About the conversation
The Sugira Muryango (Strengthen the Family) programme in Rwanda is an intervention aimed at reducing domestic violence and boosting early childhood development in families facing extreme poverty and post-conflict trauma. It is a collaboration between the Government of Rwanda, the University of Rwanda, Boston College Research Program on Children and Adversity (RPCA) and FXB Rwanda, a local NGO.
Research evidence has demonstrated Sugira Muryango’s effectiveness, and the intervention is now being scaled. In 2021, a study on the PLAY (Promoting Lasting Anthropometric Change and Young Children’s Development) Collaborative as an implementation strategy for scaling Sugira Muryango was conducted. The PLAY Collaborative promotes multi-level buy-in and establishes structural and procedural supports necessary for system-wide scaling while maintaining and improving quality and sustainability. The study assessed delivery quality, perceptions of the PLAY Collaborative, and the effectiveness of Sugira Muryango when delivered by child protection volunteers – a social service workforce that could facilitate further scaling.
In this conversation, Theresa S. Betancourt and the RPCA team discussed what the findings mean for delivering early childhood development interventions at scale. They were joined by Gilbert Munyemana from Rwanda’s National Child Development Agency to think about policy implications, and the role that scientific research has played in decision making on early childhood development in Rwanda.
Speakers
Salem Professor in Global Practice,
School of Social Work and
Director of RPCA, Boston College
Theresa Betancourt’s primary research interest is to understand the modifiable processes that contribute to risk and resilience in the mental health and development of children and adolescents facing adversity in a variety of cultures and settings. Her work includes implementation science initiatives to scale out evidence-based interventions in low resource settings, including the integration of the Sugira Muryango family home visiting intervention in Rwanda.
Betancourt has served on the advisory board for the 2021 UNICEF State of the World’s Children report, as a Commissioner for the Lancet Commission for the Prevention of Violence Against Women and Children, and as an expert to the International Criminal Court (ICC) and was a Senior Fellow at the UNICEF Innocenti Research Center in 2024. She recently joined the Board of Trustees of Save the Children US.
Deputy Director General,
National Child Development Agency,
Rwanda
Gilbert Munyemana has been Deputy Director General of the National Child Development Agency since November 2020. He is involved in a variety of national and regional initiatives that aim to improve early childhood and protection in Rwanda.
Munyemana was previously Education and ECCD Program Manager and Project Manager of the Teacher Self Learning Academy at Plan International Rwanda, and has worked in public and non-governmental organisations as the founder and Managing Director of educational technology company IDEMBE Ltd and as the Deputy Director of the Centre for Instructional Technology at the National University of Rwanda.
Research Scientist,
Boston College
Candace Black is a research psychologist with an interdisciplinary lens. She has spent recent years establishing her record of expertise at the intersections of child development, early life adversity, and global health. Her research program is directed at understanding how children develop cognitive and emotional tools to cope with exposure to adversity, with the ultimate aim of investigating adaptive, advantageous responses to adversity.
Host
Senior Researcher,
Chr. Michelsen Institute
Bet Caeyers is a Senior Researcher at the Christian Michelsen Institute (CMI) in Bergen as well as Thrive Research Director and Thrive Tanzania co-Principal Investigator. Holding a PhD in Economics from Oxford University, Bet has extensive experience living and working in Sub-Saharan Africa and is currently based in Rwanda. Her research focuses on policy and programmatic strategies for scaling social protection and human development services, particularly in Early Childhood Development (ECD). Her work combines rigorous measurement, innovative program design, and evaluation of cost-effective, scalable interventions for national implementation.
About the series
We know that investing in early childhood is transformative for both children and societies in low- and middle-income countries but there are gaps in our knowledge about how to move from pilot to scale and how to ensure long-term quality.
The exchange of insights and ideas between researchers and policymakers is a vital part of bridging these gaps – ensuring that new research addresses the questions most relevant to national decision makers, and that early childhood development policies are grounded in evidence about what works at scale.
This discussion series from Thrive brings together policymakers, practitioners and researchers to explore the latest evidence related to scaling early childhood development programmes in low- and middle-income countries. Conversations will explore the key takeaways from research highlighted in the Thrive What to Read newsletter and delve into how new evidence can help to inform diverse policy and research agendas associated with scaling.
Attendees can take part in live Q&As with leading experts and be part of a growing community of knowledge shaping the future of early childhood development programming.
For the latest research related to designing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating scalable early childhood development programmes in low- and middle-income countries subscribe to the monthly Thrive What to Read newsletter.
The Thrive 2025 scientific conference on scaling early childhood development programmes and policies in low- and middle-income countries, brought together early childhood development researchers, practitioners, funders and policymakers to exchange ideas. Revisit keynote presentations and other sessions from across the conference here.