According to this article, "in virtually all societies, the managers of indigenous knowledge (IK) systems that deal with the development, care and well-being of women and children are senior women, or grandmothers. In that function, grandmothers are expected to advise and supervise the younger generations. However, most development programmes neither acknowledge their influence nor explicitly involve them in efforts to strengthen existing family and community survival strategies. " The article proposes that particularly in non-Western societies many development communication programmes fail to recognise the influence of older people as information providers, often focusing on youth as their main population to involve. This knowlede is also usually gender specific, so that when it comes to information related to growth and development of young children and to the well-being of women of reproductive age, it is clearly senior women, or grandmothers, who have greater experience and greater knowledge.

The author has found that two sets of factors appear to contribute to the non-inclusion of grandmothers in development programmes. First, there are several negative biases against grandmothers based on stereotypes: that grandmothers do not significantly influence the knowledge and practices of other family members; second, that if they are influential they are often a bad influence; third, that because many grandmothers are illiterate, it is impossible for them to learn new things; and fourth, because of their age and attachment to tradition they are necessarily resistant to change. Secondly, the models, or frameworks, used in community programmes to support women and children’s development typically focus on younger, women-of-reproductive age (WRA) in relative isolation from the household context of decision-making and influence of other family members, largely ignoring the socio-cultural systems of which they are a part, and in which older family members play an influential role.

A methodology was developed by The Grandmother Project, a U.S.-based non-profit, for working with grandmother networks in Africa and Asia in order to strengthen their role and knowledge in promoting optimal practices related to maternal and children health and well-being. According to the article, in each setting where the methodology was used, communities strongly supported the idea of grandmother inclusion, most grandmothers participated actively, acquired new knowledge and agreed to combine new ideas with traditional knowledge.

The outcome of this process of experimentation, evaluation and learning is the generic grandmother-inclusive methodology.The five key steps in the methodology are:

1. rapid assessment of grandmothers’ role and influence in the household and community related to the issue of interest;
2. public recognition of grandmothers’ role in promoting health and development of families and communities;
3. participatory communication/education activities that engage first, grandmother networks, and second, other community members, in discussion of both traditional and modern practices;
4. strengthening the capacity of grandmother leaders and networks to promote improved practices with other grandmothers, in families and in the community-at-large; and
5. ongoing monitoring and documentation for learning.

In the programmes that used the methodology, the several biases against grandmothers (discussed above) were systematically disproved. First, rapid assessments in all sites revealed that grandmothers have considerable influence on all matters related to women and children’s well-being and on other household members’ attitudes and practices in this regard. Second, while some of their practices are harmful, overall, their experience, motivation and commitment to caring for women and children are very positive. Third, the majority of grandmothers, including illiterate ones, are capable of learning new things when the pedagogical approach used is based on respect and dialogue. Fourth, they are very open to combining new practices with 'old' ones, even when this means abandoning certain traditions.

Through process documentation and evaluation, a number of other positive and unanticipated outcomes of the grandmother-inclusive methodology were documented among different community groups. The article concludes that development planners often overlook the significance of the socio-culturally grounded role of elders in developing societies who are expected to guide and supervise the younger generations based both on their traditional knowledge and their understanding of 'modern' knowledge. Experiences working with grandmothers in several countries have demonstrated how their role as indigenous knowledge authorities can be built on, while at the same time they are encouraged to integrate new practices into local knowledge systems. It is likely that similar untapped potential exists among grandmothers in many other societies around the world.