Mothers’ connectivity gain, agency, and behavioral changes from their involvement in children’s distance learning program

The intervention was a 15-week distance educational intervention included three elementary educational modules – literacy, numeracy, and leadership – divided into 75 audio lessons, with each lesson lasting between 16 and 18 minutes. Mothers accessed these pre-recorded audio lessons via Interactive Voice Response (IVR) by dialing a toll-free number. The audio lessons featured pre-recorded conversations among four characters: two teachers and two students. During the conversations, students were asked to do some activities according to the teachers’ instructions, such as clapping, standing up, counting, and making plans. The teachers used regular pauses and cues, as well as playing music and songs during the recorded lessons to assist the children in completing similar tasks with the help of their mothers. Overall, these modules were developed to supplement the national curriculum and support learning in household settings during the pandemic led school closure.

2021-05-29

2021-10-14

This study aims to assess the long-term spillover effects of providing educational contents to children via mothers using low-tech, highly accessible mobile technology. We will assess whether this intervention enhances women’s connectivity over time, agency, gender attitude and leading to increased empowerment. The primary outcomes are -

Digital Connectivity: The Digital Connectivity will quantify the extent of household access to digital technologies among rural Bangladeshi mothers, reflecting their potential for digital engagement in low-resource settings.

Agency: By following Kabeer (1999), we conceptualize mothers’ agency through a process through which the mothers make strategic decisions, exert control over their material, human and social resources, and move with freedom, particularly in ways related to their children’s education and their digital connectivity, which is largely restricted by several socio-cultural norms in Bangladeshi society.

Gender Attitude Index (GAI): Gender Attitude Index (GAI), an indicator of social norm, will be measured following the method outlined by Dhar et al. (2022). It is designed to capture attitudes towards gender roles, embracing the conception of equality and the more patriarchal concept.

Digital Literacy Transfer Index (DLTI): Digital Literacy Transfer Index measures the degree to which mothers introduce newly acquired digital competencies to other family members, particularly children, focusing on their behavioral shifts and role as agents of new technologies within households.

Economic Empowerment: Economic Empowerment will be measured in light of the Five Domains of Empowerment (5DE) framework from the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI), which assesses empowerment across five key domains: Production, Resources, Income, Leadership, and Time.

Children’s educational status: Educational status of the children will be measured to identify whether there is any gender heterogeneity after receiving tech-based distance learning in the long run. We will measure this by using survey questions and a brief assessment test.

Homeschooling: Homeschooling by mothers will be assessed through a series of survey questions designed to capture various aspects of their involvement in their children’s education. These questions will explore the amount of time mothers invest in teaching their children at home, the types of educational activities they engage in, the frequency and duration of these activities.

Educational Aspirations for Children: Educational aspirations will be assessed based on the academic and professional goals that mothers establish for their children, in accordance with theoretical frameworks on maternal education’s influence on child development (Behrman et al., 1999) and sociocultural factors shaping parental aspirations (Yamamoto and Holloway, 2010).

We will use original sampling design where 90 villages were randomly selected from a list of 140 villages (out of 223 villages from ECD program) and each of the 90 participating villages randomly distributed into one of three groups, i.e., Standard group, Extended group, and Control group (Wang et al., 2024). However, for this study, we merged these two treatment groups into one as mothers from both treatment groups received similar intervention.

Study participants: Participants of the IVR program by Wang et al. (2024) were recruited in early 2021 from a list of households previously involved in Global Development & Research Initiative Foundation (GDRI)’s pre-pandemic early childhood development project (hereinafter, ECD program). ECD program introduces and evaluates alternative models of early childhood interventions—traditional kindergarten and home visits—that can be effectively scaled for implementation. A large-scale randomized controlled trial (RCT) was conducted in rural communities to assess the efficacy of three approaches: a preschool program, the program combined with a parent academy, and the program integrated with home visits. The first intervention established a preschool program, the second included weekly home visits by teachers or caregivers to facilitate parent-child interactions and enhance the home learning environment, and the third combined the preschool program with home visits. The research involved around 7,000 children from 223 villages in southwestern Bangladesh. ECD program’s endline was completed in early 2019. Many children who were involved in ECD program were in primary school in early 2021, making them suitable candidates for IVR intervention.

Participant recruitment process: In early 2021, a subsample of villages for IVR intervention were identified from 223 villages with prior participation in ECD program. GDRI, as the partner organization for IVR program, provided this village list. Crucially, GDRI was instructed to restrict the list of eligible households in these villages that: (a) had active phone numbers and 1-4 graders; (b) were initially willing to participate; and (c) were not involved in any interventions during the Covid-19 pandemic. Due to budget constraints, 90 villages were selected and then randomized into one of two treatments (i.e., Standard and Extended treatments) and a control group. Anticipating potential attrition, a rapid baseline survey was conducted for approximately 2,400 eligible participants. Within each village, eligible households were randomly selected. This step narrowed the sample down to approximately 1,900 households. Some further attrition occurred after before the intervention began. The final sample included 596 participants in the Standard treatment group, 586 in the Extended treatment group, and 581 in the control group.

Randomization is done using STATA randomization package in personal computer.

Village

Yes

90 villages

1763 children-mother dyads

Treatment: T1: Standard (30 villages; n=596) + T2: Extended (30 villages; n=586)
Control: Control (30 villages; n=581)