In Tanzania, one in three children suffers from chronic malnutrition and often grows up in sub-optimal conditions. The ‘Mum, Talk’ (in Czech, “Maminko, povídej”) project sets itself the task of motivating and teaching parents there to create an environment for their children that enables their healthy development. The project involves the non-profit organisation Maendeleo, comprised mainly of students and graduates of International Development and Environmental Studies at the UP Faculty of Science, and Tanzanian collaborators together with the Mikhulu Trust from South Africa.
“Maendeleo has been active in Tanzania for a long time, targeting parents of poor children – farmers – to whom it provides micro-loans for their businesses. Currently, we also want to focus on the development of children through reading picture books. We established cooperation with the Mikhulu Trust organisation because it has experience in implementing similar projects for mothers of young children in South Africa. The impact of their activities was evaluated by experts from the University of Reading (UK), and the results were so good that the World Health Organisation took over the auspices of the project,” said project coordinator Martin Schlossarek from the Department of Development and Environmental Studies.
Up to three hundred Tanzanian mothers will participate in the ‘Mum, Talk’ project, who will undergo eight-week educational courses. “Parents of children in Tanzania provide for the basic needs of the family and, due to their low level of education, often do not consider the development of their children to be a priority. But without the necessary stimuli, a small child’s brain does not develop as quickly as it could,” added Schlossarek.
The mothers will be divided into groups of ten, which will meet weekly. “They will be visited by a facilitator, a trained woman from the local community. The method of this project is based on special picture books for children aged 15 to 45 months. Each week the mothers will be introduced to a new picture book and the facilitator will show them how they can go through the book with their children. The goal is to support the child’s cognitive development and deepen the relationship between child and parent. At each session, we will also provide mothers with a packet of enriched porridge for the youngest children,” added Schlossarek.
Mothers should then practice the new methods with their children at home and then share their experiences with each other. The impact of this project on children’s development and their relationship with their parents will be investigated by Schlossarek and his colleagues from the Department of Development and Environmental Studies using experimental impact evaluation.
Maendeleo is funded by private donors, the proceeds of fundraising events and the profits of the “Krámek naruby” e-shop. Individuals can also donate to the collection on the Donio platform or to Czech account 2916398329/0800, variable symbol/payment identifier 111.