Inclusive ECCD: - Consultative Group on Early Childhood Care and ...

<strong>ECCD</strong> Initiatives COORDINATORS’ NOTEBOOK, ISSUE 22
ideas and approaches, and refining and enriching
thinking on early childhood and family
education issues; and
■ the avoidance of duplication by actively channelling
the information flow among individuals
and organisations.
UNESCO’s contribution to the programme is
both intellectual and financial. Its financial contribution
is aimed primarily at covering the following
types of expenses:
– start-up funds to facilitate the establishment of a
joint project under the UNESCO Early Childhood
Partnerships Programme; and
– support for activities related to the UNESCO
Early Childhood Partnerships Programme
which are of direct benefit for early childhood and
family education in Member States.
The Programme will try to associate as many
partners as possible in its implementation and
establish links with other existing programmes
or activities which pursue similar goals. To that
effect, UNESCO wishes to act mainly as a catalyst,
working in close collaboration with other
UN agencies, with inter-governmental organisations
active in the field of early childhood and
family education, with non-governmental organisations
and, above all, with early childhood
and family education institutions themselves.
Special efforts will be made to secure financial
support for this programme from governments,
from inter-governmental organisations, and
from various development and donor agencies,
as well as from public and private institutions.
Education for All (EFA)
Indicators Update
At the <strong>Consultative</strong> <strong>Group</strong> meeting in April
1998 there was considerable discussion of the
EFA Indicators that had been chosen to represent
what is happening in terms of the development
of <strong>ECCD</strong> programming within countries.
The data are to be presented at the end of
decade EFA Forum. At the CG meeting an informal
group was formed to develop an alternative
set of indicators. These were shared with the
EFA Secretariat. Subsequent to our meeting
there was an EFA Committee meeting that finalised
the indicators. What follows is a description
of the two indicators that are a part of the
EFA 2000 Assessment.
It is important to note that the <strong>Consultative</strong>
<strong>Group</strong> is preparing a set of guidelines for the development
of a much broader set of <strong>ECCD</strong> indicators.
These will be presented in the next issue
of the Coordinators’ Notebook.
Education for All (EFA)
Indicators for <strong>ECCD</strong>
PREAMBLE: This target deals with the first
component of basic education: early childhood
care and development (<strong>ECCD</strong>), a term
that embraces the full range of purposeful
and structured activities intended to provide
for the healthy growth and developmental
needs of children from birth to eight years
of age. This includes activities provided under
the supervision of several areas of state
responsibility, such as education, health,
nutrition, social welfare, etc. The target
specifically includes family and community
<strong>ECCD</strong> interventions, especially for the poor,
disadvantaged, and disabled children. It is
unlikely that many countries will have a
systematic record of this broad range of
activities, so information about them will
have to be obtained through special studies
and household surveys.
Such studies and surveys have been
carried out in a number of countries, sometimes
by government authorities, but often
by NGOs and international agencies. Thus
these countries will have a good starting
point for their assessment. The impact of
<strong>ECCD</strong> programmes is difficult to assess. One
approach is to determine what proportion of
children who enter school has experienced
some kind of <strong>ECCD</strong> support.
Countries are invited to collect data on
at least the indicators described hereafter,
so that some broad picture of the development
of <strong>ECCD</strong> can be developed. Wherever
possible, these data should be supplemented
by information about the nature and coverage
of the <strong>ECCD</strong> programmes, and particularly
about their educational component.
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