Education and Support for Positive Parenting Erasmus Project

Project Title

Education and Support for Positive Parenting

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for adult education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2019

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: ICT – new technologies – digital competences; Health and wellbeing; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses

Project Summary

Overall project goal is increasing parental competences by establishing a more comprehensive “from expecting to growing” model of parent-support grounded on the principles of informed decision-making and positive parenting, educating and supporting parents from pregnancy through the first three years of parenting. This idea and need came from parents, participants and users, of continuous partners’ activities and outputs and from a previous Erasmus+ project for expecting parents 3P+.
Namely, parents from partners countries (Croatia, Slovenia, Hungary, Czech Republic and Spain), come from similar cultural backgrounds:
(1) they have mostly grown up with Mediterranean and Central European culture which traditionally relies on authoritarianism as parenting model that have been passed on from generations of parents and include physical and verbal punishment of children which is still largely considered as acceptable and legitimate;
(2) they became parents at a time of ever-expanding ideas, approaches, tools, technology and media who encourage myth of two mutually exclusive child-rearing methods (authoritarian and permissive), as there is no choice between them; and in a sea of conflicting advice parents became susceptible to unreliable information and/or distrustful of the changes that have taken place in parenting;
(3) parents say they are confused, overwhelmed and feel they need to raise their competences in a safe environment; they also feel need for higher levels of media and digital literacy needs and systematic promotion of parenting skills for the new, digital age.

Parents form their biases and opinions about parenting before their child is born and therefore it is important to begin working with them as soon as they are interested in getting messages about parenting . Getting parents “where they are” is essential – and modern parents of young children are on mobile devices and in communities.
Therefore, project has four specific objectives:
(1) to create innovative, evidence-based curricula on postpartum and parenting
(2) to train a cohort of educators who will locally deliver high-quality, modern parental education and support in childbirth, postpartum and parenting
(3) to provide parents with information and education using various media and methods of delivery with the goal of reaching dislocated and under-served areas and social groups
(4) to increase the partner organizations’ competencies and skills in providing adult education and implementing international projects.

Results of the project will be (1) two innovative, evidence-based curricula on Postpartum and Growing (0-3) in 6 languages; (2) 25 new educators from 4 countries trained to provide childbirth education/support to expectant parents and at least 40 educators from 5 countries trained to provide postpartum and parenting education/support; (3) created and disseminated “Growing 0-3” and “Expecting 2.0” mobile applications for parents in 6 languages; (4) at least 40 education/support groups for parents organized locally; (5) at least 4 in house experts per organization increased their competencies on curriculum and adult education development and implementation and at least 5 to 20 educators per organization (min. 65 in total) trained to deliver education and support to parents, which at the end, results in increasing partners organization capacities.
Curricula development and piloting will involve three levels of training in order to ensure quality: (1) experts coordination: staff experts learning and practicing together on curriculum and adult education development; (2) training of educators: experts train educators based on curricula and principles of adult education); (3) local (regional) learning for parents bring information to the project’s end-users through newly formed education/support groups.

The project will empower all its participants (parents, experts, educators, partners and stakeholders) and increase their competencies, knowledge and skills about maternity care, parenting and parents’ needs. Main desired project impact from local through national till European level is (1) more informed parents which can make their own choices in maternity care and parenting based on solid, understandable information and advocate for their own needs ultimately having the pregnancy, birth, postpartum and parenting experience that is best for them and (2) change in parenting practices using positive parenting approach and decrease authoritarian practices that include physical punishment. Therefore, the project is expected to contribute to the process of modernization and raising the quality of life.

The project has great sustainability potential because partners will keep using produced outputs in their work with parents, (future) educators, new target groups and new interested partners for collaboration because of high transferability potential of project outputs.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 286641 Eur

Project Coordinator

Roditelji u Akciji & Country: HR

Project Partners

• Asociación por los Derechos Reproductivos y Salud Maternoinfantil
• Kapcsolódó Nevelés Egyesület
• Zavod Indo Anai
• APERIO – Spolecnost pro zdrave rodicovstvi, z.s.
• Rumina, posvetovalnica in inštitut za dojenje in obporodno oskrbo (In short: Inštitut za dojenje Rumina // Rumina Breastfeeding Institute)