Partners recently called on all governments to provide an essential package to achieve universal quality parenting interventions . The Government of Kenya and a wide range of civil society actors in Kenya recognise this importance. Parenting has been championed in Kenya as an essential element of Kenya’s National Prevention and Response Plan on Violence Against Children 2019-2023, a critical component of the recent National Care Reform Strategy, and pre-primary and education policies include reference to integrating parenting programmes with other education sector activities.
Kenya’s Department of Social Development (DSD) spearheaded the drafting of the National Policy on Family Promotion and Protection and committed to develop and deliver a national positive parenting programme. Maestral International and the Prevention Collaborative were contracted to support DSD, working alongside a multi-sectoral Technical Working Group (TWG), to develop the National Parenting Guidelines and key documents to launch a gender transformative national parenting programme. At the end of the consultancy, in September 2023, DSD launched National Parenting Guidelines, a package of resources to roll-out the National Parenting Training Programme (including training of trainers, manual, facilitator guidance and an e-course which will be available through DSD’s website), and a five-year roadmap to scale the programme.
The assignment produced an array of learnings, particularly related to the development of universally targeted gender transformative parenting programmes. The consultant team found that it was critical to invest time in developing shared understanding of, and buy-in to, key gender concepts, terminologies, and good practices from the outset and throughout the assignment. For example, the concept of ‘power’ is important for reflecting on family values, roles, and responsibilities, however pre-testing and piloting revealed that strength-based language such as ‘creating peaceful homes together’ was better received within communities. Notable changes in improved conflict resolution between parents/caregivers (the key aim of the ‘creating peaceful homes together’ session) were highlighted in the pilot, including one chief in Garissa County reporting decreased domestic violence disputes.
The ongoing commitment and input from a range of stakeholders, via the TWG, enabled the development of well-contextualised, fit-for-purpose final deliverables, and strong multisectoral buy-in which lays a promising foundation for scaling the programme. The five-year road map to scale includes exciting commitments such as advancing the legal and policy framework to support parenting, integrating basic parenting training into the early childhood development and disability sectors, developing a male engagement strategy, a variety of translations for the programme, and the development of national parenting campaigns. Excitingly, since the end of the consultancy, the DSD, with support from partners, has already commenced a national training of trainers as a critical next step to scaling the programme.