OneSky for all children

Describe the product or program that is the focus of your proposed LEAP project.

OneSky for all children trains communities and caregivers to provide nurturing, responsive care and early education to vulnerable young children so that they can thrive. OneSky was founded in 1998 to improve the lives of children in China’s welfare institutions. In 2011, OneSky was invited by China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs to train every child welfare worker in the country to implement our evidence-based approach. The OneSky approach to learning has reached every province of China and now beyond to benefit marginalized children in low-resource settings across Asia. Over 20+ years, and always in partnership with government and local communities, OneSky has trained 75,878 caregivers to improve outcomes for more than 274,521 children in mainland China, Vietnam, Mongolia and Hong Kong SAR.

Currently, expanding the home-based childcare provider program in Vietnam, OneSky plans to deliver quality play-based early learning, responsive care, nutrition, child safeguarding, and mindfulness and mental health concepts through caregiver training. OneSky is partnering with the Vietnamese government, IDinsight, and local collaborators to build a holistic training model so that all children in home-based childcare across Vietnam can flourish starting in their formative early years.

Who is the target beneficiary?

Our target beneficiary for this proposed LEAP project are adult home-based childcare (HBC) providers and the children in their care that are aged 2 to 6 years old in Vietnam’s Industrial Zones.  

According to UNICEF, 52% of Vietnamese children in the poorest quintile are not receiving the early stimulation and responsive care they need to prosper (UNICEF, 2021).  Public kindergartens are not open to migrant children who lack local residency status and private preschools are too costly. However, an emerging HBC industry led by local, entrepreneurial women has demonstrated great promise, but it does not yet meet the massive demand and is of variable quality due to lack of training, resources, and support. In the region, millions of families are facing a childcare crisis against the backdrop of climate change, rapid urbanization, and migration. In Vietnam alone, the government calculates there are 618,652 children in 17,042 HBCs nationwide, with a rapidly growing need for increased access to quality childcare in Industrial Zones. And in Vietnam’s apparel, garment, and textile manufacturing industry, the number of low-wage factory workers in Industrial Zones, already forced below the poverty line by the COVID-19 crisis, is expected to double due to 14-28 percent income losses. All of this, with the addition of the COVID-19 pandemic, has placed added stressors on families and home-based care providers, which undoubtedly has an impact on the children. 

What problem are you committed to solving?

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic and the added stressors it has exposed and exacerbated, we aim to adapt our current curricular program to include mindfulness training as an essential part of OneSky’s Early Childhood Training for Caregivers. Through a mindfulness practice, home-based care providers can begin to respond to mental health struggles positively with care and compassion for themselves and the child. This training will also be inclusive of childcare providers, as well as other relevant home-based care staff and, eventually parents, so that they too may learn how to improve their own well-being and maintain a strong, yet sensitive and affirmative relationship with each child in their care. 

Mindfulness has been defined as “maintaining a moment-by-moment awareness of our thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and surrounding environment, through a gentle, nurturing lens,” (The Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkeley, 2022).  Mindfulness interventions have proven to help facilitate positive benefits for young children and their caretakers in relation to focus, attention, and well-being for those who practice them appropriately and supports the fostering of secure attachments between children and adults (Meins, 2013). The implementation of mindfulness practice is growing across many settings – from health to schools to child welfare, and has taken on a much more critical function due the COVID-19 pandemic. While most current research demonstrates how mindfulness can benefit school-aged children, there is less documentation focused on how it benefits children aged two to six and their caregivers. However, a few studies that do exist have consistently shown results that demonstrate advantages for both the adults and the young children they care for.

We aim to explore this notion by evaluating which evidence-based mindfulness practices for caregivers, parents, and other caregiving adults (i.e., grandparents, family members, etc.) are most beneficial for the mental health of adults, infants, and young children. We want to delve into how nuanced mindfulness training for these specific caretakers in Vietnam’s Industrial Zones can work to reduce stress, sharpen attention, and improve the overall quality of adult-child relationships. 

Additionally, we aim to examine how dyadic work, or trainings led by a OneSky instructor for caregivers, and offered on a regular basis with music and movement, can be incorporated within our present curriculum--introducing anatomy and breathwork--with children and their caretakers, to benefit physical, cognitive, and social-emotional health and development.

We are proposing that mindfulness training and practice be offered to staff, caregivers and children aged two to six, in an effort to promote positive mental health and better child learning and social-emotional outcomes.

How does your product or program bridge learning gaps for underserved children ages 2-12?

Mindfulness interventions for caregivers of young children offer promise in helping adults become more sensitive and attuned caretakers (Meins, 2013). Participants have reported enhanced self-regulation, thus allowing them to better assist children in recognizing and learning to manage their own strong emotions (Ortiz & Sibinga, 2017). Through mindfulness practice, adults can learn to acknowledge difficulties without immediately reacting. They learn to honor the child’s perspective and respond with care and compassion. 

Additionally, at an early age, young children are introduced to ways of incorporating mindfulness concepts which, in turn, can assist them in mitigating trauma, reducing chronic trauma symptoms and enhancing social-emotional, cognitive, and behavioral development (Ortiz & Sibinga, 2017).  OneSky’s proposed LEAP project incorporating mindfulness hopes to assist in bridging any of these learning gaps that are currently present, while also preventing others from occurring through consistent practice and application.

References:

The Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkeley. (2022). Mindfulness Definition | What Is Mindfulness. Greater Good. https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/topic/mindfulness/definition#why_practice

Meins, E. (2013). Sensitive attunement to infants’ internal states: Operationalizing the construct of mind-mindedness, Attachment & Human Development, 15(5-6), 524–544, doi:10.1080/14616734.2013.830388

Ortiz, R., & Sibinga, E. (2017). The role of mindfulness in reducing theadverse effects of childhood stress and trauma. Children, 4(3), 16. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/ PMC5368427

UNICEF. (December 2021). SOWC 2021 - dashboard and tables. UNICEF DATA.  https://data.unicef.org/resources/sowc-2021-dashboard-and-tables/

World Bank (2020).East Asia and the Pacific in the time of COVID-19 – Regional Economic Update. 

OneSky has actively pursued input from the populations we serve by building communities of practice and soliciting grassroots guidance from HBC providers.  We amplify the confidence, voices, and competencies of local women as skilled, respected childcare professionals in their communities. Our team in Vietnam also attends and arranges local, regional, and national forums and exchanges to lift up the important work and impact of HBCs as well as engage key stakeholders including Vietnam’s Ministry of Education and Training (MOET), Department of Education and Training (DOET), Research and Training Center for Community Development (RTCCD), Vietnam’s National Assembly, government policy think tanks like the Vietnam Institute of Educational Sciences, women’s and trade unions, community organizations, private sector actors, chambers of commerce, and international partners like Harvard University, incorporating additional perspectives and collaborations from the broader ecosystem. 

We are building shared ownership to co-design and integrate our approach to working with this population in an effort to address the most pertinent needs of the community, which includes mental health and well-being for children and caregivers.

Our program’s theory of change is bolstered by the global research along with specific evidence validated by an impact evaluation from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and RTCCD.  In 2019-2020, the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and local Vietnamese partner RTCCD evaluated the impact of OneSky’s HBC training program, the first study of its kind on a childcare training program in Asia and the largest outside of high-income countries. The impact evaluation found that OneSky’s program has a positive, sustained impact on HBC quality, including the physical environment, caregiver-child interactions, inclusiveness, and support for early development and learning, with additional promising evidence on training spillover effects to other childcare staff.  Using the aforementioned as a guide, laying out our project’s pathway to impact and change, includes: (1.1) OneSky partnering with community and government partners to implement our evidence-based HBC training program for new and existing providers through (1.2) providing training of government trainers, technical assistance, supportive supervision, monitoring and digital tools to strengthen government capacity for scale and HBC systems change, (2.1) increasing the early childhood development knowledge and skills proficiency among HBC providers; (2.2) strengthening the delivery and monitoring of holistic nurturing care for children in HBCs via improved responsive caregiving, play-based early learning, nutrition, child safeguarding, parenting, and mindfulness; (3) ultimately increasing access to home-based childcare and improving the quality of HBCs, which (4) as demonstrated by the Harvard impact evaluation, can lead to the improved developmental outcomes of young children from Vietnam.

Based on Nesta’s Standards of Evidence, OneSky is currently at Level 4, as our program’s impact has been independently observed and evaluated by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and RTCCD and demonstrates that OneSky’s program has had a positive, sustained impact on HBC quality, including the physical environment, caregiver-child interactions, inclusiveness, and support for early development and learning, with additional promising evidence on training spillover effects to other childcare staff.  

Additionally, OneSky has directly implemented and replicated the program in 4 provinces of Vietnam, with standardized delivery and processes, and is set to begin to test replication of the program through a training-of-trainers partnership with Planète Enfantes Développement (PED), a non-governmental organization that “works in partnership with other local populations and actors to guarantee the relevance of projects, their autonomy and their impact…[seeking] efficiency and results, while being in a process of permanent progress, ” (Planète Enfantes Développement, 2022).  This will commence by OneSky  providing training to PED trainers who will in turn equip home-based childcare providers with the sufficient knowledge and skills to provide responsive care to the children of migrant workers in Vietnam’s Industrial Zones, providing them with an opportunity to reach their full potential within the realm of early childhood using OneSky’s proven methodologies. 

Reference

Planète Enfantes Développement. (October 2021). PE&D, association for children at risk. https://planete-eed.org/en/dis...

OneSky is combining both rigorous external evaluation and internal monitoring data systems to support rapid-cycle learning that improves program quality at scale. This flexible, nimble monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) architecture creates feedback loops for frontline curriculum trainers so they can be more responsive to the emerging needs on the ground, feedback from HBC providers and local stakeholders, and live program performance metrics. We continue to develop and refine our internal monitoring tools to ensure program fidelity and improvement. By digitizing data collection using the KoBoToolbox app – which functions offline on trainer tablets – and conducting data analysis and visualization through indicator reports on Tableau, program staff can quickly monitor progress using our tested assessments including training attendance logs, HBC provider surveys conducted at pre-, mid- and end-point to measure training satisfaction and impact, HBC site visit checklists used by trainers to assess childcare quality, master trainer observation assessments of trainers in site visits and classroom performance, Google Analytics usage metrics for the OneSky’s 1BigFamily online platform, and more. Key indicators include improvement in HBC providers’ knowledge, attitudes, and practice through measures such as trainer assessments during HBC visits of positive, nurturing caregiver-child interactions, increased time spent by providers having conversations, singing, reading or playing with children, and more. With additional research and discussion, new tools and indicators relating to mindfulness and well-being can be integrated into OneSky’s existing MEL system. 

Additionally, OneSky is currently partnering with IDinsight to strengthen OneSky’s data flows and MEL systems through new tools such as  trainer-level data dashboards to ensure and grow impact at scale. IDinsight will continue to be a key technical partner for monitoring support and phase-wise external evaluations with local partners like RTCCD. Together, we will advise government on MEL, embed our monitoring tools to support government trainers, and implement evaluations plus a new Randomized Control Trial on the government-led model of our program.

Integrating mindfulness-based concepts and interventions to Home-Based Childcare training in Vietnam to better support caregivers and children in Industrial Zones.

Use this section to clearly and fully explain how your product, program, or business model would be strengthened by integrating evidence into your theory of change. 

Integrating evidence of the benefits and supports that mindfulness training can provide home-based care providers and the children in their care in Vietnam’s Industrial Zones would further strengthen OneSky’s theory of change by enhancing our approach to responsive caregiving within these communities.  With supporting evidence, mindfulness and mindfulness-based interventions will be intertwined into OneSky’s curricular training and positively impact caregiver and child outcomes.  This will serve as an exemplar when expanding this training to other Southeast Asian countries. 

What research question would LEAP Fellows help you to answer?

We would like LEAP Fellows assist us in answering the following:

In what specific ways can mindfulness practices be best used to support and maintain caregiver and early childhood mental health in Vietnam’s home-based childcare centers within the country’s Industrial Zones?  How can we extend this reach to families and other supportive caregivers?

What potential deliverables would be useful to your organization as outputs of the LEAP sprint? 

Light research in evidence-based mindfulness concepts and assessment tools that would be most beneficial for our Vietnamese home-based caregiver communities that highlight the following would be useful to OneSky as an output of the LEAP sprint:

1. Examination and analysis of how dispositional mindfulness (one’s awareness of their thoughts and feelings in the moment) relates to caregiver/parental practices with children in care

2. Global case studies and connections with organizations, best practices, and tools relating to mindfulness for early childhood caregivers

3. Analysis of which concepts best promote compassion for Oneself and the Child(ren) in Vietnamese Industrial Zones and HBCs

4. Analysis of which concepts best teach emotional awareness for Oneself and the Child(ren) in Vietnamese Industrial Zones and HBCs

5. Analysis of which approaches help shift the home-based care environment and culture to better support mindfulness practice

6. Analysis of which approaches help enhance the home environment to better support mindfulness in parents

7. Indicators and measurement tools/assessments for caregiver and child mental health/well-being.

What would the successful outcome of this project allow you to achieve? 

Through this project OneSky hopes to achieve marked improvements and refinement in holistic childcare quality in HBCs and ultimately improve child development outcomes via working with home-based caregivers in Vietnam on enacting mindfulness principles as a part of their daily practice routines.  This will set the model for mindfulness training as OneSky expands throughout the region.

How would hosting a LEAP project enhance your organization’s 5-year plan?  

Hosting this LEAP project will better equip OneSky with the evidence-based research and knowledge to successfully plan and implement mindfulness and mental health training.  In Vietnam, we are continuing to build a coalition of champions, partners, and collaborators, both inside and outside of the government, to generate greater demand for childcare access and scaling. We are also working to codify the OneSky curricular approach and model into the national policy and guidance to address the broader political commitment and public financing challenges in this window of opportunity during COVID-19 recovery. Further, we are collaborating and aligning with the childcare advocacy agendas of global and regional networks like the Early Childhood Development Action Network (ECDAN), the World Bank, and the Asia-Pacific Regional Network for Early Childhood (ARNEC) to make the case directly to the highest levels of government across Southeast Asia. Incorporating this project into the aforementioned endeavors will assist OneSky in boosting mindfulness and mental health awareness as critical to childcare support in Vietnam and beyond.