Jeong Research Group

Few parenting interventions have been designed with fathers in mind. Over the past two years, in partnership with the Tanzania Home Economics Organization-Mwanza, we have co-developed one of the first gender-transformative parenting programs focused on supporting fathers with young children. Our community-based parenting program engages both fathers and their partners and seeks to promote nurturing caregiving, couples’ relationships, caregiver mental health, and gender equality, all with the goal of holistically improving early childhood development. In late 2025, we will conduct a mixed-methods pilot cluster-randomized controlled trial to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and efficacy of our intervention delivered by community health workers on fathers, mothers, and young children in Mwanza Region, Tanzania. We hope our project findings will propel further development and evaluation of father-inclusive parenting interventions in global settings.

Parenting interventions can benefit early child development (ECD), but evidence from Kenya remains limited. Moments that Matter (MTM) is a parenting program by Episcopal Relief & Development aimed at improving ECD. In Kenya, MTM is being implemented in Nyamira and Vihiga Counties by Anglican Development Services, a local faith-based organization. MTM trains volunteer caregivers (ECD promoters) to deliver home visits and group sessions as well as faith leaders to promote nurturing care and ECD within their religious roles and communities. We are conducting a cluster-randomized controlled trial to assess the effectiveness of MTM on ECD and parenting-related outcomes and a mixed-methods process evaluation to explore factors influencing program fidelity, effectiveness, and scale-up. These findings will provide rigorous evidence on the impacts of MTM in rural Kenya and inform the potential of leveraging community volunteers in partnership with faith leaders as delivery agents for promoting ECD.

This project explores the potential of using existing community peer groups (e.g., self-help groups, microfinance groups), which are common social support networks for women in settings like rural settings, as a platform for delivering a parenting program. ChildFund Kenya is implementing a group-based parenting program that covers topics such as responsive caregiving, early learning, nutrition, health, safety and security, and caregiver mental health in Homabay and Busia Counties. We are conducting a cluster-randomized controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness of this program model on early child development, nurturing care practices, and caregiver mental health. Additionally, we are conducting a qualitative process evaluation to assess program fidelity, quality, and mechanisms of change. Ultimately, this research aims to provide valuable insights that can guide the scaling of this community-driven model to improve parenting and early child development in rural Kenya and other similar low-resource settings.