Transforming Lives in Rural Africa: A Scalable Approach
At ICS-SP Africa, we are committed to transforming the lives of children and their families in rural areas of Africa. As a subsidiary of ICS, we employ a unique, holistic approach to improve the well-being of vulnerable children, youth, and their parents. Our methodology focuses on economic strengthening, skilful parenting, and social support. By increasing family income and enhancing parenting skills and confidence, we create significant positive changes in family dynamics and child well-being. Our approach integrates public, private, and non-profit efforts to establish a scalable model for rural African communities.
Economic Strengthening through Social Enterprises
The backbone of ICS’s economic activities in East Africa includes two social enterprises: Agrics and Alizetics. Agrics provides smallholder farmers with quality agricultural inputs on credit, training in modern agronomic practices, and additional services like land preparation traction. Alizetics ensures a transparent market for the farmers’ produce. This combination of products, services, and market linkage boosts smallholder farmers’ yields and incomes.
Skilful Parenting for Community Development
ICS-SP collaborates with these farmers through the Skilful Parenting programme, a 12-week, group-based initiative tailored for rural Africa. The programme aims to enhance parental competence, well-being, and social support, ultimately benefiting children’s development and welfare. Guided by a local facilitator trained and certified by ICS-SP, parents and caregivers of children aged 0-18 gather weekly to gain knowledge, reflect on their parenting styles, and share experiences. Age-specific topics, including early childhood development, are discussed throughout the sessions. Community awareness events complement the group sessions, encouraging local government collaboration on health, education, birth registration, and more.
Evidence-Based Impact
Both the Skilful Parenting programme and the Agrics business model have undergone rigorous evaluations, demonstrating their effectiveness in improving outcomes for vulnerable families. A University of Utrecht evaluation of the Skilful Parenting programme in Kenya found that participants felt more competent and experienced better communication with their spouses and children. Parents reported using less harsh discipline and more positive methods. The University of Utrecht attributes these positive effects to the programme’s grounding in local culture, participatory approach, and focus on empowering parents.
An ongoing cluster RCT evaluation by the University of Oxford and a local research institute in Tanzania is examining the impact of combining Skilful Parenting with agribusiness on reducing child maltreatment and enhancing child well-being, with results expected by the end of 2016.
Ambition for Scale and Excellence
In the past four years, ICS has developed a sustainable agribusiness model and a context-specific parenting programme that operates at the community level. Agrics has grown from serving 1,000 smallholder clients to over 32,000 in 2016, while ICS-SP has reached over 15,000 parents with Skilful Parenting. We have also advocated for parenting support to be integrated into social services at local and national levels.
Our priority for the coming years is to scale this holistic approach across Africa while maintaining quality and operational excellence. By 2018, we aim to reach 100,000 smallholder farming families in East Africa with our combined model of Skilful Parenting and agribusiness. Building on a successful 2015 pilot project where government social workers were trained to deliver Skilful Parenting, we will expand our collaboration with governments to include these services in social welfare programs. Additionally, we plan to explore opportunities in other Anglophone African countries by partnering with social businesses and NGOs with economic strengthening initiatives.
Agrics is securing financing from impact investors to support this growth, while ICS is working with governments and donors to fund the Skilful Parenting scale-up. We also offer training and consultancy to organizations and social businesses globally to integrate Skilful Parenting into their programs. Looking ahead, we envision using part of Agrics’ profit to further implement Skilful Parenting.
At ICS-SP Africa, we are dedicated to creating sustainable, scalable solutions that improve the lives of children and families in rural Africa.