Policies and strategies to expand ECCE: what makes a difference in countries Input from UNGEI technical meeting

UN Girls’ Education Initiative

• Vision – Equal access to all levels of education by 2015 – Partnership – Platform for Action • Objectives – Movement for girls’ education in the context of poverty reduction and development – Provide leadership – Develop key strategies – Develop and implement strong advocacy – Provide leadership in technical work, information sharing, and capacity building for girls’ education

Early Childhood Care and Education • Welcome the Global Monitoring Report – Provides advocacy materials as to why investing in ECCE, especially for vulnerable and disadvantaged children, is necessary • Starting point for UNGEI Technical meeting. – Discussed strategies and way forward related to the following themes:

The ECCE policy agenda

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Comprehensive Policy Framework

– Identify needs – Identify context and strategies to reach out

Financing Frameworks

– Integrating into national and international budget frameworks

Coordination Mechanisms

– ECCE covers multiple sectors, serving the children from before birth to age 8

Expanding ECCE

• Empower and enhance communities at the local level, incl. all stakeholders to provide for comprehensive ECCE • Use UNGEI as the partnership vehicle to promote ECCE particularly for girls (media as a key partner) • Mobilize resources creatively through national multisectoral plans, private sector, NGOs and the development/donor community

ECCE programs and strategies

• 0-3: Provide comprehensive parenting education through existing services incl health, nutrition and education services • 3-6: Government responsible for developing quality standards and targeting the high risk population.

• Develop quality teaching and learning methods for both pre school and grade 1

Measuring impact and monitoring quality • Develop national standards • Develop different tools to measure impact in the short term and long term (eg. Children ready for school and schools ready for children) • Benchmarks could be national, regional and international