Close
Project Summary听
China is undergoing the largest migrant flow in world history, with听an estimated 220 million rural-urban migrants across the country.听Many migrants are parents and an estimated 58 million children are听"left behind". Thirty million of these live with neither parent, mostly听in the care of relatives.
An estimated 6 million are living alone or听without and care arrangements in place. Small studies are starting听to show that the resulting 听physical and emotional neglect, and lack听of appropriate supervision, are associated with poor health and听psychosocial outcomes and exposure to abuse. There are an听estimated 1.2 million left behind children (LBC) in Zhejiang Province听and 600,000 in Guizhou. 听
The overall objective of this project is to improve the health,听psychosocial, behavioural 听and educational outcomes of children left听behind in rural areas by parents who have migrated to work in the听cities. The specific objective is to develop a sustainable and听replicable community-based intervention, consisting of a network听of "clubs" at village level, staffed by volunteers, who will provide听support for local children, including those left behind, through play,听mentoring and help with homework. The clubs are established听under the auspices of the Chinese Women's Federation.听
Measures of health and well-being will be compared pre- and post-听intervention, and intervention counties will be compared with听controls. In addition, the health and well-being of children who听accompany parents to urban areas will be measured.
