Empowering rural communities to help their pre-school children thrive
Every child needs and deserves quality education and care in their early years - the age that makes such a big difference to their future development. We are scaling our evidence-based low-cost model and aim to get millions of rural pre-school children these vital opportunities.
Empowering parents
We unlock the enormous potential of marginalised rural parents. They are trained to run free educational Play Schemes for all the pre-schoolers in their community, and to provide better care for their children at home using their own resources.
Scaling with Government
The programme is delivered by government using a train the trainer approach. We build the capacity of government to run and sustain the programme at scale.
Systems change
We are seeking to bring about a paradigm shift, so that instead of being bypassed, parents see themselves, and are seen by others as capable ECD providers. We aim to shift mindsets and behaviours at grassroots and government level through our training, radio programme and communications. We also share our learnings, ideas, insights with governments, policy-makers, researchers, funders and practitioners to strengthen ECD policies, practices and knowledge.
Current reach
2,624
communities running the programme
9,266
government trainers trained to deliver the programme
89,472
rural parents empowered to run Play Schemes
229,963
pre-schoolers benefitting
1.4 million
listeners of Lively Minds Together radio
“We are proud to be scaling a proven programme and helping the most deprived families in Ghana, who will provide quality education and care for their children. This will profoundly benefit these families, their communities, and our country.”
Honourable Reverend John Ntim Fordjour, the Deputy Minister of Education, Ghana