Save the Children Australia, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
Save the Children (Rwanda), Kigali, Rwanda.
Front Public Health. 2023 Jul 27;11:1165353. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1165353. eCollection 2023.
The first three years of a child's life are the most critical to child development and have an impact on the future achievement of the child. Young children's healthy development depends on nurturing care that ensures health, nutrition, responsive caregiving, safety, and security. Parents & other adult caregivers play a critical role in moderating children's early experiences, which has a lasting impact be it positive or negative on the children's future. Parenting education programs are proven to improve parental skills, capacity, and efficacy in a way that supports improved child development outcomes. Yet, most parents in low-middle-income countries such as Rwanda lack access to information and skills on how to support their children's holistic development. In response, Save The Children implemented the First Steps "Intera za Mbere" holistic parenting education project in Rwanda from 2014 to 2021. This paper reflects on how monitoring, evaluation, accountability, and learning (MEAL) approaches were applied throughout the project cycle and their impact on program improvement and national policy and advocacy. This paper explores how the aspirations for measurement for change, considerations for innovation uptake and frameworks for learning about improvement are reflected in this project.
The project utilized qualitative and quantitative MEAL across the program cycle. Action research at the start of the project identified promoters and inhibitors of high-quality nurturing care and program delivery modalities. The project utilized a randomized control trial to provide insight into components that work better for parenting education. Evidence from surveys done remotely via phones was used to inform COVID-19 adaptations of the program.
The application of MEAL evidence led to the successful development and improvement of the program. At the policy level, evidence from the project influenced the review of the 2016 National Integrated ECD policy and the development of the national parenting education framework.
The regular use of evidence from MEAL is critical for program improvement, scale-up, and policy influence.
儿童生命的头三年对其发展最为关键，并对其未来的成就产生影响。幼儿的健康发展依赖于养育关怀，以确保健康、营养、回应式照护、安全和保障。父母和其他成年照顾者在调节儿童早期经历方面发挥着关键作用，这些经历对儿童的未来产生持久的积极或消极影响。事实证明，育儿教育方案可提高父母的技能、能力和效力，从而支持改善儿童发展成果。然而，在卢旺达等中低收入国家，大多数父母缺乏有关如何支持其子女全面发展的信息和技能。有鉴于此，救助儿童会于 2014 年至 2021 年在卢旺达实施了“第一步”全面育儿教育项目。本文反思了监测、评价、问责和学习（MEAL）方法在整个项目周期中的应用，以及它们对方案改进和国家政策与倡导的影响。本文探讨了该项目如何反映变革衡量的愿望、创新采用的考虑因素以及改进学习的框架。
该项目在整个项目周期内使用了定性和定量 MEAL。项目开始时的行动研究确定了高质量养育关怀和方案交付模式的促进因素和抑制因素。该项目利用随机对照试验，深入了解育儿教育的有效组成部分。通过远程电话进行的调查证据被用于为方案的 COVID-19 调整提供信息。
MEAL 证据的应用导致了方案的成功制定和改进。在政策层面，该项目的证据影响了对 2016 年国家综合幼儿发展政策的审查和国家育儿教育框架的制定。
定期使用 MEAL 证据对于方案改进、扩大规模和政策影响至关重要。
