Particip, an independent internationally recognized consultancy based in Germany, and PALM Consulting Limited collaborated and carried out the assessment and mapping of CBCCs in Nsanje, Chikwawa, Mulanje and Zomba in southern Malawi. This project was commissioned by UNICEF Malawi and the Ministry of Gender, Community Development and Social Welfare. In this project the responsibilities of Particip and PALM Consulting Limited included:
Mapping and assessment of the functionality of CBCCs across the four districts based on government minimum standards.
Mapping the existing human resource that deliver early learning and stimulation interventions at community levels (community cadres, CBCC caregivers, CBCC committees).
Determining the number of children segregated by age and gender accessing the service in existing CBCCs.
Determining the quality of CBCC services in terms of early learning and stimulation, caregivers’ skills and qualifications, existence of functional CBCC committee, play and learning materials (including outdoor play equipment), transition to early primary school, sources of clean waters, provision of school meals, gardens, and other critical amenities.
Mapping the linkages of CBCCs with other existing services that complement ECD/early learning and stimulation interventions in the sectors of nutrition, health, education, WASH and child protection.
Developing a database encompassing all indicators collected during the assessment.
Identifying the areas of need for each/all CBCCs and prioritize interventions needed to achieve ECD goals and targets.
In this Project, PALM Consulting Limited contributed to the development of the Proposal to UNICEF, hired, trained and supervised enumerators who collected data from CBCCs and both Patrticip and PALM Consulting compiled a report which was submitted to UNICEF and Ministry of Gender, Community Development and Social Welfare. This study utilized a mixed methods approach where both qualitative and quantitative data was collected. A CBCC and a caregiver questionnaire will be used to collect quantitative data while key informant interviews were conducted with District Social Welfare Officers/NGO staff involved in managing CBCCs. In-depth interviews were also conducted with caregivers in CBCCs to determine the challenges they experience and how these can best be addressed. The District Social Welfare Office(r) (DSWO) in the target districts was our point of entry who provided a list of existing CBCCs in the district. This list included the name of the CBCC and location [TA, village and contacts of caregivers]. Each CBCC was visited and snowballing was used to identity other CBCCs in the district.
Sample size: 2,236 CBCCs and 1,828 were functional