Abstract

The Persona Doll Approach (PDA) is an enjoyable and non-threatening way for adults to work with children and families to promote psychosocial development and anti-bias. The research examines the use of the PDA with young children and caregivers in the South African context of poverty, and past and present discrimination. The PDA addresses different manifestations and issues related to prejudice, such as: racism; xenophobia; culture, faith and language; gender; social class; poverty; abuse; disability; HIV and AIDS stigma; diversity and inclusion; and human rights. Several Early Childhood Development (ECD) resource and training organisations are receiving training and support to integrate PDA into their work and strengthen understanding and skills to address social issues and holistic child development. The dolls are being used in ECD centres and in family and community-based programmes to help a range of different adult role-players engage with their own prejudice, support their emotional development and strengthen their appreciation of diversity. This provides the foundation, skills and understanding to in turn support the development of young children in a practical day-to-day way through the PDA. A participatory learning process is being developed and implemented in order to learn about the use of the dolls and approach and try to track progress and impact. The challenges implicit in the design of strategies to monitor and evaluate a complex intervention of this kind are also addressed.