Calling All Parents: Leveraging Behavioral Insights to Boost Early Childhood Outcomes in the Developing World

Abstract

We use mobile technology to deliver parenting support at scale. We combine calls, messages, and adaptive content to personalize the intervention at low cost in a developing country. We build on evidence from messaging programs (e.g., Ready4K, Crianza Positiva). We expands the use of tech to real-time content adaptation and multi-channel behavior support. Highly scalable intervention with an estimated cost of USD 350 per family. Much lower than traditional home visiting (USD 10,500). Institutional buy-in: National Ministry has created a dedicated remote support team to scale the intervention. Medium-term impacts: Third follow-up after 2 years is underway. Early signs of gains in language development (WPPSI-IV) and socioemotional development (ECOS). Next steps: Linking to administrative data for long-term tracking; increasing chatbot’s complexity.