For USAID And LEGO Foundation, Strengthening Families Begins With Child’s Play

Partnership based on a shared mission

A little girl caresses her father’s face. As a participant in the Sugira Muryango project in Rubavu District, Rwanda, her father learns to encourage responsive interactions with her to promote healthy early childhood development. Sugira Muryango in English means “Family Strengthening.” / Karim Rateb

“I LEARNED SOMETHING VERY IMPORTANT FROM SUGIRA MURYANGO AND THAT IS HOW TO SET AN EXAMPLE FOR MY CHILDREN.”— Sugira Muryango Father

Thomas, a bright-eyed 3-year-old, counts the bottle caps stretched out before him on the earthen floor of his family’s home in the Rubavu district of Rwanda, as his parents watch and encourage him. More important than his success in mastering the art of counting, is the part his parents take in playing with their son, aware that by doing so, they are playing a vital role in his growth and development.

This is just one of the lessons the family has embraced in the Sugira Muryango (Family Strengthening) program, which USAID and the LEGO Foundation support in partnership with the Government of Rwanda, local non-governmental organization FXB Rwanda, Boston College/School of Social Work/Research Program on Children and Adversity (BC), and other donors, and which the partners are expanding to scale.

A young child learns to count using bottle caps as his mother looks on. / Karim Rateb

Sugira Muryango is a family strengthening intervention model that uses home visiting and coaching to encourage responsive parent-child interactions and discourage violence toward and harsh punishment of children, while promoting early child development (ECD) and changing caregivers’ behavior in vulnerable households. It focuses on ensuring all caregivers, including fathers, recognize the important role they play in raising their children.

Community-based volunteers (or Inshuti z’Umuryango), supported by Rwanda’s National ECD Program visit family households 90 minutes per week over four months. The sessions are designed for the whole family, and include facilitated play to increase the bonds between children and parents, and foster child development and family harmony.

Supporting families to protect their children, manage symptoms of trauma, and navigate household stress leads to better parenting, health-seeking behaviors and outcomes, and resilience, at the family and community levels. Such support also helps mitigate decisions by families under stress to send children to residential care or shelters to access services (food, health care, housing, and education).

“Building healthy families and improving parenting skills are consistent threads across our three strategic objectives,” said Rebecca Levy, USAID’s Acting U. S. Government Special Advisor on Children in Adversity. “Our commitment to Sugira Muryango illustrates our shared belief with the LEGO Foundation that combining healthy experiences in the earliest years of life with a nurturing environment is key to lifelong health, educational achievement, and productive communities.”

“The LEGO Foundation aims to build a future in which learning through play empowers all children to become creative, engaged, life-long learners. Parents are fundamental to that aim, as they play a critical role in their children’s development and learning from the day their children are born,” said Sarah Bouchie, LEGO Foundation’s Chief Impact Officer.

“WE DIDN’T KNOW HOW TO PREPARE A BALANCED MEAL AND GIVE THE CHILDREN A PROPER DIET. NOW WE HAVE A GARDEN WITH SPINACH AND PASSION FRUIT, AMONG OTHERS.” — Sugira Muryango Father

USAID began supporting the program in 2016. The LEGO Foundation joined in supporting Sugira Muryango in 2019 after successful early trials. Research indicated that families who participate in the Sugira Muryango programs:

• increased nurturing and responsive parent-child relationships, including engagement from fathers;

• increased dietary diversity and seeking health care;

• improved caregiver mental health; and

• decreased family violence.

Given the strong evidence from those previous pilots and recent testing, and a positive policy environment in Rwanda, where the government prioritizes strengthening support for ECD, the partners felt strongly about determining what it would take to bring this high-level intervention to scale.

A Community-based Child and Family Protection Volunteer (CBV) makes a toy during training. The Sugira Muryango Project trains CBVs to visit family households 90 minutes per week over 3 to 4 months. / Karim Rateb

“Early childhood development is a priority for the healthy growth of Rwandan children,” says Dr. Anita Asiimwe, Director-General of the National Child Development Agency of Rwanda, “Both fathers and mothers are the primary caregivers for this noble cause, which constitutes an opportune window for each and every child’s optimal development, and thus collectively building a strong human capital for our nation, and the world at large.”

Alongside USAID and other funders (ELMA Philanthropies, Echidna Giving, Oak Foundation, and Grand Challenges Canada), the LEGO Foundation, in partnership with the Government of Rwanda and FXB Rwanda, committed to funding the Boston team for three years (2019–2022) to expand the program to reach all families with a child up to 36 months old living in extreme poverty across three districts in Rwanda — approximately 10,000 families. Further study will investigate Sugira Muryango’s long-term impact on child development and parental behaviors and evaluate the intervention’s effects on older siblings.

“SINCE JOINING SUGIRA MURYANGO, MY DAUGHTER HAS LEARNED TO TALK. SHE CAN COUNT, PLAY, AND EXTEND HER ARMS WITH JOY.” — Sugira Muryango Mother

There is now an air of optimism and confidence in Thomas’s household. Receiving lessons on health and nutrition, including the father in his children’s upbringing, and understanding how to reduce violence in the home and engage children to play, learn, and grow have had a dramatic impact on this family.

Left: A mother from Nyanza District, Rwanda, plays ball with her son. Through active coaching sessions with a community-based child and family protection volunteer, mothers learn what constitutes a healthy diet for their children and how to interact with their children to support their healthy development. Right: A community-based child and family protection volunteer in Nyanza District teaches parents how to create a harmonious atmosphere within the family. / Karim Rateb

The expanded program will not only reach 10,000 families, but can lead to learning, innovation, and evidence to influence further play-based programs that support early child development among vulnerable families. Family home-visiting interventions like Sugira Muryango have an important role to play, especially when they can reach the most vulnerable children and their families.

Ultimately, the purpose of Sugira Muryango is to encourage families to be change agents in their own lives. Through education, skill building, and creative problem solving, we are helping families and children develop the knowledge needed to secure their own livelihoods and create a better future.

About the Author

Suzie Galler is a visual storyteller and strategic communications consultant to the Advancing Protection and Care for Children in Adversity interagency partnership. An award-winning documentary filmmaker, Suzie has put her production and communications skills to work for the international development community, producing videos, events, and publications for USAID.