Bridging Culture, Research, and Practice in Early Childhood Development: The Madrasa Resource Centers in East Africa

— The Madrasa Resource Centers in East Africa have adapted features of Euro‐American theory and practice into a service delivery system responding to local cultural and socioeconomic realities. After 25 years of implementation in predominantly Muslim communities with high poverty and low literacy ra...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Child development perspectives 2011-06, Vol.5 (2), p.134-139
Main Authors: Mwaura, Peter A. M., Marfo, Kofi
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
applied developmental research
Childhood
Community based programmes
Continent
early childhood development
Early childhood education
East Africa
Literacy
Madrasa preschools
Muslim communities
Partnerships
Poverty
Prospects
Service delivery
university-community partnerships
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Summary:— The Madrasa Resource Centers in East Africa have adapted features of Euro‐American theory and practice into a service delivery system responding to local cultural and socioeconomic realities. After 25 years of implementation in predominantly Muslim communities with high poverty and low literacy rates, the program could serve as a model for other parts of the continent with similar population profiles. This article examines some of the program’s key features and discusses the prospects that the program’s integration of research into service delivery holds for developmental research in the region. It proposes that university partnerships with such programs could yield productive inquiry with benefits to local universities, community‐based programs, and developmental science.
ISSN:1750-8592
1750-8606
DOI:10.1111/j.1750-8606.2011.00168.x