The Center for Learning and Childhood Development is a non governmental organization with expertise in research and project implementation. Our mission is to use research, advocacy and capacity building to promote children's survival and development. We are looking for an intern to work with us on a number of on-going projects. Below is a brief description of the projects the intern will be working on.
The Center has two projects relating to low birth weight. One project focuses on developing a quantitative scale to measure low birth weight related stigma in Ghana, which has been linked to maternal depression, social isolation, maternal blame, and maternal detachment. The other is a cohort study to evaluate the effect of caring for low birth weight infants on retention in and adherence to antiretroviral therapy among postpartum mothers living with HIV.

In addition, the Center is working on two other qualitative projects that focus on improving the wellbeing of children living with developmental disorders (eg. autism spectrum disorder, cerebral palsy, Down Syndrome). One project seeks to reduce deaths and poor wellbeing of children with developmental disorders by creating a comprehensive referral system to link caregivers with children to appropriate health, education and social services. This work includes working with a community advisory group, health care workers, mothers, and service providers. The other project seeks to document the alternative and complimentary medicine caregivers use to meet the health needs of children with cerebral palsy. It also seeks to catalogue the local caregiver practices and strategies to support children with developmental disorders. The Center also produces a periodic magazine, Research for Practice, to help bridge the gap between research and practice. The magazine summarizes research papers on children's health, learning and development into language that is easily understandable to educators, health workers, care givers and policy makers. We believe that improved understanding of research findings will advance advocacy and facilitate translation of research evidence into practice.

PI Mentor: Mufaro Kanyangarara