Boosting Early Childhood Care

and Education in low income

countries: the role of GPE

66th OMEP World Assembly

July 1-2, 2014Cork, Ireland

Aigly Zafeirakou, PhDSenior Education SpecialistGPE Secretariatazafeirakou@globalpartnership.org

Photo: Deepa Srikantaiah

Outline

1. What is the Global Partnership for Education?

2. The picture of ECCE in low income countries

3. How global and local partners could support ECCE?

- Call to Action: Investing urgently in ECCE

- The added value of OMEP

The issue: access, equity and quality of education

• Despite huge gains in access, approximately 200 million children in primary school in developing countries are struggling to read even basic words, following several years of schooling!

• The Global Partnership for Education Partners have put as priority to achieve access, equity and quality education for all.

A partnership for basic education to address access, equity and quality

Low income recipient countries

Donor countries

Multilateral, bilateral organizations

Academia, civil society organizations, NGOs, the private sector

GPE strategy

To coordinate a global effort to deliver a good quality education to all girls and boys, prioritizing

the poorest and most vulnerable

Goals• Access for all• Learning for all• Building for the future (systems)

• Reaching every child (marginalized, conflict states)

ECCE in the GPE strategy

Within the strategic goals: Access for All,

Learning for All,

and the strategic objective 3:

Dramatic increase in the number of children learning and demonstrating mastery of basic literacy and numeracy skills by grade 3,

ECCE has an important role to play!

ECCE in the GPE strategy

Supporting efforts to increase Early Childhood Education especially for the more marginalized and disadvantaged

• Development of a sound Education Sector Plan

• Promote in-country partners collaborationoLocal Education GroupoSupervising Entity

• Implementation of the Plan- GPE Grant

• Monitoring the implementation of the Plan

• Technical support

The GPE approach

The GPE approach at country level

Education Sector Plan

Implementation

Monitoring and

Evaluation

ECCE components

Domestic and international investment (i.e. GPE grant)

Early Childhood Care and Education and the Global Partnership for Education Processes

The Global Partnership for Education supports ECCE with:

Financial support through GPE grants for eligible countries

Technical advice, knowledge development and sharing, support of networks and platforms

Entry points for ECCE operationalization

Two levels: System Level: Education Sector Plans Technical level: the appropriate development of

effective, essential, curricula package (s) for developing quality Early Childhood Education with quality language and emergent literacy components; what works from pilots and innovations is crucial!

12

ECCE: what we know:

Proving quality early childhood care and education, language development and emergent literacy experiences help young children and especially the poorest and most disadvantaged to improve primary school achievements and education success.

Preschoolers in emergent literacy activities, Albania, 2010 (photo: Author)

Early successful learning, leads to later successful learning

In fact, good quality ECCE results in:cost-savings and increased efficiency in

primary education: higher attendance and achievement, lower repetition and drop-out rates, less remedial and special education

children who are ready for school and for reading with early/emergent/pre-literacy skills

I. What we know

The starting point: holistic children development

Development is a multidimensional process It contains 4 basic interconnected areas of

child development, from birth to 6-8 years old

Definition: United Nations Convention on the Rights of children 2006

Physical

Socio-emotional

Linguistic

Cognitive

FROM BIRTH

TO SCHOOL

I. What we know

Entry point: language development and emergent literacy as predictors of success in

school and learning

This applies for all young children, but especially for young children from disadvantaged environments

I. What we know

In low income countries: vocabulary scores of Ecuadorian children aged 36 to

72 months by wealth quartiles

Parxson, K. &Schady N., 2005

II. The picture of ECCE in low income countries

A kindergarten class attached to a primary school, with an unqualified teacher, Sub-Saharan Africa

The disadvantaged

• Around 219 million children under 5 are disadvantaged*

61% in Africa

52% in South Asia

39 % in the developing countries

(Grantham-McGregor et al.2007)

*Disadvantaged children: stunted, living in poverty or both

Learning outcomes still lag behind

• Early grade reading assessments show a rather dramatic situation despite the fact that access is a success story, during the last decade.

• Many children in sub-Saharan Africa are failing to master basic literacy and numeracy skills, even if they complete primary school. The Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality (SACMEQ)

The Early Grade Assessment (EGRA)

• This is an alarming situation and ECCE has an important role to play in order to overcome!

Access

Enrollment in preprimary education generally increased between 2000 and 2011

Global Partnership for Education Results Learning Report 2013. http://globalpartnership.org/content/results-learning-report-2013

Tajik

istan

Burkina F

aso

Sierra

Leone

Nigeria

Madag

ascar

Togo

Lao PDR

Sao To

me and Prin

cipe

Vietnam

Moldova

Mongolia

Ghana

Nepal

0.00

20.00

40.00

60.00

80.00

100.00

120.00

Preprimary gross enrollment. Decade change. Selected GPE countries with 2002 and 2012 data. UIS/UNESCO

20002012

Access

Inequalities: participation in Pre-primary is increasing but still limited and unequal (Global

Monitoring Report, 2011)

Tajik

istan

Burkina F

aso

Sierra

Leone

Nigeria

Madag

ascar

Togo

Lao PDR

Sao To

me and Prin

cipe

Vietnam

Mongolia

Ghana

Nepal

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Access to ECCE by socio-economic status in selected countries. Latest MICS available data (2005-2012).

PoorestRichest

The poorest young children benefit the least

Tajik

istan

Burkina F

aso

Sierra

Leone

Nigeria

Madag

ascar

Togo

Lao PDR

Vietnam

Sao To

me and Prin

cipe

Mongolia

Ghana

Nepal

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Access to ECCE by geographical location in selected countries. Latest MICS available data (2006-2012).

RuralUrban

Access to ECCE is concentrated in urban areas

Children from rich families are more likely to participate in ECCE programs

Probability for 3- and 4 years old of attending early learning programs: children from the richest 20% compared with children from the poorest 20% Source: Global Monitoring Report, 2010, cited Nanoyama-Tarumi et al.

Children of educated mothers are more likely to attend ECD programs

Source: GMR 2010, Nonoyama-Tarumi et al. p.52

Private preprimary schools catered to an average of 34 percent of children in 2011

Private; 34

Other; 66

Source: Global Partnership for Education Results Learning Report 2013. http://globalpartnership.org/content/results-learning-report-2013

Percentage of private enrolment. Pre-primaryGPE developing partner countries with latest available data (2000-2012) (UIS/Unesco)

100%Country (total pre-primary gross enrollment, private pre-primary enrollment)Eg. The Gambia (30, 77)

Uganda (13,100), Rwanda (13,100),

Tonga (35,100), Vanuatu

(61,100), St. Lucia (61,100),

St. Vincent (78,100), Lesotho (35,100), Comoros (24,100)

75%-99%50%-74% Burkina Faso

(4,76), The Gambia (30,77),

Mauritania (2,79), Guinea-Bissau (6,84),

Ethiopia, Madagascar

(8,91)

25%-49% Congo, Dem. (4,52), Chad (2,

52), Eritrea (13,53), Central

Afr. (6,55), Benin (18,56) , Djibouti (4,57), Myanmar (9,60), Cameroon

(30,64), Congo Rep (14,66),

Guinea (15,72), Mali (4,72)

11%-24% Nigeria (13,28), Togo (11,30), Cote d'Ivoire

(5,35), Burundi (5,36), Kenya (51,38),

Senegal (14, 43), Sierra Leone (9,44),

Yemen (1,45), Bangladesh (25,49)

Under 10% Cambodia (15,13), Sao Tome (50,14), Nicaragua

(55,16), Niger (6,13), Nepal (81,17), Vietnam (77,21), Ghana (114,22), Lao PDR (24,22), Sudan

(26,23), Solomon Islands (43,23)

Guyana (62,7), Mongolia (85,7), Tanzania (34,5),

Kyrgyz Rep. (24,3),

Uzbekistan (25,0.6),

Moldova (79,0.2)

No. of countries:6 9 9 11 6 8

Mapping Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) in GPE countries:

40 country profiles

Structure of the profile sheet

Structure of the profile sheet

TRENDS- ECCE findings in 48 GPE countries

ECCE INCLUDED IN ALL

EDUCATION SECTOR PLANS

ECCE AT EMERGENT STATE IN GPE POOREST

COUNTRIES

INCREASED GROSS ENROLLMENT

CHILDREN 3-5 YRS

SIGNIFICANT INTERNAL INEQUALITIES (RURAL,

POOR, ETHNIC MINORITY AND YOUNG CHILDEN)

MORE COUNTRIES EXPAND PRE-SCHOOL CLASSES AT LEAST 1

YEAR

COMMUNITY-BASED ECCE POPULAR FOR

SCALE –UP BUT SUSTAINABILITY?

Quality ChallengesExamples

Obsolete programs and technologies

Need for adequate furniture, equipment,

library, toys, visual learning aids.

Unsatisfactory sanitary conditions in

preschool institutions

Very few teachers with higher

education degree

High incompatibility of teacher training with modern early child

development requirements

Salaries of kindergarten teachers are still very low compared to salaries of

production workers

GPE country allotments to ECCE in US millions and periodCountry Total grant Part of total grant

Kyrgyz Rep. 12.7/ 2014-2017

Mongolia 12.12/ 2012-14

Moldova 4.4/ 2012-2014

Nepal 59/2009-2014

Uzbekistan 20.7/2014-2017

Nicaragua 15.9/2013-2016

Uganda 7.0/2014-2017

Sierra Leone 1.0/2014-2017

Tanzania mainland 1.7/2013

Eritrea 1.3/ 2014-2017

Ethiopia Less than 1.0

Cameroon Less than 0.5

The Gambia 0.366/ 2013

Yemen 0.88/2013-2016

GPE country allotments to ECCE in US millions and periodCountry Total grant Part of total grant

Tajikistan 13.5/2010-2012*

Cambodia 57.4 /2010*

Mozambique 90 /2011-2015*

* Confirmed allocation to ECCE yet unspecified in GPE Grant Application Document

Sources: GPE Grant Application Documents, Project Documents and draft note “SUMMARY OF ECD/ECCE ACTIVITIES INCLUDED IN GPE PROJECTS APPROVED NOVEMBER 2013 IN AFRICA”

ECCE Impact evaluations

• The Promise of Preschool in Africa: A Randomized

Impact Evaluation of Early Childhood Development in

Rural Mozambique. World Bank, 2012.

Mozambique

• Impact Evaluation of Three Types of Early Childhood Development Interventions in Cambodia. World Bank, 2013.

Cambodia

• Supporting emergent Literacy skills among preschool age children. Save the Children 2014. Ethiopia

From ESPs to ECCE/ECD implementation

Countries with ECCE comp. in the GPE current grants)

Kyrgyz Rep., Nepal, Moldova, Mongolia, Uzbekistan, Nicaragua, Uganda, Yemen, Tajikistan, Cambodia, Mozambique, Cameroon, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Niger, Sierra Leone, Tanzania Mainland.

In total: around 137 million awarded for specific ECCE and ECD components

Activities included in GPE grant proposals

• Sub-sector analysis, (2) • Expansion of preschool

classes (4) • Modules for initial teacher

training, training, Teacher guides (3)

• Materials for training (1)• Standards (2) • Impact evaluations (2)• Piloting new approaches (2)• Day care, Parenting

programs (3)• Capacity development (2)

III. How global and local partners could support ECCE?

The road ahead: the role of GPEopportunities for OMEP

- Call to Action: Investing urgently in ECCE

- Implementing the GPE Strategic plan: Technical Reference Group (TRG)

- The added value of OMEP: technical platform part of the TRG?

Other critical technical questions for GPE ECCE partners

• Define and identify age group intervention levels (preschool classes)

Programming (qualification of educators / pre-school teachers, curricula, learning and teaching aids, pedagogical materials, emergent literacy etc.)

- Appropriate mix in the ground between education, health, nutrition, care, etc.

- Education and school readiness as goal, other interventions as enabling factors

)

Nest steps for discussion

Multiple opportunities for OMEP action within the GPE:

Member of the incoming Techincal Reference Group Contribute to the deliver of the implementation plan but

contributing at global and country level in supporting efforts to increase ECE especially for the more marginalized.

Provide inputs on new research, thinking and evidence on ECCE programming, essential ECCE packages, ECD, alternative innovative service delivery

Contribute to knowledge development, and sharing, analytical work, advocacy (ECCE workshops in Africa 2014)