Building Bridges: Good African parenting In Europe

The major objectives of the project included (i) improving the skills of African parents in Europe when it comes to raising children in a Europe society, with an emphasis on their strengths as opp...

The major objectives of the project included (i) improving the skills of African parents in Europe when it comes to raising children in a Europe society, with an emphasis on their strengths as opposed to their weaknesses, (ii) make parents aware of the different activities that they engage in together and thereby improve parent-child relationship, and (iii) help parents increase, both in terms of frequency and quality, their participation in the wider community through assertive communication skills that include proactive communication with children’s school, among other things. In so doing, the project primarily targets parents of African origin who currently reside in Europe and intends to bring about a significant change in the ways these parents are raising their children and interacting with the larger community, which is apparently different from the kind of culture they come from. This, the project set out, results in better inclusion.

The concrete results of the project are evident changes in how parents engaged with their children, understood the needs and wants of their children, interacted with their children in ways that enhance children’s opportunities to learn new skills as well as engage with the wider community, and started assertively communicating with the community including their children’s school. Majority of the parents indicated in a survey conducted to examine results of the workshop that the workshops have generally brought about real changes in their day-to-day lives as parents in a European society. More than 90% of the respondents who attended the workshops said that they are implementing conflict management (with their children) mechanisms, have changed how they discipline children, and started spending quality time with their children. Moreover, a community of parents has been formed using WhatsApp as a tool and parents have since used it to cooperate on day-to-day matters. This has significantly increased the level of parents’ and children’s integration within the host society. Children have also discovered new skills through science, music, art, and STEM activities and parents discovered what their children are interested in and good at.