The Equitable Education Research Institute (EEFI)
under the Equitable Education Fund (EEF)
Thailand and the University of the West Indies
have come together to fulfill a common goal: to create a strong bond between parents and their children that will, in turn, contribute to their all-around development. To accomplish this, they have developed the “Reach Up & Learn” program to help parents develop the necessary skills to provide the right kind of support to their children, with a focus being placed on building communication between them.
Objective
Reach Up & Learn is viewed as a program that seeks to support equitable early childhood education for rural Thai families. To achieve this, the program focuses on 4 primary objectives, as follows:
Developing models and conditions of early childhood development support that will best support EEF’s target groups
Transferring knowledge and methods for parenting development to the parents of the rural communities
Improving the parenting of the rural parents through the implementation of the program, with the intention of emulating the success in other areas in the future
Studying the feasibility and appropriateness of applying parenting development through the program to the Conditional Cash Transfer project for early childhood children
Information
Reach Up & Learn is an innovative program that is designed to develop positive mother-child interactions and enhance children’s holistic development. It promotes engaging activities, such as conversing and playing with children and labeling objects and actions, which are all believed to have a significant impact on children’s development. Additionally, field experiments have shown that the best way to foster effective parenting development is to provide positive reinforcement activities, both for children and parents, with an emphasis being placed on demonstrations where home visitors demonstrate, encourage, and advise parents on how to best interact with their children. Through these activities, parents are given the opportunity to learn the skills and strategies needed to create a strong, supportive bond with their children, which will have a lasting impact on their development.
Meanwhile, it is an ambitious project to establish a network of local teams across the country for further expansion. EEFI’s research team will organize the Reach Up & Learn course drawing on experts from the University of the West Indies to provide the necessary guidance and knowledge. And for the program, the team will then proceed to translate any related documents from English to Thai and modify any printed materials to be in line with the Thai context and culture. To ensure that the program is engaging and comprehensive, the team will also translate subtitles of any videos on examples of parenting development activities and record any voice recordings in Thai. Finally, the team will procure or order any publications, media, equipment, and toys necessary to ensure that the program is well-resourced and sufficient for the next expansion.
Operating Area
The program is a part of the Equitable Education Fund (EEF) Thailand’s mission, which is to address disparities in educational and employment opportunities through research, collaboration, and support for children, youth, and adults in need, thereby fostering a more equitable future for all.
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