Family and Childhood Development: A nationally representative longitudinal cohort study in a developing country setting

The central objective of our project is to build a network of researchers that can assist governmental and non-governmental agencies in low-income countries in the design of cost-effective and scalable interventions that yield sustainable and long lasting impacts on children’s quality of life.

We propose to start an ambitious, nationally representative longitudinal cohort study following 3,240 families in 180 communities across 10 districts and 5 regions in mainland Tanzania.

The longitudinal study will be complemented by a Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) on the effectiveness of an innovative home visiting intervention supporting community health workers with a digital tool (an App), targeting pregnant women and their infants once born.

We will build on the team’s vast experience in designing and evaluating interventions and using novel measurement tools, some of which have recently been developed and validated through a pilot study in Tanzania.

We will recruit the cohort in-utero, follow them until the age of 3 and measure both longitudinal patterns of child development and the environment in which they grow.

We will use the rich data and measures to build models that will help achieve a better understanding of the critical stages and determinants of the child’s life skills and capabilities, with a particular focus on parental behavior, the local environment and the interactions between these two.