Boosting Early
Childhood Care
and Education in
low income
countries: the role
of GPE
66th OMEP World
Assembly
July 1-2, 2014
Cork, Ireland
Aigly Zafeirakou, PhD
Senior Education Specialist
GPE Secretariat
azafeirakou@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
The GPE approach
• Development of a sound Education Sector Plan
• Promote in-country partners collaboration
oLocal Education Group
oSupervising Entity
• Implementation of the Plan- GPE Grant
• Monitoring the implementation of the Plan
• Technical support
The GPE approach at country level
Domestic and international
investment (i.e. GPE grant)
Education
Sector Plan
Implementation
ECCE components
Monitoring
and
Evaluation
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!
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)
12
I. What we know
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/preliteracy skills
I. What we know
The starting point: holistic children
development
TO SCHOOL
Cognitive
Physical
Linguistic
Socio-emotional
 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
FROM BIRTH
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
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
Access
Preprimary gross enrollment. Decade change. Selected GPE countries
with 2002 and 2012 data. UIS/UNESCO
120.00
100.00
80.00
60.00
2000
40.00
20.00
0.00
2012
Inequalities: participation in Pre-primary is
increasing but still limited and unequal (Global
Monitoring Report, 2011)
The poorest young children benefit the least
Access to ECCE by socio-economic status in selected countries.
Latest MICS available data (2005-2012).
120
100
80
60
Poorest
40
20
0
Richest
Access to ECCE is concentrated in urban
areas
Access to ECCE by geographical location in selected countries.
Latest MICS available data (2006-2012).
90
80
70
60
50
40
Rural
30
20
10
0
Urban
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-primary
GPE 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)
25%-49%
11%-24%
Nigeria (13,28), Togo
Under 10%
Cambodia (15,13), Sao (11,30), Cote d'Ivoire
(5,35), Burundi
Guyana (62,7), Tome (50,14), Nicaragua
(5,36), Kenya (51,38),
Mongolia (85,7), (55,16), Niger (6,13),
Senegal (14, 43),
Tanzania (34,5), Nepal (81,17), Vietnam
Sierra Leone (9,44),
Kyrgyz Rep. (77,21), Ghana (114,22),
Yemen (1,45),
Lao PDR (24,22), Sudan
(24,3),
Bangladesh (25,49)
(26,23), Solomon
Uzbekistan
Islands (43,23)
(25,0.6),
Moldova (79,0.2)
No. of countries:
6
9
9
Uganda
(13,100),
75%-99%
Rwanda
(13,100),
50%-74%
Burkina Faso
Tonga
(4,76), The
Congo, Dem.
Gambia (30,77), (35,100),
(4,52), Chad (2,
Vanuatu
Mauritania
52), Eritrea
(2,79), Guinea- (61,100), St.
(13,53), Central
Bissau (6,84), Lucia (61,100),
Afr. (6,55), Benin
St. Vincent
Ethiopia,
(18,56) , Djibouti
(78,100),
Madagascar
(4,57), Myanmar
Lesotho
(8,91)
(9,60), Cameroon
(35,100),
(30,64), Congo
Comoros
Rep (14,66),
(24,100)
Guinea (15,72),
Mali (4,72)
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
ECCE AT
INCLUDED IN ALL
EDUCATION SECTOR
PLANS
EMERGENT STATE
SIGNIFICANT INTERNAL
INEQUALITIES (RURAL,
POOR, ETHNIC MINORITY
AND YOUNG CHILDEN)
IN GPE POOREST
COUNTRIES
MORE COUNTRIES
EXPAND PRE-SCHOOL
CLASSES AT LEAST 1 YEAR
INCREASED
GROSS ENROLLMENT
CHILDREN 3-5 YRS
COMMUNITY-BASED ECCE
POPULAR FOR
SCALE –UP BUT
SUSTAINABILITY?
Quality Challenges
Examples
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 period
Country
Total grant
Kyrgyz Rep.
12.7/ 2014-2017
Mongolia
12.12/ 2012-14
Moldova
4.4/ 2012-2014
Part of total grant
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 period
Country
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
•
Mozambique
The Promise of Preschool in Africa: A
Randomized Impact Evaluation of Early
Childhood Development in Rural
Mozambique. World Bank, 2012.
Cambodia
• Impact Evaluation of Three Types of Early
Childhood Development Interventions in
Cambodia. World Bank, 2013.
Ethiopia
• Supporting emergent Literacy skills among
preschool age children. Save the Children
2014.
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 GPE
opportunities 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)