Themetic: Early Childhood Development and Education
Partner: Development Media International Associates (CIC)
In Burkina Faso, Dubai Cares supported a pioneering research initiative titled “Capitalising on Mass Media to Improve Early Childhood Development”, aimed at exploring how radio can influence caregiver behaviours that support early learning in low-resource settings. Delivered by Development Media International Associates (CIC), the study laid the foundation for a scalable ECD radio campaign.
The research included a nationwide survey of 960 mothers of children aged 0–3, alongside focus groups with mothers, fathers, and grandmothers. These efforts mapped current caregiving practices and gauged openness to improved interactions. The findings revealed critical gaps in age-appropriate stimulation, such as storytelling, singing, and drawing and offered insights to shape content, scheduling, and audience segmentation.
The results were published in BMJ Global Health (2019) and Global Health Action (2020), and featured in Dubai Cares’ Evidence Dossier, contributing to the global evidence base on media-driven ECD behaviour change. These insights informed the design of DMI’s subsequent SUNRISE cluster RCT, conducted with academic partners LSHTM, UCL, and IPA, and helped catalyse further investment in cost-effective, scalable solutions for early childhood development.