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

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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
ecause they had more time to devote tothis activity and also because they wereinterested in learning about new plantingtechniques and garden products.Sudan: A 1993 study (Bedri) showed thatgrandmothers have significant influencewithin the family related to various aspectsof childcare and health promotion. Whilesome of their advice is beneficial, relatedto pregnant women’s diets, early initiationof breastfeeding after birth, and supplementaryfeeding, other advice is not—-forexample, related to female genital mutilation,early marriage, and avoidance of contraception.The author concluded thatgrandmothers should be directly involvedin health education activities in order toencourage them to modify certain practicesand thereby improve the impact ofthe advice they give to other householdmembers. The involvement of Sudanesegrandmothers at all stages of the life cycleis also discussed by Bedri and Lovel(1993).In the results of an earlier study (Aubel etal. 1990) in central Sudan on householdpractices related to diarrhea, the role ofgrandmothers was also documented. Bothmen and women said that the grandmothersare consulted when a child has diarrhea,and that their advice on how to dealwith the problem—either with householdremedies, pharmaceutical products or visitsto the health center—is usually followed,given their extensive experience in childhealth matters. In this same study it wasfound that health workers are highly criticalof traditional home remedies and ofthe grandmothers who promote them.The Gambia: Several studies have shownthe critical role grandmothers play inregard to child health. In a study on infantnutrition (Samba & Gittlesohn 1991) itwas found that during the rainy season,when mothers are very busy with agriculturalwork and spend less time at home,grandmothers and older daughters haveprimary responsibility for caring for youngchildren. At this time of year there is alsoless food available and more cases of diarrhea.In other words, at this precarioustime of year the knowledge and skills ofgrandmothers are a critical factor in determiningchild health and well-being.In a recent study (Sear et al. 2000) inMandinka communities it was found thatwhere a grandmother is present the nutritionalstatus of their young grandchildren isbetter than where these senior womenare not present. The same study showedthat the presence or absence of the fatheror grandfather had no impact on thechild’s nutritional status. These results substantiatethe influence of grandmothers onchild nutrition and development and supportthe argument that the overall impactof their strategies to produce healthygrandchildren is positive.Ghana: A rapid assessment on infant feedingcarried out by LINKAGES with theMinistry of Health in 2000 (Schubert2001) showed that both grandmothersand men have significant influence onwomen’s breastfeeding (BF) practices.These findings were the basis for developinga health education strategy targetingthese two groups of household actors.Another study on complementary feedingGRANDMOTHERS:THE LEARNING INSTITUTION61
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GRANDMOTHERS:A LEARNING INSTITUTION
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GRANDMOTHERS:A LEARNING INSTITUTION
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARYSociety itself fai
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Education, the Bernard Van LeerFoun
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SEVERAL FACTORS CONTRIBUTE TO THELI
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- Who am I? Assign children to askf
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in educational activities on home t
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“A grandmother’s understandingo
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“Culture tells peoplehow to view
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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 54 and 55: effects of the new ideas, their con
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: showed that men are not directly in
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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