Strengthening Universal Parenting Support

Full Title: Strengthening Universal Parenting Support: Using the Benchmarking Tool for Policy Analysis and Development.

Investing in parent and caregiver support is one of the most effective ways countries can advance children’s rights and accelerate progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including enhancing child development outcomes, reducing violence within families, promoting gender equality, and supporting economic growth. Parenting support is also a highly cost-effective strategy for strengthening human capital while reducing long-term public expenditures in health, education, and justice systems. Despite strong evidence of its impact, access to quality parenting support remains limited.

To address this, UNICEF, in collaboration with Parenting for Lifelong Health (PLH) and with support from GISP partners—WHO, ECDAN, and IRC—has developed two key resources to advance universal parenting support: a Global Conceptual Framework for Universal Parenting Support and a Policy Analysis and Benchmarking Tool.

This second webinar in our parenting series will launch the Policy Analysis and Benchmarking Tool, designed to help governments assess their parenting policy landscape and identify gaps. Participants will explore practical applications through case examples from Mexico, South Africa, and Serbia, gaining hands-on skills for conducting structured policy analysis to inform evidence-based planning and scale-up of parenting support initiatives.

Speakers will include:
Shekufeh Zonji, Global Technical Lead, ECDAN:
Sheema Sen Gupta, Director, Child Protection, UNICEF
Christine Kolbe-Stuart, Child Protection Specialist, UNICEF
Saara Thakur, Scale Up Lead, Global Parenting Initiative at University of Oxford and Technical Consultant for Parenting for Lifelong Health
Kerileng Motsamai, Social Work Policy Manager, National Department of Social Development, South Africa