Scale Playful Parenting Global South

The Global Parenting Initiative (GPI) is a five-year research-within-implementation project aiming to provide access to free, evidence-based, playful parenting support to promote child learning and prevent violence at scale in the Global South.

The Global Parenting Initiative has 6 core themes:
1. Evaluate:
Research-within-implementation studies to increase the evidence of the effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, and scalability of human-digital playful parenting programmes
2. Innovate:
Build a cohesive ecosystem of agile, adaptable, and scalable evidence-based human-digital parenting interventions, by developing and optimising playful parenting technologies
3. Facilitate:
Create centres of excellence in playful parenting in the Global South, and shifting expertise, leadership, and power from the Global North to South
4. Advocate:
Create an enabling environment for regional and country-level policy making to support the sustained institutionalisation of playful parenting programmes
5. Generate:
Build a sustainable infrastructure to support scale-up and capacity building of human-digital playful parenting programmes
6. Accelerate:
Support the scale-up of low-cost, open-source playful parenting programmes embedded into national government and NGO service delivery systems

Our core partners include the University of Oxford, the University of Cape Town, Makerere University, Ateneo de Manila University, McMaster University, the National Institute for Medical Research Tanzania, Stellenbosch University, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Peace Culture Foundation, IDEMS, Clowns Without Borders South Africa, and Parenting for Lifelong Health. The GPI also works closely with UNICEF, the WHO, the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children, and Early Childhood Development Action Network.

The GPI is funded by the LEGO Foundation, Oak Foundation, The Human Safety Net, the World Childhood Foundation, the UKRI Global Challenges Research Fund, and

Industry Research Services

Company size 51-200 employees

Headquarters Oxford, Oxfordshire

Type Nonprofit

Founded 2022

Specialties Parenting, Research, and Evidence-based Interventions

Double the celebration for the Global Parenting Initiative team! We are absolutely delighted to announce that Professor Lucie Cluver , our co-principal investigator, has been appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2025 King’s Birthday Honours List! This prestigious award recognises her exceptional contributions to children’s wellbeing and global public health.

We also extend our heartfelt congratulations to Professor Frances Gardner , a GPI Senior Research Investigator, who has been honoured with the Companion of the Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George (CMG)! The CMG is awarded for extraordinary non-military service in a foreign country or for services to foreign and Commonwealth affairs, and recognises individuals who have rendered important services in relation to Commonwealth or foreign nations.

Professor Gardner's three-decade career exemplifies this, dedicated to developing, testing, and scaling up evidence-based parenting interventions globally, especially in low- and middle-income countries.

Both Professor Cluver and Professor Gardner embody our mission to use science to support the world's most vulnerable children and families. Their combined leadership and dedication are pivotal in providing free, evidence-based support worldwide to prevent child sexual abuse, exploitation, and family violence.

Join us in celebrating these incredible and well-deserved honours!#Global Parenting Initiative  #OBE #CMG #Child Wellbeing #Public Health #Parenting Research #Professor Lucie Cluver  #Professor Frances Gardner  #Honours

On the 1st of June, we celebrated Global Parenting Day, a powerful reminder of the vital role parents and caregivers play in shaping young lives around the world. To keep the celebration going, we're excited to invite you to a special webinar next week in honour of the International Day…