On mornings during farming season, Djina Sabaly cares for her granddaughter, brings food to her husband in the fields, and gathers milk from the family cows. By lunchtime she has already walked eight kilometers.

A long-time resident of the south Senegalese village of Darou Idjiratou, she takes great pride in her importance to the family. “We say that a family without a grandmother has no foundation because it has no guardian of traditional values.”

Sabaly, 68, provides daily childcare for four grandchildren, assists her farmer husband, advises seven children and their spouses, and works in the garden and fields. “In my village,” she says, “elders always occupy the foremost position. They are consulted regarding the most important affairs.”

Grandmothers of Darou Idjiratou, a rural village of 700 inhabitants, are not unique in the developing world. Throughout Africa, Asia, and Latin America, grandmothers provide primary childcare, do domestic and farm work, act as family advisors, and pass on cultural traditions. In areas without access to schools or health care, in countries where parents have fallen ill due to AIDS or other diseases, grandmothers frequently become the main parent and teacher.

Despite grandmothers’ importance, Western organizations that work in developing countries have been slow to incorporate elders into their activities. Fearing that grandmothers will be unwilling to accept new ideas, they offer young women training in health and nutrition while ignoring the grandmothers to whom these women turn for help. New mothers have to choose between the advice of a trusted family elder and the modern practices taught by an outside organization.

The Grandmother Project, a US nonprofit, is working to redress this oversight. Founder Judi Aubel launched the organization in 2004 in order to strengthen the leadership of grandmothers in improving health for women and children. Since 1997, Aubel has been involved in community activities in Laos, Senegal, Mali, Uzbekistan, and Albania that demonstrated the effectiveness of involving grandmothers in projects. Evaluations have documented greater confidence among grandmothers, increased community respect for elder women, and improvements in advice to young women on pregnancy, infant feeding, and neonatal health. In Senegal, the number of grandmothers advising women to give infants nutritious foods increased from 57% to 97% as a result of project efforts. Health improvements were greater in communities where grandmothers participated than where only younger women were involved.

The Grandmother Project’s approach succeeds at introducing new practices by working with existing social structures and leaders. Using stories and songs, the Grandmother Project celebrates the traditional advisory role of grandmothers. Group training sessions teach health and nutrition to young and old alike – to women of childbearing age and to grandmothers who provide advice and care. Combining traditional practices and modern knowledge strengthens grandmothers’ ability to promote good childcare and increases the likelihood of lasting improvements in health.

These efforts enjoy widespread community support in Sabaly’s rural village. Residents of Darou Idjaratou have noticed that fewer neighborhood children suffer from malnutrition and related illnesses than in the past. Sabaly credits the Grandmother Project and its partners World Vision and UNICEF for actively involving older women in their programs. “This is a first for us as far as I know, in my village and all around.”

“In order for a development activity to work in the village, elders have to be included,” says village leader Tidian Cisse. “We are thrilled that grandmothers are involved in nutrition activities because their role is to transmit knowledge to the younger generation.”

Other grandmothers agree. “We have become important in our village. With this approach, the young people come to us. You can’t imagine how much pleasure this gives us.”

Biography
Michael Gubser is a history professor and an international education and development consultant. He is the author of a book about fin-de-siecle Vienna and a volume of poetry.

Kristina Gryboski is a medical anthropologist and global health advisor whose expertise includes maternal and child health, qualitative research, nutrition, gender, female genital mutilation, HIV/AIDS, and family planning.

The authors gratefully acknowledge Oumarou Diallo for his research contributing to this article.