Diverse settings, diverse solutions: Taking an ethnographic approach to designing scalable early childhood development

Tightly controlled efficacy studies that demonstrate the effectiveness of certain models may not easily translate into real-world implementation, as they often overlook the complexities of resource allocation and capacity building needed in contexts different from where the model was originally developed or tested. This issue is not new – many implementation science scaling approaches, such as problem-driven iterative adaptation (PDIA) and the exploration, preparation, implementation and sustainment (EPIS) framework, recognise and address these challenges. Still, the critical question remains: What type of evidence can enable innovations or the adaptation of effective interventions, so that they are scalable?

A contextual approach: The Thrive research study in Sierra Leone

Thrive’s ethnographic study in Sierra Leone on the opportunities and barriers for strengthening informal early childhood development has concluded.  It aimed to understand community perceptions, existing caregiving practices and the capacity of both the state and local communities to support early childhood development. The study highlighted the significant diversity of contexts across the country, revealing how local economies, livelihoods, infrastructure, cultural practices and caregiving capacity directly influence early childhood development.

The study found that some of the most marginalised communities are farmers who may walk one or more hours each way to perform their daily farm duties. Early education in these areas must consider challenges like morning hunger, parental time constraints and fostering practices.

Morning hunger: Farmers spend long hours in the fields and cook meals there. With modern schooling, demand for education has risen and many children walk miles, without a morning meal, to attend schools in neighbouring villages when one is not available in their own village. They either rely on leftovers or wait until after school to eat when they reach their family’s farm.

Time availability: In labour-intensive farming communities, particularly in remote areas with limited market access, caregivers were ’time-poor’, with little bandwidth for additional childcare responsibilities. In contrast, those near markets, with additional trade income, were comparatively ‘time-rich’, with more time available for child-rearing activities.

Fostering: Migration shapes caregiving – 28% of children live away from their biological parents, often with grandparents in rural areas, while parents work or study in cities. Older children seeking secondary education are often placed in foster care in town and cities, where weak kinship ties and distance from parents increase their vulnerability to neglect, abuse, exploitation and school dropout.

Harnessing community strength and shared responsibility: A pathway for scalable, play-based innovation

Given Sierra Leone’s status as a fragile and conflict-affected state, its capacity to fully implement the 2021 integrated early childhood development policy remains limited. While demand for early education is high across communities, development aid-supported early childhood development programmes have often struggled to sustain beyond the funding cycle.

Our ethnographic study used non-participant observations, caregiver interviews, and focus group discussions to understand how caregiving is embedded within community structures and non-state institutions, offering programme design elements for more sustainable early childhood development models. The study highlighted the culture of collective responsibility, where neighbours and extended family members step in to provide meals, prevent harsh discipline and contribute to child-rearing. These findings suggest that communities and parents have the demand and the capacity to support early childhood development, rather than relying solely on state or philanthropic interventions.

For instance, Islamic scholars and imams play a key role in informal education. In both urban and rural settings, young children – from as young as 3 years old – regularly attend Qur’anic lessons conducted in Arabic. The lessons are community-funded through cash or in-kind contributions to the imam. These flexible sessions, held early in the morning or late in the evening, align with local schedules. Notably, all the imams interviewed expressed openness to understanding how a play-based approach to improve numeracy skills could be incorporated into their traditional teaching of Qur’anic chapters by rote.

The study also found strong interest among scholars and professors from Islamic institutions that provide early childhood development teacher training. Many see potential in adapting models like the Madrasa Early Childhood Programme, implemented in East Africa with Aga Khan Foundation’s support. This could potentially be delivered in private early childhood development centres started by graduates or the many madrasas run by Islamic institutions.

By recognising and building on these existing structures, the early childhood development sector could move toward more sustainable models, such as the Pikin-to-Pikin approach or a community-supported model. Strengthening community capacity and leveraging non-state institutions could help ensure that effective early childhood development interventions are locally owned and maintained.

Stories of positive deviance: A model for sustainable, community-led early childhood development

While many aid-supported early childhood development programmes struggle to sustain themselves, some community-driven initiatives persist beyond external funding. One example was found in an urban slum, Jamestown, where an informal pre-primary school emerged from a former development programme. Perched on the steep zmountainside of Freetown, the school consists of two sheds with tin roofs and a compound that doubles as a community meeting space. It was formed when the organisation GOAL trained a community health worker to provide early childcare and education in her community.

When the programme ended, instead of shutting down, the community health worker turned to entrepreneurial solutions – selling roasted cassava to keep the school running. Later, she introduced a modest tuition fee of 30 SLE per month (equivalent to one pound sterling), allowing her to now enrol 300 children and hire 6 part-time teachers. Community engagement played a crucial role, with the village chief providing the community meeting space and infrastructure support. Since 2022, she has been organising quarterly parent-teacher meetings to discuss how parents can support their child’s development and help with sports days and graduation ceremonies, creating a strong support network for the school. Her aspirations were not to secure more funding but rather to formalise the school within the public education system and gain access to teacher training, play and learning materials.

Her success underscores a key insight: pathways to scale in Sierra Leone need to focus on the inputs that provide the initial impetus for communities to help adapt evidence-based approaches, organise early childhood development delivery and sustain it.

An alternative approach to generate evidence for scaling

Findings from our study emphasise the need for a shift in the evidence base for scaling strategies in low-state capacity contexts, such as Sierra Leone. Instead of relying solely on randomised controlled trials and implementation research that test what works in specific settings and then attempt to scale these interventions by adapting them to different contexts, the researchers advocate for ethnographic studies that help investigate the daily realities, culture, motivations, challenges, emotions, and contexts of children, parents, grandparents and communities. Such an approach would provide the information for international, national and local early childhood development practitioners to build adaptive models that are scalable, by design, in low-capacity states. Moreover, this research can help identify leverage points where small inputs can trigger substantial, long-term investments – ultimately building community capacity in ways that complement and enhance state capacity.

Image courtesy: World Bank on Flickr