In this chapter for Developmental Science and Sustainable Development Goals for Children and Youth, Amina Abubakar, Stanley Wechuli Wanjala, Patrick Nzivo Mwangala, Moses Kachama Nyongesa and I present community dialogues as a participatory research and program development strategy through which developmental scientists and local community partners can collaboratively surface, discuss, address, and evaluate child protection … Continue reading
As we know from our work, communities are at the heart of the global HIV and AIDS response and without community involvement we could not hope to achieve innovation or progress on the ground. I was pleased to join moderator Kate Harrison and my fellow panelists Caterina Gironda, Matt Greenall, and Moses Zulu for this … Continue reading
Note: My colleague Hasina Ebrahim from South Africa invited me to review her insightful book as it was being published in late 2016. I was honoured to have the opportunity to review it and comment on its contribution to the field. Hasina Banu Ebrahim’s book, Early Childhood Education for Muslim Children: Rationales and Practices in South Africa (2017), is … Continue reading
Note 1: As some of you may know, I am a Canadian Muslim, of Pakistani heritage, living with my family in California, USA at this time. Note 2: While this post is not explicitly about early childhood development, which is the general focus of my blog, there are very real implications for those who are parenting … Continue reading
In late February, my family landed at the small Mwanza airport in Tanzania. With our luggage and our toddler, Z, hoisted on my hip, we climbed down the airplane stairs and onto the shuttle bus that would take us to the terminal. The shuttle bus was packed and I remember feeling slightly disappointed that … Continue reading
How do you transform your troves of data into a story that fascinates people and moves them to act? This is an issue with which researchers, analysts, and evaluators grapple on an ongoing basis. Last week, I had the opportunity to learn and reflect on these very matters with colleagues working with data in the … Continue reading
I am happy to let you all know that I successfully defended my PhD thesis last week. It was an exhilarating experience and an immensely useful discussion with a group of academics whom I truly respect. I will be sharing more of my dissertation findings here in the months ahead, but in the meantime, I would like to share … Continue reading
Edit [August 2019] – I want clarify that I did not come up with the term ‘Majority World’. From what I understand, the term was coined and introduced by Shahidul Alam, and I would like to acknowledge and appreciate him for bringing this term into the discourse over a decade ago. You can read more … Continue reading
[This post is part of my Noteworthy Early Childhood Development (ECD) Resources series, which rounds up and highlights key resources on particular topics.] I am often asked by parents of young children for clarification on some of the recommendations made by ‘experts’ on various aspects of parenting infants and toddlers, especially around sleep. As a … Continue reading
[This post is part of a series highlighting particular publications or resources I have written or developed in the past which may be of interest to my blog readers.] One of the most influential approaches to early childhood education in North America is ‘Developmentally Appropriate Practice’ (DAP), articulated by the NAEYC. When I used Foucauldian and other … Continue reading
Sadaf Shallwani 