When mothers have safe childcare, what changes?

Have you ever turned down a job or a shift because there was no one to watch your kids? If so, you know that defeated feeling. The logistics don’t line up, and a good opportunity slips by.

That’s a problem for parents everywhere, and it often falls hardest on mothers raising children alone. Many single parents in Canada know it well. So does Kedija, a mom in Ethiopia.

Kedija is a widow and mother of five from Tullo District in Ethiopia’s Oromia region. For years, she carried the full responsibility of raising her children alone. The days were exhausting. She juggled caring for her children, preparing meals, fetching water, and taking on whatever work she could to earn money. All the while, her youngest child needed her constant attention.

“I was always worried about leaving my child behind,” Kedija recalls. “Even when I needed to work, my mind stayed at home thinking about his safety.”

Finding opportunities to earn income was only one of her challenges. Being free to take them was another.

Kedija would often decline chances to attend community meetings or earn money because she had no one she trusted to care for her young son during the day.

“My child needed me all the time,” she explains. “It was stressful because I wanted to support my family better, but I had very little time.”

Unpaid caregiving limits what women can do, even when opportunities arrive

Kedija’s frustrations weren’t unique where she lives. While planning the RESILIENT-WE project in Oromia, World Vision teams heard similar stories from many other women.

RESILIENT-WE stands for Reducing Environmental Shocks, Improving Livelihoods and Inspiring Empowered, Innovative and Thriving Women of Ethiopia. * The project began in 2022. It aims to confront gender inequality and help women withstand economic shocks, environmental stresses and the effects of climate change. While working with community members to understand what was holding women back, the lack of childcare options was identified as a major barrier to women’s ability to earn income.

Rural women, in particular, often shoulder most of their families’ childcare and housework responsibilities. This leaves them with less time and energy to take on income-generating work, participate in community life or pursue other goals.

Community-based childcare: a pilot project

Thankfully, the team did not need to start from scratch.

World Vision brought in Kidogo, a social enterprise with deep experience in childcare. Kidogo had already developed and expanded a daycare model in Kenya. At the heart of the model are local moms, called “mamapreneurs,” who run childcare services and earn a living from it.

Kidogo shared its tools, training approaches and quality standards, so that the children would be supported in their growth and school readiness while their mothers were free to work.

In urban Kenya, Kidogo’s model is home-based, with childcare run from women’s own homes. Ethiopia was different. Here, the government was willing to provide central spaces at local schools, so parents could bring their children each day to centres run by the mamapreneurs. This solution was more convenient for parents in the rural setting, where homes are spread further apart.

The concept of paid childcare was new to families in the area, so RESILIENT-WE began with a subsidized approach, where parents paid their fees with vouchers provided by World Vision. This approach has been successful at reducing barriers while introducing parents to the benefits of formal paid childcare. Over time, families who wish to continue will shoulder the financial burden themselves.

The pilot began in 2023 with two childcare centres that enrolled 125 children in total—50 in one centre and 75 in the other. Demand for the service was strong from the start.

Assessing the pilot at the 2-year mark

In June 2025, about two years after the centres opened, Kidogo led an assessment of the progress, with support from World Vision Ethiopia. They wanted to know:

• How well the model was working
• How children were growing and developing
• What the centres meant for mothers’ ability to earn income
• What gaps remained, and whether to expand the centres

The assessment drew from structured observations, focus groups with 22 parents, interviews with caregivers (mamapreneurs) and nine local officials, and a review of the centres’ records. It covered only the two pilot centres and relied on observations and what parents and caregivers shared.

Five lessons learned

1. Access to childcare is helping mothers earn income in new ways.

Among the parents, 15 from one centre and seven from another reported being able to pursue new income-generating activities or ramp up existing ones with greater confidence, knowing their children were in a safe and nurturing environment.

One parent said, “Since my child started attending the daycare, I have been able to start selling eggs and goats, which has greatly increased our household income.”

Women also reported better self-care and confidence. Some described a more equal share of work at home, though not in every family. “My husband now helps with home chores because he sees how much I contribute to the family income,” one woman said.

The wider project is seeing change, too. By May 2026:

• 34.4 per cent of the 700 women surveyed across RESILIENT-WE said they were benefiting from income-generating activities, up from 10.5 per cent in 2022.
• 57 per cent of women had access to financial services, including savings groups, up from 10.4 per cent.

(Childcare is one of several supports the project offers, so these improvements can’t be credited to childcare alone.)

2. Children enrolled in childcare are benefitting.

Children showed improvement across a range of developmental areas, based on observations and parent reports. The evaluation noted increases in motor skills, thinking and language, especially among older children. They also showed social and emotional growth, expressing their feelings, cooperating in group activities, and building stronger bonds with caregivers and other children.

Across the two centres, observers found that calm, encouraging tones were used in 83 to 88 per cent of cases, praise and encouragement made up 85 to 88 per cent of interactions, and eye contact was kept in 85 to 90 per cent of interactions.

“The caregivers are like family; they take care of my child with so much love,” one parent said.

Multiple parents noted positive changes at home. One said, “The caregiver’s calm and encouraging way of handling my child has helped me use the same [tone] at home, and my child listens better now.”

3. The communities have a sense of ownership over their centres.

While the government provided spaces for the centres, they needed renovation to be safe and appropriate for children. Members from both communities gave stones, sand, water and labour to get them ready. Based on their comments, this gave them a sense of ownership and investment.

“We all contributed stones and labour to renovate the daycare; this made us feel that the facility truly belongs to us,” said one respondent.

When the evaluators visited sites for future centres, parents there offered similar contributions.

4. The centres still had gaps in learning materials, training, water and hygiene.

While the children were being nurtured and developing well, some concerns and inconsistencies were noted. For example, more child-friendly learning materials were needed. The facilities needed safe water sources, child-friendly latrines and more handwashing stations.

Teaching and record-keeping also needed some work. Children under three were learning to count by rote, which does not fit the play-based model. Some documentation—like developmental milestones—was missing.

5. There was demand to expand and create more centres.

Because the two pilot centres had a limited capacity, some interested families had been excluded. The assessors recommended scaling-up the efforts and visited two candidates for future sites.

What has happened since the evaluation

• RESILIENT-WE worked with communities to open four more childcare centres between June and December 2025. In total, six centres are now operational, with 49 mamapreneurs serving 300 children across four districts.
• Refresher training has been conducted for 55 participants, including 42 mamapreneurs and 13 stakeholders. This training has strengthened their foundations in daycare management and financial sustainability. A follow-up assessment has noted that record-keeping at childcare centres, among other things, has improved.
• Community consultations now happen at regular intervals. This has been critical to addressing parent concerns or other issues that emerge.
• The project is working with local government ministries that focus on issues related to child development, nutrition and employment. Cooperation with local government is helping to tackle issues such as gaps with learning resources, infrastructure improvements, providing training and expanding the centres to accommodate more children. Their involvement in the governance structures of the childcare facilities is essential their sustainability. Once the RESILIENT-WE project concludes, these government ministries will take responsibility for their operations.
• The RESILIENT-WE project continues to monitor progress at regular intervals and tracks areas that need attention. These include ongoing training in early childhood development and child protection, age-appropriate learning materials, and water, sanitation and hygiene upgrades.

Kedija: calm, free, hopeful

Kedija enrolled her youngest child soon after a centre opened nearby. Every morning, she now walks with him to the daycare before beginning her daily activities. She says the change has brought relief not only to her, but also to her son.

“After joining the daycare, my child became more active and happy,” she explains. “He plays with other children, learns new things, and enjoys going there every day.”

For the first time in many years, Kedija has freedom to organize her time and focus on improving her family’s livelihood. Now, when she’s working, she’s working—no constant fear or interruptions. And when she’s not, she has time for her kids.

She says she’s more hopeful about their future.

“Now when I go to work, I feel calm because I know my child is safe,” she says. “This support has reduced a big burden from my life.”

Learn more about RESILIENT-WE:

• Bilkisa harvests a bounty
• Communities are leading the way on climate resilience
• Leveraging technology to advance solutions to gender-based violence

Written by Katie Hackett, with contributions from David Mbugua, Alemnesh Hailu and Yonas Gutema.

* RESILIENT-WE is a Global Affairs Canada-funded project, running from 2022 to 2027 in the East and West Hararghe zones of Ethiopia's Oromia region. It is implemented by World Vision Ethiopia and World Vision Canada, in partnership with the Network of Ethiopian Women’s Associations (NEWA) and Kidogo Early Years.