Implementing Parenting Programmes Across Cultural Contexts: A Perspective on the Deficit Narrative

Abstract

This paper critiques universalistic ‘at-risk’ approaches by parenting programmes in the context of international development, arguing that local practices are neglected in research. Fifty post-training interviews with 25 participants in Western Kenya are analysed using discourse analysis. Post-training, parents reported less physical punishment and emphasized parent–child communication more. However, the analyses show that parents see these newly introduced methods as a means to act more efficiently within the utilitarian approach to parenting they defined before training. Cultural norms related to respect, authority and compliance remained important, although attention to the responsiveness and inner motives of children had arguably started to bend and twist the older family hierarchy and the position of children in it. It is argued that the effects of such programmes in international development contexts should be considered the result of interaction between programme content and local ideas and practices. The policy implications of this dynamic are discussed.