Millions of young children worldwide are not reaching their developmental potential by the time they start school, largely because parents in low-resource settings lack adequate support. Digital tools, including text messaging, WhatsApp, and AI-based apps, offer a promising and affordable way to deliver behaviorally informed parenting guidance at scale. Experimental evidence from Latin America, Africa, South Asia, and the United States shows that well-designed digital programs can meaningfully improve parenting and child outcomes, and that hybrid models combining digital delivery with human interaction are especially promising. Yet significant questions remain about sustained engagement, equitable access, cost-effectiveness, and how to move from small pilots to sustainable, government-embedded programs.
This two-day workshop at the University of Chicago Center in Paris will convene approximately 25 researchers, practitioners, and policymakers from across Europe, Africa, and the Americas to synthesize the evidence on digital parenting interventions, identify critical research gaps, and forge new collaborative partnerships. Building on two prior IIRP-supported workshops that have established a growing transatlantic research community, this third convening will deepen and expand that network by bringing together economists, developmental psychologists, technologists, and representatives from government agencies and NGOs. The workshop aims to lay the groundwork for joint multi-country research initiatives, shared measurement frameworks, and long-term institutional collaborations that position the IIRP as a hub for global scholarship on digital approaches to supporting families.