Child abuse is highest in the developing world, with severe lifetime consequences. Through an ERC Starter Grant, Parenting for Lifelong Health created a family support programme that was shown to reduce violent and harsh parenting, alcohol use, and to improve mental health and family financial management. Through this ERC Proof of Concept Grant, we were able to support non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and governments to achieve sustainable programme expansion. Today, the child and adolescent versions are received by over half a million children in 21 countries globally. By 2021, they will reach an estimated two million children in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Caribbean and Latin America.
With this grant, we worked closely with UNICEF, the World Health Organization (WHO), USAID, with African governments, and NGOs, including Pact, Catholic Relief Services and World Education. The team partnered with NGOs Clowns Without Borders South Africa and the Children’s Early Intervention Trust in Wales to support programme adaptation, enable training and supervision of 1,200 facilitators globally delivering the programme, as well as collaborate on monitoring of the implementation.
These programmes are now endorsed by the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children and USAID. The child and adolescent versions are freely available on the WHO and UNICEF websites. The programmes are being delivered in Cameroon, Cote D’Ivoire, the Czech Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Eswatini, Haiti, India, Kenya, Lesotho, Macedonia, Malawi, Moldova, Montenegro, the Philippines, Romania, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania, Thailand, Uganda and Zimbabwe. Through this Proof of Concept Grant, we have been able to move from demonstrated effectiveness to global scale.
