Using strategic partnerships and evidence-based approaches, the Global 2Gen Education Working Group is testing ways in which two-generation interventions, which advance the education of parents and children together, alleviate multigenerational poverty and improve human development worldwide. The group is first advising and studying a government-led, country-wide two-generation model in Jamaica.
About the Project
Once basic needs have been met, an essential strategy for poverty reduction and improved human development is quality, accessible education for children and caregivers alike. Yet throughout the world, educational opportunities for children and adults are typically siloed. Coordinated and aligned services for caregivers and their children, known as two-generation or multi-generation programs in the United States, can improve intergenerational mobility, generate programmatic efficiencies and create practical benefits for families.
From a global perspective, two-generation approaches that harness synergies among children and their caregivers are likely to be more effective than single-generation approaches in alleviating poverty and improving human development, but these approaches are rare outside of the United States. The Global 2Gen Education Working Group is undertaking and promoting testing of two-generation approaches to support children’s development, caregivers’ livelihoods and the wellbeing of both in low- and middle-income (LMIC) countries.
First, the group is studying and advising the Jamaican government’s two-generation initiative to help refine and scale the model as well as promote it with stakeholders locally and internationally. The group will produce a policy brief with recommended two-generation strategies in LMIC countries.
Group Members
Northwestern Members
Bio
Terri Sabol
Associate Professor, Human Development and Social Policy, School of Education & Social Policy (SESP); Faculty Co-Director, Early Childhood Research Alliance of Chicago (EC*REACH), Northwestern University [co-lead]
Teresa Eckrich Sommer
Research Professor, Institute for Policy Research; Co-Founder, Northwestern Two-Generation Research Initiative (NU2Gen), Northwestern University [co-lead]
Shiv Darius Tandon
Director of the Center for Community Health, Institute for Public Health & Medicine (IPHAM); Chief of Intervention Science, Department of Medical Social Sciences, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern UniversityExternal Members
Joan Lombardi, Senior Advisor, Center on Early Childhood; Adjunct Professor, Graduate School of Education, Stanford University
Honorable Audrey P. Marks, Jamaica's Ambassador to United States; permanent Representative of Jamaica to Organization of American States; Government Lead, Jamaica 2Gen
David Lowenstein, Managing Director, Jamaica 2Gen; CEO and Co-Founder, Lionstone Consulting
Susan Walker, Professor of Nutrition, Caribbean Institute for Health Research, University of West Indies; Research Lead, Reach Up Jamaica
Alrick Brown, Assistant Professor of Undergraduate Film & Television, Tisch School of the Arts, New York University; award-winning writer and director
Anthea McLaughlin, CEO, Caribbean Philanthropic Alliance
Taneshia Stoney Dryden, CEO, United Way of Jamaica
Katrina Mitchell, Chief Community Impact Officer, United Way of Greater Atlanta
Joy Moore, President, JWS Media Consulting
Marjorie Sims, Managing Director, Ascend at the Aspen Institute
Melvin King, Board Member, Alliance for a Healthier Generation; former President and CEO, Sesame Workshop
Leah Austin, President and CEO, National Black Child Development Institute
Andrea Lowenstein, President, Lionstone Consulting Group
Chastity Lord, CEO, Jeremiah Program
Michael Levine, Senior Advisor, Kapor Capital
Gary Knell, Senior Advisor, Media & Social Impact, Boston Consulting Group
Charlotte Cole, Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director, Blue Butterfly Collaborative