Enhancing Visual Aids in Training of Child Caregivers in Daycares Within Nairobi’s Urban Informal Settlements

Abstract

As of 2017 there were 300,000 children living in Nairobi’s informal settlements and at least 2,700 informal daycares run by owners with little or no formal training on Early Childhood Education and a majority with low education levels. There have been some efforts to train caregivers in order to improve the quality of their services. Visual aids are inappropriately used in the training of these child caregivers. Studies show that visual aids are highly successful in any behavioural change program because they aid the comprehension, attention and adherence of information especially in a low literacy setting as this. This paper suggests a framework to be used in creating visual aids to enhance training of child caregivers in Nairobi’s urban informal settlements. This paper presents thematic analysis of literature to determine the best practices in using visual aids to train caregivers in urban informal settlements and achieve a framework. Literature was reviewed according to two themes which are visual aids for the low literacy audience and caregivers in informal settlements. This study established that, if appropriately used, visual aids have a great potential to aid training of child caregivers in urban informal settlements. Appropriate visual aids have to be contextualized, simple and consistent, designed with a systematic procedure, and respond to psychological needs of the audience. As such, informal child care centres are on the rise as informal settlements expand. Most caregivers in these centres are not formally trained, yet they offer a crucial service to the education system in the country. There is a need for a strategic training approach that will equip informal ECD caregivers with skills to enhance learning and child care in informal settlements.