Early Childhood Development
The Working Group on Early Childhood Development (WGECD) is one of the most recent ADEA Working Groups. It was created in 1997 with the objective to ensure that provisions for quality, accessible and affordable ECD are in place in order for children to have equal chances to complete basic education and develop their capacities. The first task the Working Group set for itself is to investigate existing ECD policies in sub-Saharan Africa. The Policy Studies Project includes a broad survey of ECD policies and the production of three case studies in Ghana, Mauritius and Namibia.
Activities of the Working Group on Early Childhood Development (WGECD) gained momentum in 2000, encouraged by further acknowledgments of the crucial importance of ECD as a precondition for the positive development of children in education and in life. Such acknowledgements were made in international fora such as the ADEA Biennial Meeting and the Johannesburg All Africa Conference on EFA in 1999 and the World Education Forum in Dakar in 2000. A recent statement from the Executive Director of UNICEF, Carol Bellamy, at the launching of The State of the World's Children 2001 (1), argued strongly that the key to human development progress lies with the very youngest: "The greatest tragedy is that many decision-makers simply don't know how crucial those first three years of life are. But we have made great strides in understanding human development, and we are now certain that those years are vital to everything that comes later. Investments made today will yield high returns to children and society in the future."
The Policy Studies Project
The decision-makers referred to by Carol Bellamy and the policies relevant to young children for which they are responsible are the focus of the Working Group's Policy Studies Project. Its starting point is the belief that increased commitment to and investment in ECD by national governments is essential to expanding and improving sustainable and appropriate ECD in Africa. By providing information to African governments about the ECD policies that have been developed in Africa and the thinking and strategies that have led to these policies, the Working Group hopes to encourage and stimulate active government commitment to ECD.
The Working Group's Policy Studies Project has two main components: a broad survey of the ECD policies and the production of case studies on policies in three African countries. In regard to the first component, in November 2000 the Group sent out a questionnaire to all ministers of education to elicit general information about ECD and specific information about ECD policy. One-fifth of the more than 50 questionnaires sent out were returned by early December. The information from the questionnaire returns will be included in the meta-analysis stage of the project, which will take place after the three case studies have been completed.
The production of the case studies accelerated in August, once much behind-the-scenes work had established the project as a joint venture of the Working Group, UNICEF, and the ministries in Ghana, Mauritius, and Namibia. These three countries were selected because they had developed or were in the process of developing policies focused specifically on ECD. Each country formed a team comprised of researchers, a representative from the UNICEF country office, and one from government. From the beginning teamwork and the establishment of links with ECD networks in each country were seen as key to the process.
Two linked workshops were held in South Africa, one in August and the second in late November. Each country team participated in the workshops, which were facilitated by the Project Coordinator and an experienced ECD trainer. At the first workshop participants produced the terms of reference for the case studies and a two-month work plan for each country team. At the second workshop they reviewed progress, ironed-out difficulties experienced by the teams, and worked on strategies for disseminating the case studies. Ghana and Mauritius produced first drafts of the case studies for the second workshop, and Namibia's will be completed early in 2001.
A workshop will take place in early 2001 to carry out a meta-analysis of the findings of the three studies, supplemented by the information from the results of the questionnaire to ministries of education. Each UNICEF office intends to organize in-country conferences to disseminate the results of the case-studies, and the Working Group will seek opportunities for the government representatives to present their case studies and the meta-analysis report at international conferences. The Working Group will publish the complete meta-analysis.
HIV/AIDS and ECD
In response to the deep concern about HIV/AIDS in Africa, the Working Group has taken the first steps in partnership with UNICEF regional offices to study the effects of HIV/AIDS on young children and their families. At a meeting in 2001 representatives from African countries most affected by HIV/AIDS will brainstorm to identify the main issues, problems, and options and some of the initiatives that have begun. The Working Group, in partnership with other organizations, will consider supporting case studies on HIV/AIDS initiatives as part of a second stage of the Policy Studies Project. In the meantime, the questionnaire sent to ministries includes a question on the impact of HIV/AIDS on young children and their families.
Structure and organization of the Working Group
As 2000 was devoted to getting the Policy Studies Project off the ground, little attention was given to what is clearly most crucial to any extension of the activities, that is, to establish a firm constituency for the Working Group and to appoint a Steering Committee. The questionnaire returns should indicate which African countries have a particular commitment to ECD. A number of countries have expressed interest in working with the Working Group. The Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which is the lead organization for the Working Group, will arrange a meeting in 2001 to disseminate the outcomes of the Policy Studies Project and bring together representatives of interested countries.
The Group's dilemma
The principle of holistic child development, which recognizes the importance of children developing satisfactorily in many dimensions and the interdependence of these dimensions, is one of the guiding principles of the Working Group. The way national governments organize themselves in most countries contradicts this principle, in that the needs of children are addressed through sectoral programs. Furthermore, ADEA is concerned primarily with formal education, while the Working Group definition of ECD includes children from birth to seven or eight years old, within and outside of educational institutions. In choosing to work on the Policy Studies Project, the Working Group has confronted this dilemma head-on. In none of the three case study countries, is the government representative on the team from the ministry of education, because another ministry is more relevant to ECD policy. How the ministers of education respond to the project's publications will be a test of how far the principle of holistic ECD is accepted.
Kate Torkington
Policy Studies Project
Coordinator
Working Group on Early Childhood Development
1. The State of the World's Children 2001: Early Childhood, UNICEF, 2000.
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