Tanoto Foundation, an independent philanthropic organization that catalyzes systems change in education and healthcare, presented its successful community-driven early childhood parenting models at the recent Asia-Pacific Regional Network for Early Childhood (ARNEC) Regional Conference 2025, held on July 1-3 in Manila, the Philippines. The two parenting initiatives, such as Rumah Anak SIGAP from Indonesia and the HOPE — Harnessing Opportunity through Parenting and Education — program from China, which have showcased proven methods for boosting child development in rural and underserved communities, can be helpful in parenting.
These two parenting initiatives of Tanoto Foundation address the critical 0–3 age window, a golden period in a child’s life marked by rapid brain development that reaches up to 80 percent of an adult’s brain size. The parenting models are designed to support children of this age, which is crucial for brain development. While the Rumah Anak SIGAP model empowers community cadres to deliver early childhood care and development services, reaching over 3,000 children and parents across five provinces, the HOPE program focuses on early childhood education and parenting support, addressing the critical developmental window of 0-3 years. The Tanoto foundation, as a Core Team member of the ARNEC, emphasizes community involvement and collaboration with local governments to ensure sustainability and local ownership.
The early childhood, according to a Study of the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, lays the foundation for cognitive, language, motor, sensory, and emotional responses. But this period is especially challenging in many parts of Asia. A 2023 study by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) revealed that 57 percent of children aged 0–3 in parts of Indonesia are at risk of not reaching their full developmental potential. The study also found that 26 percent of children live in low-quality caregiving environments. In China, a similar concern is the high rate of developmental delays among children aged 0–3 in rural areas, where more than 80 percent fail to meet at least one developmental indicator.
The conference highlights the impacts of such programs. Tanoto Foundation’s Rumah Anak SIGAP program in Indonesia has demonstrated significant positive results. An impact evaluation of the program, which had more than twenty service centers across five provinces such as Banten, Central Java, East Kalimantan, Jakarta, and Riau, showed positive outcomes. The program’s success lies in empowering community cadres as agents of change, fostering the local ownership essential for sustainability. Ancilla Irwan, Education Development Lead, explained that this deep community and government collaboration transforms the program into “a vital part of an integrated caregiving ecosystem.”
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The strength of the Rumah Anak SIGAP model was underscored when the Mayor of Semarang, Agustina Wilujeng Pramestuti, presented her city’s initiative—which integrates a Rumah Anak SIGAP center with a stunting prevention center—at the same ARNEC conference. But Radi Negara, Impact Evaluation Lead at Tanoto Foundation, said, “The most significant change happens at home, when parents begin to interact with their children consistently and attentively.”
The HOPE program was also successful in China. Mirroring this success, the HOPE program in China has effectively scaled its community-driven parenting model to address developmental gaps. The program has successfully trained 330 facilitators and established 138 centers across five provinces such as Beijing, Guizhou, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, and Shandong serving over 16,000 children aged 0–3 and their families in rural areas.
But putting the importance of these two programs on the children and the investment in childhood, Wu Wei, the Country Head of Tanoto Foundation China, explains in the Manila conference that “Investing in Early Childhood Development (ECD) promotes social equity, breaks intergenerational poverty, and strengthens the human capital essential for China’s long-term sustainable development.”
Emphasizing the importance of adopting these parenting models, Eddy Henry, Head of Policy and Advocacy at Tanoto Foundation, says, “…I hope every organization participating will now bring home and implement these best practices locally, helping influence policy changes to ensure every child has access to inclusive, equitable, and high-quality early childhood development.”
Tanoto Foundaton
Jakarta
Indonesia
Email: dian_anderson@tanoto-foundation.org
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