Over 250 million children globally miss out on early childhood development (ECD), the majority of whom live in rural communities. Governments face persistent challenges in expanding access, improving quality, and engaging parents, and existing approaches are often too costly and complex to deliver at scale.
We created this innovation to address this gap and to find a way to reach children at scale in a cost-effective and sustainable way.
Our big idea is simple but powerful: parents are the “sleeping giants” of ECD. They are the most important influence on their children’s outcomes, yet are often overlooked or unsupported. Our model was designed to activate parents as the key drivers of child development outcomes. It provides parents - especially mothers - with practical, low-cost ways to support their children’s learning and development through everyday interactions.
To achieve this at scale, we support governments to deliver parent-powered early childhood development through the systems they already have. We work in partnership with governments to integrate proven, practical solutions into existing delivery platforms – such as schools – so they can reach families at population level in ways that are affordable, sustainable, and government-owned.
Our role is to provide targeted, time-bound technical advisory support, enabling governments to design, implement and scale solutions themselves, using their own systems, staff, and budgets.
This approach creates clear, affordable an
Lively Minds empowers parents - especially mothers - as early childhood educators through a practical, low-cost approach delivered through government systems.
We partner with governments to integrate proven, practical early childhood solutions into existing systems, adapting to local context, resources, and priorities.
Our model combines complementary components that governments can choose from:
1. Community Play Schemes: Mothers run play groups using games and activities that build children’s language, attention, and early cognitive skills, strengthening or complementing pre-primary provision.
2. Parenting Workshops: Caregivers learn simple, no-cost activities—such as talking, storytelling, and play—that support early learning and can be integrated into daily routines.
3. Radio programming: Governments broadcast local-language episodes that model behaviours, improve parent-child interaction, and reinforce learning at scale.
4. Teacher training: Pre-primary teachers are trained in play-based, child-centred approaches to improve classroom quality.
Together, these approaches strengthen early learning at home and in pre-primary settings, embedding learning into daily life.
Delivery is led by government using existing staff based in communities, with Lively Minds providing targeted technical advisory support to enable scalable, sustainable implementation.
Our innovation has grown from a grassroots pilot into a model successfully scaled through government systems in Ghana and Uganda and currently being piloted in The Gambia and Ethiopia.
In Ghana, the government now fully owns, fund and deliver the model and is currently scaling it nationally, demonstrating that parenting support can be delivered at low cost and with quality through existing systems.
Building on this, we have evolved our approach to enable faster and more cost-effective expansion. Rather than replicating a fixed model, we now work as a technical advisory partner to governments – a supporting them to design and integrate parenting support into their own systems.
We are currently working with new governments in The Gambia and Ethiopia (Oromia Region) to co-design and test locally adapted solutions that can be rapidly scaled through existing platforms such as schools. Early results show strong parent engagement and feasibility of delivery through government systems.
We are also receiving more and more interest, with a growing demand from governments seeking support to strengthen early childhood systems and improve parental engagement at scale.
We have continually adapted and strengthened our innovation to deepen impact, expand reach, and ensure long-term sustainability.
The most significant evolution has been our shift from direct programme implementation to a lighter, technical advisory model. Building on experience in Ghana and Uganda, we now support governments to identify and implement best-fit solutions within their existing systems—so they are the doer and the payer from the outset.
Alongside this, we have expanded our model. A key addition is the Lively Minds Together radio programme, developed during COVID-19 to reach parents when in-person delivery paused. It is now a core component of our approach.
Radio is highly trusted and accessible, delivering engaging, play-based parenting guidance at low cost. Episodes in local languages provide practical ways for parents to support development through daily routines, while addressing wellbeing and gender norms. The programme now reaches 1.84 million parents weekly across 29 languages.
We have also strengthened government delivery by adapting our model to system needs, including real-time data systems, simple tools for implementation, and more tailored technical assistance - enabling effective scale across contexts.
Our model is delivered through government systems and involves complex integration into existing structures, so it is not something that can be instantly adopted as a standalone programme.
Instead, we work in partnership with governments to co-design solutions that activate parents and fit within their existing systems, capacities, and budgets.
However, many of the core approaches are replicable across contexts. These include:
• centring parents as the agents of change in early childhood development
• using behaviour change approaches to overcome grassroots barriers
• delivering practical, low-cost parenting support through existing touchpoints
• using complementary channels such as radio to reach and upskill large numbers of parents
Our role is to provide targeted, time-bound technical advisory support—helping governments identify and implement best-fit solutions within their systems, so that they are the doer and the payer from the outset.
As a first step, organisations or governments interested in adopting this approach should contact our ECD Advocacy & Systems Change team to explore a potential partnership.
