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General

Study Overview

Title:

Impact Evaluation of Pashe Achhi: A Telecommunication Model for Children and Caregivers in North Bengal, Bangladesh

Study is 3ie funded:

No

Study ID:

RIDIE-STUDY-ID-662be80166f79

Initial Registration Date:

04/26/2024

Last Update Date:

11/24/2023

Study Status:

Ongoing

Location(s):

Bangladesh

Abstract:

“Pashe Achhi” (Beside you in Bangla) is a low-cost, low-tech tele-communication model which had been developed by the BRAC Institute of Educational Development (BRAC IED) in May 2020 during COVID-19 to address the early childhood development and psycho-social need of the 0-5 years old children and mental wellbeing of the caregivers. This is a highly adaptable and rapidly scalable low-tech model which integrates psychosocial support with learning through play in the curriculum while prioritising safety of the children. The model consists of 20-minute weekly phone call by the facilitators to the caregivers and children and these 20 minutes call duration consists of 10-minute tele-counselling and 10-minute tele-learning components which include topics such as self-care, child stimulation, play-based learning, COVID-19 safety, awareness, etc. Initial experiences of the effectiveness of this model during COVID-19 lockdown is proving to be appropriate for connecting with families and a psychosocial service model for children and caregivers that are not face-to-face is urgently needed. This kind of model has the potential to be utilised in a possible similar crisis situation in the future and can greatly benefit a severely marginalised segment of the population by promoting their children’s optimal development. The main objective of this research is to test whether this remotely delivered and distantly operated ECD service model Pashe Achhi is an effective intervention for cognitive and socio-emotional development of the children and for the improvement of mental health of the caregivers who are living in ultra-poor and vulnerable communities.

Registration Citation:

Khan, M.S. (2023). Impact Evaluation of Pashe Achhi: A Telecommunication Model for Children and Caregivers in North Bengal, Bangladesh  

Categories:

Education
Health, Nutrition, and Population

Additional Keywords:

model development, mobile phone, tele-learning, psychosocial support, ultra-poor household

Secondary ID Number(s):

IRB-7 May'23-017

Principal Investigator(s)

Name of First PI:

Mohammad Safayet Khan

Affiliation:

BRAC Institute of Educational Development, Bangladesh & University of Canterbury, New Zealand

Name of Second PI:

Affiliation:

Research Partner

Name of Partner Institution:

School of Educational Studies and Leadership, University of Canterbury

Location:

New Zealand

Intervention

Intervention Overview

Intervention:

Pashe Achhi (“Beside You” in Bangla) is a low-cost, low-tech tele-communication model, which had been developed by the BRAC Institute of Educational Development (BRAC IED) in May 2020 during COVID-19 to address the early childhood development and psycho-social needs of the 0-5 years old children and mental wellbeing of the caregivers. This is a highly adaptable and rapidly scalable low-tech model which integrates psycho-social support with learning through play in the curriculum while prioritising safety of the children. The definitions of low-tech are diverse but for my thesis I consider this a technology which requires low knowledge transfer costs incurred to understand them such as a mobile phone. The model consists of 20-minute weekly phone calls by the facilitators to the caregivers who are mainly the mothers and 0-5 aged children. These 20-minute calls consist of 10-minutes tele-counselling and 10-minutes tele-learning components, which include self-care, child stimulation, play-based learning, COVID-19 safety, awareness etc. The participants in this research are ultra-poor caregivers and their children on which the Pashe Achhi intervention will be tested and compared with the control group of caregivers and children to find out improved mental wellbeing of the parents and improved cognitive and social emotional development of the children. In this research the Pashe Achhi intervention will be delivered by the trained facilitators and the impact of the intervention will be measured at the facilitators, caregivers and children level. The main frontline worker of implementing this project is the Pashe Achhi Facilitators (PAFs) who would call the families and children every week over mobile phones to engage in 20-minutes conversations for six consecutive months.

Theory of Change:

Pashe Achhi (“Beside You” in Bangla) is a low-cost, low-tech tele-communication model, which had been developed by the BRAC Institute of Educational Development (BRAC IED) in May 2020 during COVID-19 to address the early childhood development and psycho-social needs of the 0-5 years old children and mental wellbeing of the caregivers. This is a highly adaptable and rapidly scalable low-tech model which integrates psycho-social support with learning through play in the curriculum while prioritising safety of the children. The model consists of 20-minute weekly phone calls by the facilitators to the caregivers and children. These 20-minute calls consist of 10-minutes tele-counselling and 10-minutes tele-learning components, which include self-care, child stimulation, play-based learning, COVID-19 safety, awareness etc.The Theory of Change in this model consists of inputs which is this remotely delivered and distantly operated ECD service model called Pashe Achhi and the activities icludes an effective intervention and execution of this model by maintaining call fidelity which is refective in the ouput level such as number of call received by the caregivers and children etc. and finally the outcome of the intervention such as cognitive and socio-emotional development of the children and improvement of mental health and psycho-social development of the caregivers who are living in ultra-poor and vulnerable communities.

Multiple Treatment Arms Evaluated?

Yes

Implementing Agency

Name of Organization:

BRAC Institute of Educational Development

Type of Organization:

Research Institution/University

Program Funder

Name of Organization:

Porticus & Yidan Family Foundation

Type of Organization:

NGO (International)

Intervention Timing

Intervention or Program Started at time of Registration?

Yes

Start Date:

06/01/2023

End Date:

Evaluation Method

Evaluation Method Overview

Primary (or First) Evaluation Method:

Randomized control trial

Other (not Listed) Method:

Additional Evaluation Method (If Any):

Difference in difference/fixed effects

Other (not Listed) Method:

Method Details

Details of Evaluation Approach:

I will use quantitative approach in this research to understand the effectiveness of the Pashe Achhi intervention on the reduction of distress and improvement of self-esteem among the caregivers which would ultimately influence the overall cognitive and socio-emotional development of the children. Besides these, effectiveness of the core Pashe Achhi model with potential value addition by integrating the father engagement intervention will be evaluated to find any additional impact of the integrated program. This research intends to explore the impact of the base only intervention and the father engagement add-on separately based on two age-group of the children (0-2 years and 2-5 years). There would be two cells of beneficiaries (interventions) and a control group for each age group totalling three. The intervention cells are the base only (mother-child dyad), and the base plus father engagement intervention. Separate samples will be selected for each cell. Measurement on children’s cognitive and socio-emotional development and caregiver’s KAP on early childhood development and their distress and self-esteem level would be measured twice by using standardised scales- once at baseline and then at the endline. 

Outcomes (Endpoints):

The Pashe Achhi model was designed to improve the cognitive and socio-emotional development of the children. Therefore, the outcome variable to assess the success of the intervention is the increase of total cognitive development scores which are consisting of different domains of children’s cognitive development, such as physical, gross motor, fine motor, problem-solving, and personal-social in comparison with the scores of control group children. Other outcome variable of the children includes the socio-emotional development of the children. Besides these, caregiver distress and self-esteem are the two caregiver (parents) specific outcomes which will be measured.

Unit of Analysis:

cognitive and socio-emotional development of the children measured in scales and caregiver distress and self-esteem measured in 5-point likert scales

Hypotheses:

The following hypotheses will be tested in this study:

1. Whether remotely delivered and distantly operated ECD service model is an effective intervention for cognitive and psycho-social development of the children who are living in ultra-poor and vulnerable conditions

2. Whether an additional engagement of father in the model would have any effect on children and caregiver specific outcome

3. Is there any positive relationship between children’s cognitive and socio-emotional development and caregivers improved mental health?

Unit of Intervention or Assignment:

Exposure to 20-minute weekly Pashe Achhi phone call for 6 months (24 calls) and its impact on caregiver's mental health and children's cognitive and socio-emotional development

Number of Clusters in Sample:

There will be two age groups of children 0-2 years and 2-5 years

Number of Individuals in Sample:

The total sample size for quantitative survey would be 834

Size of Treatment, Control, or Comparison Subsamples:

There will be two treatment arms (base only treatment arm with mother child dyad and base only plus father engagement treatment arm) and a control group for each age group which constitutes 6 cells

Supplementary Files

Analysis Plan:

Other Documents:

Data

Outcomes Data

Description:

The study will follow an in-person data collection process, so the consents of the participants would be taken orally as well as written signatures or fingerprints (where necessary) will be taken from them in the consent form. The field research assistants would read out a written document or consent form to them. After that if they agreed to talk, then the data would be taken from them as the participation is voluntary in this study.

Data Already Collected?

No

Data Previously Used?

Data Access:

Data Obtained by the Study Researchers?

Data Approval Process:

Approval Status:

Treatment Assignment Data

Participation or Assignment Information:

Yes

Description:

Data Obtained by the Study Researchers?

Data Previously Used?

Data Access:

Data Obtained by the Study Researchers?

Data Approval Process:

Approval Status:

Data Analysis

Data Analysis Status:

Study Materials

Upload Study Materials:

Registration Category

Registration Category:

Prospective, Category 1: Data for measuring impacts have not been collected

Completion

Completion Overview

Intervention Completion Date:

Data Collection Completion Date:

Unit of Analysis:

Clusters in Final Sample:

Total Observations in Final Sample:

Size of Treatment, Control, or Comparison Subsamples:

Findings

Preliminary Report:

Preliminary Report URL:

Summary of Findings:

Paper:

Paper Summary:

Paper Citation:

Data Availability

Data Availability (Primary Data):

Date of Data Availability:

Data URL or Contact:

Access procedure:

Other Materials

Survey:

Survey Instrument Links or Contact:

Program Files:

Program Files Links or Contact:

External Link:

External Link Description:

Description of Changes:

Study Stopped

Date:

Reason: