Transition to scale (TtS), 2017–2019
MINOR
In 2018, a follow-up RCT measured the medium-term impact of the intervention on children and parental outcomes 24 months after the intervention. Again, parents and children who benefited from the intervention continued to outperform their peers from the control group suggesting the midterm to long-term impact of the intervention on parental practices and children’s developmental outcomes.First Steps entered the transition to scale in mid-2019. The 24 months long TtS phase intended to test if the program could be implemented in new geographical areas (including both rural and urban settings) with similar gains and to collect implementation science data to inform national scale-up plans. The program was implemented in Ruhango, Kirehe, and Gasabo Districts in October 2019 with minor modifications to the treatment conditions of the previous phase and following an RCT design. The parenting sessions, home visits, and parent support activities were carried out by IZUs, in line with learning from previous phases. Working with this existing government structure was one of the sustainability strategies of the program. During this period, as part of scaling strategies, 