Our programme

We work to improve the education and care given to pre-school children in highly deprived communities in Ghana and Uganda. We work through local government to train and empower Mothers to provide better care at home and run educational Play Schemes that give young children in their community better life chances.

What we do and why

The problem

The first 6 years of a child’s life are a vital time when they are developing the skills needed for future life. Yet over 250 million children worldwide – the majority of whom are located in rural communities in the global south – do not get the care and education to build these skills. This adverse start has knock-on effects throughout their lives.

Research has shown they will be less likely to find gainful employment, and are at greater risk of early marriage, early parenthood and even criminality. Unfortunately, current approaches to this global crisis, which focus on the professional early years workforce, are not proving effective or affordable for lower middle income countries.

Our solution is deceptively simple

Parents are the sleeping giant. In each village, 30-40 mothers are enrolled on a group parenting course. The course is designed to change mindsets, build confidence and teach simple ways to use cost-free resources to improve their parenting and provide better care and education at home.

The trained mothers take it in turns to run educational Play Schemes for all the preschoolers in their village. Working to a carefully designed a structure and pedagogy, the children learn by playing in small groups with a variety of home-made educational games

​​

No additional workforce or expensive infrastructure is needed, It uses just cheap, local materials, empowering the most uneducated and resource-poor to provide quality learning and care.