REGIONAL TRENDS IN
ECDE FROM 2010-2013
Presented at the Southern Africa Regional Conference
On Early Childhood Development And Education (ECDE)
03 – 05 December 2013
Pretoria, South Africa
By: Lynette Okengo, PhD
ECD Consultant, Open Society Foundation
Situation in 2010
 Advocacy at various levels
 Policy development
 Establishment of ECD programs mostly community
based (low access)
 2-3 weeks capacity building programmes + ECDVU
 Concern about lack of programmes for under 3’s
 General lack of government involvement
Programming within the context of high levels of
poverty, low resources, limited capacity but growing
awareness of importance of early years
Context of Children in Southern Africa
Trend
GDP per capita average annual growth rate
Proportion of population living below the poverty line
Average annual rate of inflation
Gender inequity (Gender equity index)
Adult literacy rate: Females as a % of males
Food insecurity
% of under-fives suffering from underweight
% of under-fives suffering from stunting
Maternal mortality ratio
Access to early learning services
Is the situation of children really improving?
Improvements are minimal
Persistent low child outcomes
Negative effects of other factors:
 Low maternal education
 Maternal depression relatively common
(Africa- 15% - 28%)
 High exposure to violence
(35% of women experience intimate partner or nonpartner violence- WHO 2013 )
 Increasing environmental toxins
Trends in ECD Program Design
Increased discussion on integrated programming:
 Growing consensus on components of an
integrated program
 Not necessarily one stop shop
 Growing realization of the importance of a
referral system
Implementation of pilot programs (sustainable?)
Still remains the need for consensus on the
implementation of an integrated ECD program
Trends in Access
 Increasing ECD modes of service
provision
 Relatively lower rate for:
 Children from low income families
 Children living in marginalized
communities
 Children with special needs
 Children of mothers with lower education
Need to enhance equitable access to
Trends in ECD Service Provision
Service provision continues to be sector
specific
Increasing attention to the pre-primary class
(R class)
Programming for under 3’s increasingly being
viewed as a responsibility of the health sector
Ongoing limited mainstreaming of ECD into
health initiatives
Increasing attention to strengthening social
Trends in Enhancing Quality
 More countries developing ECD curricula and training
materials
 More countries developing institutionalized training
programs
 More countries developing ELDS, minimum standards
and guidelines
 Some attention to proposing model
classrooms/programmes
 Increased advocacy for governments to pay ECD
teachers/caregivers
More needs to be done to support:
 Establishment of PE programmes
 Professional development of teachers
 Assessment
 Multi-age teaching
 Reflective teaching
 Child centered pedagogy
 Establish support systems for teachers incl. mentors,
supervisors
 Availability of play and early learning materials
 Continuous quality improvement
 Capacity building of school administrators, management
teams, ECD program officers etc.
Trends in Governance of National Programs
 Governments more responsive to supporting ECD
programmes
 Focus shifting from policy development to implementation.
ECD legislation ??
 Increased MOE involvement
 Preprimary increasingly being included as part of basic
education, GPE, national plans and budgets
 Governments focusing more on providing enabling
environment esp. for under 3’s rather than service
provision
 Stakeholder accountabilities??
Evidence Generation and Dissemination
Increased awareness of importance of
building an evidence base
Growing realization of the need to integrate
learning in M&E models
Increased use of participatory research
methodology
Slow increase of impact evaluations
Need for strengthened capacity in designing
Trends in Financing of ECD
More governments promoting PPP
Private entrepreneurs continue to play a
critical role in service provision for under 3’s
Increasing role of development partners in
service provision
External funding continues to provide major support
to ECD programming
Trends in Strengthening Partnerships
Parents continue to be recognized as critical
partners
Emergence of national ECD networks
Ongoing discussions for the establishment of
regional ECD networks
Some evidence of development partner networks
Governments encouraging PPP
Need to explore more sustainable options of
financing ECD
Challenges of ECD Programming in the Region
 Growing but insufficient government commitment and
political will
 Low national prioritization (Inadequate integration of ECD
into National Planning Instruments
 Inadequate resources (financial & human)
 Mostly donor funded and often unsustainable
 Largely sectoral with weak co-ordinating structures.
 Limited access with large regional and national disparities
 Inequitable access to existing services
 Low quality of programs
Recommendations
Continue with advocacy at all levels but with few
clear messages targeted e.g. at inclusion of ECD
teachers/caregivers into national payroll,
institutionalization and accreditation of ECD
training as well as increased resource allocation.
Continue professional capacity development of
ECD practitioners and enhance teacher support
systems
Strengthen partnership with families and
communities
Some things never change…..
Children who start behind, stay behind….
Cumulative Vocabulary (Words)
1200
Higher income
600
Middle income
Lower income
200
16 mos.
24 mos.
36 mos.
Child’s Age (Months)
Source: Hart & Risley (1995)
Thank you for your attention