Intervention(s)
The intervention consists of 30 weeks (3 sessions of 30 minutes per week) of the curriculum Think Equal that includes teacher guides, books, and lesson plans to provide socio-emotional education to children aged 3-5. In particular, inter-and intra-personal competencies of empathy, inclusion, compassion, problem-solving, critical thinking, collaboration, emotional regulation, generosity, advocating and caring for others. Our implementing partner Fundación Escuela Nueva (FEN) is in charge of adapting and translating this program to the Colombian context and training the childcare staff (community mothers) so that they can provide the program directly to the children that attend the public community nurseries (HCB) managed by the Colombian family welfare institute (ICBF). Given that some of the nurseries will not be fully open by the time the intervention is implemented, FEN adapts the curriculum to alternate between in-person and remote instruction. This includes strategies such as sending materials through WhatsApp and involving caretakers to participate in the activities.
With this in mind, we will conduct a cluster randomized trial at the HCB level. Approximately 366 HCBs will be randomly assigned into two groups. We will collect data from children, caretakers and community mothers in two moments: recruitment-baseline and endline.
In this study we evaluate the effects on self esteem, self awareness, emotions management, oneself motivation and empathy, of Think Equal’s curriculum which provides socio-emotional education to children aged 3-6.