Organization: Global Parenting Initiative
Country: Malaysia, South Africa, and Jamaica
Education level: Early Childhood, Primary, Lower Secondary, and Upper Secondary
Organization type: Nongovernmental organization
Family involvement: Strengthening Home Learning and Caregiving
Overview
ParentText is a chatbot platform that supports families with evidence-supported parenting resources to create healthy home environments and support their children’s learning and development (UNICEF Malaysia, 2022). ParentText was developed by the Global Parenting Initiative, which is a collaboration of foundations, universities, and organizations, with a goal of equipping parents with skills to support their children to reach their learning potential. ParentText is available to families through UNICEF in South Africa and Jamaica, whereas in Malaysia, the ParentText software, is delivered in through Naungan Kasih. This platform was developed with and for parents/caregivers in their respective countries, placing accessibility at the forefront of their mission (Global Parenting Initiative, n.d.).
How does it work?
The ParentText platform aims to strengthen early learning at home and improve child and family outcomes by providing scalable, cost-effective solutions to nurture good parenting skills. Parent/caregivers engage in individualized, self-directed conversations with the chatbot to receive parenting advice and support. The platform is an online/hybrid adaptation of past in-person programs that focus on reducing violence against children and families. The ParentText program varies by geography. In Jamaica and South Africa, parents/caregivers receive daily messages that can contain quizzes, tasks, GIFs, comics, videos, or audio recordings. The goal is for the conversation to meet the situation demands of each context the family may find themselves in (Global Parenting Initiative, n.d.).
In Malaysia, Naungan Kasih delivers more structured content associated with their eight parenting pillars: 1) improve my relationship with my child, 2) prepare my child for success in school, 3) understand child development, 4) give my child structure, 5) support positive behavior, 6) keep my child safe and healthy, 7) have a healthy relationship with my spouse, and 8) build a family budget and save money (Parenting for Lifelong Health, n.d.). Daily skills are short, 5-minute messages that also include simple activities for parents/caregivers to try at home with their children.
What makes it work?
ParentText’s strength lies in its adaptability to context, providing guidance tailored to each family’s circumstances. Delivering fully in-person programming remains a barrier to engagement in low-resource areas, but online chatbots remedy the challenges of distance/transportation. Even though ParentText can standalone as a purely online intervention, it can be delivered through a hybrid format, adding an in-person session or even an asynchronous group forum. Parents/Caregivers are constantly supported through an online community of caregivers and program facilitators that streamline program delivery and online support.
The parent organization to the software also works in close collaboration with government institutions and local partners to expand programming across Malaysia and South Africa. To ensure sustainability, they are transitioning implementation to local ownership by building the technological infrastructure to support program delivery, expanding the coverage of facilitator trainings, and establishing a dedicated organization to lead the trainings of facilitators.
What is the impact?
In a 2026 evaluation of the Naungan Kasih ParentText intervention, researchers found improvements in positive parenting and reductions in child externalizing behaviors, like physical aggression or verbal bullying (Senesathith et al., 2026). The Malaysian team hopes to scale the Naungan Kasih program to over 280,000 caregivers and 300,000 students by the end of 2027.
For the ParentText programs piloted in Jamaica and South Africa, results on their Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) Prevention content found women in Jamaica reported a significant reduction in overall experiences of IPV after chatting with the ParentText chatbot. Among men in South Africa, there was a notable decrease in harmful attitudes toward IPV and increase in overall gender-equitable behaviors (Schafer et. al., 2025).
These results taken together suggest promising outcomes for family engagement in aim of creating a healthy home environment, conducive to child development.
Testimonials
- “Honestly, before this, 5 minutes felt like 5 hours to me, and I don’t have that 5 hours. But now, there’s awareness. I cried because, before this, I didn’t even have time for him.” — Mother of a 5-year-old, Malaysia (Global Parenting Initiative, n.d.).
References
Global Parenting Initiative. (n.d.). ParentText. https://globalparenting.org/parenttext/
Parenting for Lifelong Health. (n.d.). Malaysia: Naungan Kasih. Retrieved July 27, 2026, from https://www.parentingforlifelonghealth.org/malaysia-english
Schafer, M., Lachman, J., Zinser, P., et al. A digital parenting intervention with intimate partner violence prevention content: Quantitative pre-post pilot study. (2025). JMIR Formative Research, 9, e58611. https://doi.org/10.2196/58611
Senesathith, V., Lachman, J. M., Rajandiran, D., et al. (2026). Preliminary outcomes of a hybrid-digital parenting intervention in routine services in Malaysia. Research on Social Work Practice. https://doi.org/10.1177/10497315261422589
UNICEF Malaysia. (2022). Naungan Kasih. Retrieved July 27, 2026, from https://www.unicef.org/malaysia/naungan-kasih