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An in-depth situation analysis of pre- and post-natal conditions in Tanzania – early barriers and opportunities for improving early childhood development

In collaboration with Tanzania’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), this project will build a comprehensive picture of the early childhood development environment into which the new generation of children in Tanzania are born and the expected implications for child development.

Helping to fill evidence gaps, this project’s activities will include the following:

  • A comprehensive review of global literature to identify the main pre- and post-natal risk factors for early childhood development in Tanzania.
  • The use of Tanzania Demographics and Health Survey (DHS) data (2016 and 2021) to investigate how risk factors vary across the country and between families, and how they have changed over time.
  • A review of detailed survey data on the living environment of a representative sample of pregnant women in the Dodoma region to gain further insights into their support structures, such as spouse, community characteristics and the quality of local service provision.
  • Using the large sample size of the datasets from DHS and the collaborative research programme Kizazi Kijacho (KK), we will map how the environment children are born in today varies across dimensions such as gender and socio-economic status.
  • Data analysis on maternal mental well-being and women’s empowerment in the KK dataset and a study into how this correlates with early childhood development investment and outcomes.

We will connect and work with Tanzanian researchers and policymakers by running workshops to discuss and interpret findings, to inform the next steps.

Data analysis combined with insights from the literature review will highlight the most critical pre- and post-natal conditions for improvement in Tanzania to enhance early childhood development outcomes. We expect that results may vary by region and district.

Findings will also be compared to existing Tanzanian national early childhood development service guidelines to examine whether existing guidelines are being followed in practice. The team will collaborate with stakeholders to identify opportunities to strengthen guidelines.

The project will provide an important foundation for follow-up work to explore and cost promising opportunities for improving early childhood development outcomes in more detail.

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Tanzania

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