The Little Book for Parenting Programmes

Mark Millrine & Allison Zelkowitz

behavioral science for parenting

SECTOR

Behavioral science

PROJECT TYPE

Guide

DOI

Location

Global

BEHAVIORAL THEME

ECD| parenting| education
OVERVIEW

Applying Behavioural Science to Increase Caregiver Engagement
Parenting programmes are a key pillar of early childhood development (ECD) policy globally. Delivered through home visits, group sessions and/or remotely, they seek to support the development of children from pre-onception through to age five by influencing their parents’ knowledge, skills, attitudes and practices.
There is strong evidence that they can significantly improve key ECD outcomes, such as children’s cognitive, language, motor and social emotional development.

THEMATIC AREAS

Behavioral science can increase the impact of parenting programmes by providing insights on why parental engagement issues arise and recommending solutions to address them. This guide outlines several of these insights and provides guidance on how to apply them. It is intended for implementers, policymakers and donors involved in parenting programmes.

The guide has 4 sections:

  • Brief introduction to behavioral science and how it can increase the impact of parenting programmes.
  • Overview of the journey parents go through on a typical parenting programme and the barriers to parental engagement they may face along the way.
  • Solutions for addressing these barriers and increasing parent engagement.
  • Guidance on how to use this guide to increase parental engagement on your programme.