The Economist: Family Planners, Enforcing with a Smile

An article in The Economist published on January 10th, 2015, explores the new direction taken by China's National Health and Family Planning Commission, focusing in particular on REAP's Parenting Program as a part of this shift.

REAP's previous work on baby nutrition revealed that rural babies in China are underperforming in terms of cognitive development, particularly in verbal portions of cognition tests. The qualitative research we conducted as part of our baby nutrition project suggests that the developmental delays we have observed in rural babies may be excacerbated by the lack of interaction they typically receive from their caregivers or parents--only 5% of parents tell stories to their babies, and only 32% sing to them.

Therefore, REAP launched a Randomized Controlled Trial aimed at determining whether cognition scores improve among children whose parents receive training sessions on how to better engage their children on a day-to-day basis. REAP enlisted our partners at China's National Health and Family Planning Commission--formerly engaged in enforcing the One Child Policy--to help carry out the weekly one-on-one sessions between caregivers and trainers.