Michelle J. Neuman, Ph.D. Zanzibar - October 26, 2009 AFRICA EARLY CHILDHOOD CARE AND DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE Rationale, Update, and Workshop Overview Michelle J. Neuman, Ph.D. Zanzibar - October 26, 2009

What is ECCD? Support for young children’s survival, growth, development and learning including health, nutrition, nurturing care and stimulation Prenatal to age 8: the most important developmental phase in human lifespan A diverse field: settings…homes, schools, community-based… providers…public, private, non-profit… activities…care, nutrition, parent education… ages...prenatal, 0-2, 3-5, 6-8… agencies…education, health, gender, social… Children can thrive in many different kinds of environments.

Why is ECCD important? EFA Goals MDGs Expand and improve comprehensive early childhood care and education, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children Universal primary education by 2015 Learning and life skills programs for youth and adults 50% increase in adult literacy rates by 2015 Gender parity by 2005 and gender equality by 2015 Improving quality of education Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger Achieve universal primary education Promote gender equality and empower women Reduce child mortality, and other health goals

Young children in Africa are vulnerable High under-5 mortality rates (176 per 1000), most from preventable diseases 40% of children under age 5 are moderately or severely stunted 71 million children (61% of children under age 5) do not reach their full potential due to poverty and poor health, nutrition, and care Children in emergency, conflict and post-conflict situations highly vulnerable Children often begin school late, repeat grades, drop out early, and perform poorly. 38 million children are out of school  HIGH QUALITY ECCD PROGRAMS CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE. High under 5 mortality rate in SSA: 176 children per 1,000 live births, 101 in South and West Asia More than one-quarter of children under 5 in sub-Saharan Africa are moderately or severely underweight 16

Early years are a window of opportunity Sensing Language Pathways Higher (vision, hearing) Cognitive Function -6 -3 3 6 9 1 4 8 12 16 Human abilities form very early and in predictable sequence of sensitive periods – For example: Language does not suddenly appear at some pre-determined age in some pre-determined fashion but rather, emerges after a child ha begun to engage with his or her caregivers in such co-regulated activities as sharing, requesting, imitating, playing, naming, describing, apologizing, etc. Months Years Conception AGE C. Nelson, in From Neurons to Neighborhoods, 2000 5 5

Quality ECD improves education outcomes Better access to primary school Lower retention in primary school Improved gender equity in education Lower repetition rates Better language development Higher achievement in education

Source: Heckman & Carneiro (2003) Human Capital Policy

…but Africa lags behind in pre-primary enrolment Regional GER is 14% vs. 40% globally Developed/transition countries Latin America/Caribbean East Asia/Pacific South and West Asia Arab States Sub-Saharan Africa The dotted line signifies a break in the data series (new classification). See chapter 6. Low participation in sub-Saharan Africa, South/West Asia, and Arab States Source: EFA Global Monitoring Report, 2007

Source: Global Education Digest, 2008 Pre-school Net Enrollment Rates (NER) are 10% or under in all countries except Tanzania (27) and Liberia (35) Niger has the lowest NER at 1 Gross Enrollment Ratios (GER) are 1-4 points higher than the NER, except in Liberia (GER=100) Primary school NER are significantly higher than pre-school NER and range from 43 in Niger to 98 in Tanzania Note: Mali and Zambia figures for pre-school are gross enrollment ratios Source: Global Education Digest, 2008

Equity: Poverty limits access to ECCD Higher attendance for children from richer households Lower attendance among poor who would benefit most Other factors that limit access: - Lack of mother’s secondary education Living in rural households - Lack of birth certificate 20 40 60 80 Niger D. R. Congo U. R. Tanzania Lao PDR Tajikistan Uganda Rwanda Senegal Egypt Bolivia Myanmar Azerbaijan Madagascar Sierra Leone Philippines Cameroon Kenya Nicaragua Mongolia Haiti Lesotho India Venezuela Viet Nam Colombia Trinidad/Tobago Attendance rates (%) Attendance rates for three and four year olds. Poverty Large gaps in access between richest and poorest households Lack of mother’s secondary education Place of residence Rural enrolment 10 to 30 percentage points lower than urban Lack of centre close to home Lack of birth certificate, often reflecting marginalization Disadvantaged and vulnerable children stand to benefit most from early childhood programmes Poorer households Richer households Source: EFA Global Monitoring Report, 2007

Improve quality  Promote school readiness The quality of interaction between carer and child is the single most important determinant of program success Promoting school readiness also means making schools ready for children Source: EFA Global Monitoring Report, 2007

A holistic approach is important Young children have multiple needs for: Nurturing parenting, strong family and community support Early stimulation and developmental activities Preventive and primary health and nutrition Safety/protection Clean water, home and community environment Iron, nutrition, deworming and psycho-social stimulation  positive impact on learning Combining nutrition and early stimulation has larger and longer-lasting impact children’s health and learning than either alone 12

Purposes of the Africa ECCD Initiative Improve the capacity of African countries to attain EFA Goals and MDGs by laying a strong foundation, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children. Increase understanding among stakeholders of the importance of children’s early development and learning as a key ingredient in achieving EFA goals. Foster the scaling up of ECCD policies and programs by helping countries obtain sustainable funding for cost-effective approaches.

Strategy: Mainstreaming ECD into EFA-FTI “Fast Track Initiative” = global partnership to accelerate progress towards universal completion of quality primary education by 2015 One country, one education strategy, one process  Ed Sector Plan Covering the whole sector Realistic and Sustainable Linked to the overall Poverty Reduction Strategy Two sources of technical and financial support: Education Program Development Fund (EPDF) Catalytic Fund (CF) ECD is essential ingredient for achieving universal primary completion!

Main Components: 2009-2010 Develop ECCD programs in at least 8 countries by providing country-level analytical support Exchange ECCD policy and program experiences regionally Technical workshop for 8 country teams (October 2009) 4th African international conference with ADEA WGECD (Nov 2009) Build capacity of emerging leaders: ECDVU 3rd cohort launched in February: Cameroon, The Gambia, Liberia, Malawi, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia New nutrition virtual university to be launched in fall 2009

Eight Countries Selected: 2009 Guinea Liberia Mali Niger Nigeria Senegal Tanzania/Zanzibar Zambia

Scope of country EPDF support Work with country teams and development partners to design and implement strong ECD components in education sector programs (and related policies and plans) Activities vary according to local needs and priorities: Analytical/technical support for ESP development Capacity-development for implementation Monitoring, evaluation, and knowledge-sharing

Workshop objectives To provide a forum for high-level ECCD officials to: Exchange ideas, experiences, and lessons learned to date Receive technical support to strengthen results Learn about new cost-effective, contextually-appropriate approaches for going to scale Develop concrete strategies for going to scale in their own countries (briefing memo and presentation).

Workshop organization and outputs Panel Sessions Cross-Country Dialogue Sessions   Country Team Clinics  briefing memo and presentation brief ministers and other officials who will attend Dakar conference inform ECCD policy and program implementation within EFA-FTI mobilize support from local development partners.