illnesses. Older women spendlots of time with children from birth andare very much involved in the “informaleducation” of infants and young children.The author laments that in existinghealth/development programs little attentionis paid to preserving these beneficialtraditional practices.Niger: In a rapid assessment conducted inthe east of the country in Hausa andDjerma communities, the role and influenceof grandmothers in household managementof diarrhea was clearly revealed(Aubel et al. 1991).The study showed thatwhen a child is ill, various family membersare involved in deciding what should bedone. However, within the collective decision-makingprocess it is usually the grandmotherwho plays a leading role given herage and experience. In an area wherethere is considerable use of traditionalhealers, it is usually the grandmothers whodecide to seek help from these specialistsand who coordinate recommended treatmentswith them.In western Niger, the findings of anotherrapid assessment on the role of grandmothersin maternal and child nutrition(Aubel et al. 2000) yielded similar resultsregarding grandmothers’ strong influence inadvising and supervising women both duringpregnancy and with their young offspring.Community leaders stated thatgrandmothers are important communityresource persons for all matters related towomen’s and children’s health and wellbeing.Husbands stated that they consulttheir own mothers (the child’s grandmother)when there are decisions to be maderegarding either their wives or children. Alast significant finding is that in the vegetablegardening activities organized forwomen by HKI, the grandmothers madeup about three-quarters of all the participants.They stated that they were moreinvolved in gardening than younger women60 UNITED STATES AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT