Project SHINE! Supporting Healthy Interaction, Nurturing and Enrichment for Preschool Children

In Sierra Leone, many children face a perilous gap in health care between the ages of two and six, a vital stage of human development.

With funding and support from Columbia World Projects, Project SHINE! helped close this gap by bringing together interdisciplinary researchers from Columbia with policy-makers and educators from Sierra Leone to pilot an innovation designed to ensure that preschool children not only survive, but thrive.

From Pilot to Policy: A Blueprint for Supporting Early Childhood Health

Project SHINE! showed the feasibility of embedding wraparound health and nutrition services directly into early childhood development centers. Leveraging the latest research, global insights, and local expertise, the team — led by ICAP at Columbia University in partnership with the Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Preservation, and Planning, and national, regional, and local stakeholders in Sierra Leone — co-created and piloted a scalable model that includes:

• Clinical integration: Establishment of a dedicated health unit at early childhood development centers to provide child-centered health screenings, monitoring, and referrals.
• Community-based services: Deployment of Community Health Workers to conduct household visits and "Community Health Days," bringing health education, screenings, and referrals directly to students, families, and community members.
• Nutritional teaching garden: Establishment of an on-site teaching garden to provide children with sustainable food sources and education, helping to address the root causes of malnutrition.

Based on the successful pilot in the Port Loko district of Sierra Leone, the model is now featured in national policy guidelines, paving the way for scale-up across the country.

Project Leads

Elaine Abrams
ICAP at Columbia University
Project Lead
Elaine Abrams is a global thought leader in the prevention and treatment of HIV infection and associated infectious diseases in pregnant women, children, and families. A professor of epidemiology and pediatrics at Columbia University, she was a founding member of ICAP at Columbia University.

Amale Andraos
Columbia University
Project Lead
Amale Andraos, HFRAIC, is a Professor and Dean Emeritus at Columbia University where she recently served as an Advisor to the President on the University’s Climate Initiatives and the Climate School. Andraos is recognized as an architecture thought leader and has lectured and taught widely.

Mame Toure
ICAP at Columbia University
Project Lead
Mame Awa Toure is ICAP’s country director in Sierra Leone. She is a trained public health physician and epidemiologist with over 25 years of progressively increasing responsibilities and experience managing, leading and implementing integrated quality focused comprehensive Health Systems Strengthening programs in diverse resource limited settings mainly in West Africa (Senegal, Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire, Sierra Leone).

Project Team

• Allison Zerbe Buba, ICAP at Columbia University
• Matthew Lamb, Columbia University
• Amon Njenga, ICAP at Columbia University
• Jennifer Zech, ICAP at Columbia University