Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the University has announced that parenting experts at the University’s Global Parenting Initiative (GPI) have been working “around the clock” in collaboration with international colleagues to produce “easy-to-use” parenting guidance that are released on social media for families experiencing the current crisis.
According to the press release from the University, the parenting guidance is “open source” and is “for anyone caring for a child”. The initiative is “based on evidence-based research” and sponsored by several international organizations and charities, including the WHO and UNICEF. It acknowledges that “caring for children during conflict, when escaping conflict…is incredibly difficult” with normality significantly disrupted, violence pervasive and bereavement, separation from family and victimization commonplace. As such, it wishes to provide an accessible but “limited set of tips” for parents and caregivers affected by the war, including concrete recommendations on “help your child cope with crisis”, “helping our children when someone we love dies” and “building your child’s strength in a crisis.”
The Global Parenting Initiative (GPI) is designed as a foundation for “sustained and institutionalised delivery of evidence-based human-digital playful parenting interventions at scale in the Global South”, according to its website. Conducting studies in South Africa, Malaysia, Philippines, Tanzania, Thailand, and Uganda, it aims to “prevent physical, sexual and emotional violence against children, and improve playful parenting and child development and educational outcomes”.
The decision to provide parenting guidance in response to the situation in Ukraine follows the success of the University’s COVID-19 parenting guidance, which has been “some 210 million times”.
The guidance is now available in English, Ukrainian and Russian. The GPI team is also looking for people who can translate the guidance into other languages including Romanian, Bulgarian, Hungarian, Polish, Solvak, German and Belarusian. Those who are interested in assisting with the translation can reach out to Kathleen Murphy (kathleen.murphy@gtc.ox.ac.uk) or Christina Steele (christina.steele@sant.ox.ac.uk).
More information on the guidance can also be accessed through the links listed below.
Parenting guidance in Ukrainian
Image Description: Global Parenting Initiative Parenting Guidance
