The Ghana Education Service–Lively Minds (GES-LM) programme is an innovative early childhood development parenting and play-based learning initiative currently being scaled to reach approximately 800,000 children in northern Ghana. It forms part of the implementation of the Government of Ghana’s early childhood development policy, which includes a focus on play-based learning and family and community engagement.
The main focus of the programme is the training and mobilisation of mothers to run kindergarten playschemes and to use parenting, hygiene, and nutrition practices at home.
A randomised control trial (RCT) led by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) is underway to evaluate the impact of the programme on child development outcomes as it scales up.
Within the wider RCT, a series of Thrive studies collectively aim to understand the conditions for successful implementation, scale-up, and sustainability of this early childhood development programme in Ghana:
Community-level drivers of success
The sustained engagement and motivation of mothers is key to the success of the parenting programme. The programme design includes engagement with community leaders, husbands and Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs), and the rolling out of radio programmes to build community awareness and support).
This qualitative study explores how this community engagement influences the success and sustainability of the GES-LM programme. It investigates motivation and sustained participation among caregivers, critical for scaling parenting-focused interventions.
Parental time constraints
Unpaid care work plays an important role in households and communities in Ghana. This study is generating evidence to ensure that early childhood development interventions don’t worsen outcomes for caregivers – particularly women – by placing additional burden on them or reinforcing restrictive gender norms. As well as measuring the time spent by mothers, the study also measures fathers’ engagement and uses information on wages to assess the financial implication of the GES-LM programme.
Our analyses are aligned as much as possible with the Unpaid Care Toolkit led by NGO ActionAid and developed with support from Ghana’s National Development Planning Commission in 2020.
Challenges for recruitment, motivation and retention in the kindergarten sector
There is an underinvestment in kindergarten teachers in Ghana. This study explores the perceptions and experiences of kindergarten teachers to support policymakers to identify and address challenges in recruitment, motivation and retention. Using both qualitative and quantitative data, it assesses how parental-engagement initiatives and programme visibility may shift perceptions of the kindergarten sector and its workforce. As the status and perceptions of women are integral to perceptions of the sector, we will also explore questions around gender and the labour market.
Scaling teacher training (ECD-INSET)
Complementing the parenting-focused GES-LM intervention, this study supports the scale-up of an in-service teacher training model (ECD-INSET) developed by GES and NGO Sabre Education. Thrive is working alongside GES and Sabre Education as they pilot the scaled up model which emphasises district-led implementation and regional leadership in Assin South District, supporting them to reflect on governance processes – including capacity building, oversight, monitoring, resources and partnerships – which require refinements during scale up.
Governance lessons
This qualitative study explores the lessons learned in the governance of the GES-LM programme, examining the success factors and barriers to quality implementation at scale. The analysis is based on the insights of the key implementing stakeholders (GES and Lively Minds) at national, regional and district levels.
Delivery infrastructure lessons
To successfully scale up early childhood development interventions, the ability to integrate programmes into existing organisations and infrastructure is key. Through qualitative and quantitative surveys, this project will identify the key features – including management practices and culture – within local government education services that are the main enabling factors in securing a successful handover of early childhood education programmes to government service providers.
This project is being run in collaboration with the Ghana Education Service, Lively Minds, the Institute for Fiscal Studies, Sabre Education, and other NGO partners.