Preparing Children for Primary School
---------------------------------
Child-to-Child: A Promising Approach
Education Section
Programme Division
UNICEF, New York
Initial Working Draft prepared by
Cassie Landers (ECD Consultant)
Revised and finalised by
Abhiyan Jung Rana (Education Programme Officer)
Cream Wright (Global Chief of Education)
February 16, 2007
Preparing Children for Primary School
Child-to-Child: A Promising Approach
Draft Concept Paper
Table of Contents
I. Introduction and Rationale…………………………………………………………… 3
II. Intervention Overview………………………………………………………………… 7
III. Country Selection……………………………………………………………………..12
IV. Program Evaluation...……………………………………………………………..…13
V. Roles and Responsibilities…………….……………………………………………15
VI. Proposed Project Phases..…………………………..……………………………..16
Annex I and II
2
I. Introduction and Rationale
UNICEF supports countries and contributes to achieving the MDGs (Millennium
Development Goals) through its Medium Term Strategic Plans (MTSP). In the latest
MTSP (2006-2009), programming priorities are strategically organized around five Focus
Areas as follows:





Focus Area 1. Young child survival and development
Focus Area 2. Basic education and gender equality
Focus Area 3. HIV/AIDS and children
Focus Area 4. Child protection from violence, exploitation and abuse
Focus Area 5. Policy advocacy and partnerships for children’s rights
This latest MTSP for 2006-2009 reflects an organisational shift in the approach and
management of UNICEF’s Early Childhood Development (ECD) programming. In the
previous MTSP (2002-2005) ECD was one of five organisational priorities. It combined
elements from health, nutrition, education, water and sanitation, into an Integrated Early
Childhood Development (IECD) programme, managed through the ECD Unit in the
Programme Division. This integrated approach, while grounded in theory, proved difficult
to implement within governments’ existing vertical and sectoral Ministries. The current
MTSP (2006-2009) therefore organises ECD within two of 5 new organisational Focus
Areas that are more clearly sector driven, while still requiring major cross-sectoral
implementation strategies. Elements of ECD are contained in Focus Area 1 (Young
Child Survival & Development), which concentrates on the needs of very young children
and seeks to integrate child development components into existing health, nutrition and
water and sanitation programmes. Additional elements can be found in Focus Area 2
(Basic Education & Gender Equality), which concentrates on the later years of
development, particularly in terms of children’s developmental readiness and their
preparation for starting school at the prescribed age, with appropriate competencies.
Within this programming framework the main concern in dealing with ECD as an integral
part of Focus Area 2 (Basic education and gender equality) is reflected in targets set for
improved developmental readiness of all children for a successful and on-time start to
primary school, especially for girls and marginalized children. This is the first Key Result
Area (KRA) in a logical chain of 4 inter-related result areas that include: reducing gender
and other disparities in relation to increased access, participation and completion of
quality basic education; improving education quality and supporting increased school
retention, completion and achievement rates; restoring education in emergencies and
post-conflict situations, and helping to safeguard education systems against the
HIV/AIDS pandemic. While progress has been made in most of these areas, ECD is
currently the weakest link in the chain of 4 inter-related result areas in terms of overage
children in grade 1, children reached by ECD programmes, national budget allocations
to ECD, and the priority assigned to ECD in national policies and plans.
Investing in ECD programs: What do we know?
During the past decade economists, behavioral scientists, educators, neuroscientists,
and biologists have all recognized the importance of the first six years of life. Early
childhood programs can improve the well being of young children especially in the
developing world where a child has a four in ten chance of living in extreme poverty and
10.5 million children a year die from preventable diseases before age five. It is a time of
3
tremendous brain growth that lays a foundation for later learning. What, how, and how
much children learn later in school largely depends on the social and emotional
competences and cognitive skills they develop in the first few years of life. The impact of
such programs on participation in primary school education and beyond is well
documented. Preschool experiences in the United Kingdom for example, were shown to
result in improved intellectual development independence, concentration and social skills
during the first three years of primary school.
Studies in several developing countries point to links between participation in early
childhood programs, primary school enrolment and better results over at least three to
four years, particularly for disadvantaged children. In a poor district of Nepal, 95% of
children who attended an early childhood program went on to primary school, as
opposed to 75% who did not. Children attending the program had significantly higher
marks on exams at the end of grade 1. The Turkish Early Enrichment project in lowincome areas of Istanbul, comprising preschool and support to mothers, resulted in 86%
of the children still being in school after seven years, compared with 67% for nonparticipants. The higher an African country’s pre-primary enrolment ratio, the higher its
primary school completion rate and the lower its primary repetition rate. It is more costeffective to institute preventive measures and support for children early on than to
compensate for disadvantage as they grow older.
In spite of the increased recognition of the importance of learning in the early years, in
most developing countries far too many children still do not have access to any form of
early education programs before starting school. As indicated in Table 1, while
approximately 78% of children in industrialized countries are enrolled, only 10% of the
preschool population is reached in West and Central Africa. There are, however, marked
regional differences in trends dating back to the 1970s. In Latin American and the
Caribbean, which has witnessed the strongest increase, three quarters of countries now
have pre-primary GERs above 75% while in sub-Saharan Africa, despite a steady
increase since the 1970s, half the countries have ratios lower than 10%. In the Arab
States, coverage has been fairly stagnant since the 1980s. GERs have expanded
noticeably across Asia. In South and West Asia most countries now enroll between onethird and one-half of their children in pre-primary education. (Figure 1)
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Developed/transition
countries
Latin
America/Caribbean
20
04
19
99
19
91
19
86
19
81
East
Asia/Pacific
South and West
19
76
19
71
Gross enrolments ratios
in pre-primary (%)
Figure 1: Regional trends in pre-primary gross enrolment ratios, 1970/71 to
2003/04
Asia
Arab
States
Sub-Saharan
Africa
Note: The broken line signifies a break in the data series due to a new classification.
Source for the figure and the data in the above paragraph: EFA GMR 2007
4
It is important to recognize that there are large disparities within countries. With a few
notable exceptions, children from poorer and rural households and those socially
excluded (lacking birth certificates), have significantly less access to ECD programs than
those from richer and urban households. The children most likely to benefit from ECD-those most vulnerable to malnutrition and preventable diseases--are the least likely to be
enrolled. Moreover, the youngest children have been neglected. Almost half the world’s
children have no formal programs for children under three years of age.
Related to low ECD enrolment rates is the impact of late primary school enrolment. As
shown in Table 2, 49.7% of first graders are overage in East and Southern Africa.
Starting school at a late age and also lacking the needed early learning skills, most of
these children are likely to drop-out early or lag behind in progression and learning
achievement. This in turn undermines the results achieved in school retention,
completion and learning achievement rates.
Investment in early childhood yields very high economic returns offsetting disadvantage
and inequality especially for children from poor families. Although research is limited,
especially in developing countries, returns to investing in ECD programs are positive,
and indeed generally higher than those to other education interventions. Returns to ECD
investments are reaped over a longer period than those targeting older children, youth or
adults. Furthermore the skills acquired in ECD programs are a foundation for all further
learning. In spite of the high rate of return of investing in early childhood programs, world
wide public expenditure per pre-primary pupil is 8.7 % of GNP/capita as shown in Table
3.
The provision of good-quality early childhood programs are essential for all children, but
particularly important for the poor and vulnerable, to compensate for disadvantage. As
the Noble Laureate James Heckman observes, “It is a rare public policy initiative that
promotes fairness and social justice and at the same time promotes productivity in the
economy and in society at large. Investing in disadvantage young children is such a
policy.”
Table 1:
Pre-primary gross enrollment rate
80
79 79 78
40
48 49 47
37
38
37 38 37
36
20
32 33 32
17 18 16
18 18 17
10 10 10
0
Percent
60
61 61 61
CEE/CIS EAPR
ROSA
Total
MENA
ESAR WCAR
Male
TACR
IND
World
Female
Data source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics, Global Education Database, October 2006
Comments: UNESCO data. Almost all countries are covered and the numbers for preprimary GER are therefore representative for the regions and the world as a whole.
5
Table 2:
Share of children in first primary grade who are overage, ca. 2000
UNICEF region
Overage first-graders (%)
Regional
primary-age
population
covered
by
countries with data (%)
CEE/CIS
17.0
18.2
EAPR
30.2
15.7
ROSA
0.0
MENA
33.8
22.1
ESAR
49.7
22.9
WCAR
42.1
38.3
TACR
19.1
10.4
IND
0.0
World
35.6
12.8
Data source: UNICEF, MICS surveys, ca. 2000. – Weighted by population of primary
school age.
Table 3
Public current expenditure per pre-primary pupil as % of GNP/capita, ca. 2004
UNICEF region
Average expenditures per Regional population of prepre-primary pupil (% of primary age covered by
GNP/capita)
countries with data (%)
CEE/CIS
20.1
17.1
EAPR
1.2
15.0
ROSA
11.6
1.5
MENA
7.2
8.0
ESAR
1.6
17.6
WCAR
6.4
5.8
TACR
9.0
52.6
IND
14.5
43.0
World
8.7
16.4
Data source: UNESCO, EFA Global Monitoring Report 2007 database,
http://gmr.uis.unesco.org/selectindicators.aspx, 21 December 2006. – Weighted by
population of pre-primary age.
A Promising Solution
It is clear that additional efforts and strategies are urgently required to make the type of
break through that would yield a sound ECD foundation for basic education. Clearly if
the current weaknesses in ECD are not addressed in an effective and comprehensive
manner, progress in the other key result areas of basic education and gender equality
will continue to be severely compromised. Programming efforts in Basic Education and
Gender Equality will continue to support all the current channels that promote effective
and efficient ECD interventions. In addition serious efforts will be made to open up
additional channels for supporting ECD in developing countries through cost effective
and efficient interventions.
6
This concept paper outlines one of the most promising alternative channels in the quest
to provide cost effective and efficient interventions in ECD in developing countries. It is a
viable intervention channel that is based on two simple and self-evident assumptions.
(a) Apart from (or in addition to) their primary care givers (usually parents), young
children below school age are influenced most by other children; typically older
siblings, playmates or “minders”, with whom they interact on a daily basis.
(b) By working with these older siblings, playmates and minders, who are already in
school, the education system can build on this natural phenomenon to influence
child development and school readiness in a more systematic manner.
These assumptions are the basis on which a child-to-child approach is being advocated
as an additional channel for interventions to support ECD in terms of development and
school readiness. The proposed interventions will enable older children already in school
to provide much needed support to younger children before they start school, in order to
help them develop early learning competencies and get them ready to start school at the
right age. There is already a successful and well-known precedent in the development
and implementation of a child-to-child model, and this approach will seek to build on it.
Child-to-Child is best known as a model developed by the Child-to-Child trust in London
and widely adopted by developing countries as a means of promoting health education
through children. Child-to-Child activities are usually integrated within broader health
education programmes but are distinguished by the direct and active involvement of
children in the process of promoting health education through their interaction with
younger children or children of the same age group in their families and communities.
The proposed new approach will draw on these same principles to address the key
challenges of providing ECD opportunities for the great majority of children in developing
countries who are not likely to have access to any of the existing range of ECD services
in the foreseeable future.
Recognizing the relative lack of formal pre-school learning and other ECD opportunities
for most children in developing countries, this approach seeks to enable primary school
children to serve as a potential resource in meeting the needs of younger children during
a critical period in their development and preparedness for school. The overall goal is to
ensure that all eligible young children are enrolled in primary school at the appropriate
age and arrive with the necessary skills, enthusiasm and confidence to become
successful learners. The success of the approach will be gauged on the basis of
contemporary knowledge about what works for quality ECD interventions to support
children and their families, as well as on the impact it has on timely enrolment, retention
rates and progression through the primary education cycle.
II. Intervention Overview
A. Goals and Objectives
In an effort to provide preschool early learning opportunities within the home and
community, child-to-child materials and methods will be integrated into ongoing primary
school activities. Building on the natural phenomena of school children playing with and
caring for young children, the proposed intervention hopes to foster a rhythm of
schooling by preparing preschool children and their families for on time school
enrolment, readiness and success.
7
The overall goal of the initiative is to increase both the child’s readiness for school as
well as the school’s readiness to receive and foster optimal learning environments for its
youngest students. More specifically, the initiative aims to:

Increase both girls’ and boys’ on-time enrollment in primary school;

Ensure that children arrive at school with a strong foundation in language, early
literacy and numeracy as well as the social and emotional skills required for
learning;

Decrease early drop-out rates and enhance overall primary school performance.
In addition the intervention will promote the following outcomes for older children,
parents/families, teachers and schools:

Primary school children will increase awareness of and skills for promoting early
learning, cooperative learning and life skills, and increased self-esteem;

Parents/families will increase awareness and knowledge of the importance of
child development, gain skills for promoting early learning opportunities, as well
as promote positive health, safety and nutrition practices. Understand the
importance of on time enrolment;

First grade teachers will develop enhanced child centered teaching and learning
methods;

Teachers will increase awareness of the importance of early childhood on later
learning, enhance quality of teaching/learning methods and materials. Positive
student outcomes will increase confidence and satisfaction;

School systems will foster linkages/partnerships between school and home;
recognized the needs of its youngest learners, create child friendly learning
environments and raise the educational standards.
In an effort to achieve these goals, two interventions are planned; Helping the little ones:
Helping my own learning and Ready for School. As illustrated in Figure 2, for children in
the early years of primary school Helping the little ones: Helping my own learning is a
series of developmentally appropriate games and learning activities that can be used
with preschool siblings and children. This series of age specific games is designed to
enhance the social, language, motor and thinking skills of young children during the first
five years of life. In addition, these fun learning games and activities will develop
communications and life skills as well as support and reinforce the older child’s
understanding of basic numeracy, language and early literacy skills.
Ready for School is a series of interactive learning games and activities with particular
attention to the basic building blocks of early numeracy and literacy for children prior to
school. It is a one-year intervention designed to be used by children in the upper primary
school years with children during the year before they enroll in school. Since the official
8
age of entry will vary from country to country the materials are flexible and designed to
be used with children from 4-6 years of age. It is anticipated that many of these activities
can also be used to enhance both the teaching and learning environments in the first
year of primary school.
For both interventions illustrated in Figure 2, the learning materials and proposed
implementation design are inherently flexible and will be readily adapted in response to
the particular needs and circumstances of the selected communities, schools, teachers
and families.
Figure 2: Schematic diagram: A Child to Child Approach to School Readiness
Community/Homes
Primary Schools
Early primary
school children
Later primary
school children
Intervention 1
Intervention 2
Helping the Little
Ones: Helping
my Own
Learning (0-5)
year olds) yyear
oldyear olds)
Getting Ready
for School (4-6
year olds)
Children entering school on time and better prepared
B. Intervention Strategy I: Helping the little ones: Helping my own learning
This intervention includes a developmentally appropriate series of play based early
learning activities that can be used by children in the early primary grades to enrich the
overall development of their younger siblings and/or other preschool children in the
community. These activities will not only provide stimulating age-appropriate learning
9
activities for the very youngest learners, but will also reinforce many of the social and
emotional skills needed by primary school children in their first few years of schooling.
Thus both the younger children and older children will have enriched developmental
outcomes.
For the youngest children, learning occurs in natural contexts and child-centered play
based, interactive learning. Their development during the first five years of life can
therefore be enriched through the naturally occurring interactions involved in playing
appropriate games with school-aged siblings and other older children. The underlying
principal of this approach is to support an additional channel for delivering ECD services
by strengthening a naturally occurring interaction between older and younger children.
The series of learning activities in this strategy will include simple individual activities to
support and guide children’s cognitive, social, emotional and physical development. A
framework and a suggested series of age appropriate activities will be designed. These
can be easily adapted and adjusted to meet a wide variety of country contexts and
settings. They are short, simple and require very little material resources. They build on
and stress the concept that infants and young children are learning from the moment of
birth, especially through stimulation and play. Older siblings and other children who
interact with these young children can and do play an important role in how and what
these youngest children are learning.
The activities will focus on four different aspects of early learning and development.
Activities for Understanding and Communicating will help children develop both their
understanding of words, gestures, directions, questions and routines. Talking about
stories and books will be an important component of these activities. Activities for
Exploration and Problem Solving will focus on how young children explore and figure
things out. Activities that address concepts of color, size, matching, weight and number
as well as anticipating consequences and solving problems will be included. Activities for
Interacting with and Understanding Others will help children develop important social
skills such as recognizing and respecting others. In addition these activities will help
children express who they and what they are feeling. Activities for Moving and Doing will
include games that help children combine movements as well as the coordination of fine
motor and self help skills. Fun activities related to health, nutrition and safety will be
embedded within each of these developmental themes.
For each of the four developmental areas, the activities will be sequenced into three age
groups; 0-1 years, 1-3 years, and 3-5 years. Each activity also will indicate what skills
the child will use and develop further, as well as a short simple description of what to do
and the materials needed for the exercise. Working in close collaboration with the Child
to Child Trust, country teams will ensure that all activities and materials are grounded in
the local context and culturally familiar norms. Suggested examples of the types of
activities to be developed within each developmental domain can be found in Annex I.
In an effort to build on and strengthening the existing school curriculum, the activities will
be embedded into the school curriculum. By developing and utilizing these activities
school children will also have opportunities to strengthen and use their emerging
reading, writing, and numeracy skills. Important communication and social skills required
to understand and respond to the needs of other children will also be enriched. School
children will be strongly encouraged to take materials home and play with their younger
10
siblings and other younger children in their communities, as part of their school activities
(homework).
Teacher’s Guide/Training Workshop: A teacher’s guide will be provided, highlighting
how each activity supports early thinking, motor and language development of young
children. Suggestions on how learning games can be used for children at different ages
and stages will also be included. In addition, teachers will be able integrate the methods
and skills of early learning and development into their everyday classroom teaching to
encourage pupils to follow these examples. Thus the programme will reinforce the early
learning skills of both the school aged and younger children. Training workshops will be
organized for teachers so they can better understand how to select and utilize age
appropriate activities in order to promote the optimal learning potential of young children.
C. Intervention Strategy II: Ready for School
Building on the sills highlighted in intervention I, this intervention is envisaged as a 1year program designed to reach children a year before they are eligible to enroll in
primary schools. Communities participating in the proposed initiative will identify eligible
children the year before the required school enrollment age. Older children, who are
close to completing primary school, will be paired with one or several of these eligible
children. Through a series of weekly activities and monthly workshops, help them
prepare for starting school at the right age. In addition, these materials can also be used
to support and strengthen the learning environment of children already enrolled in first
grade particularly those requiring additional help.
The early learning activities in this intervention strategy are more advanced specific and
sequenced than those developed in Intervention I. They will focus specifically on a
graded series of early numeracy and literacy activities. In this regard the intervention will
include the development of materials for a package such as: Children’s Early Learning
Pack: An all-inclusive learning pack to help young learners get ready for school. The
older children participating in the project will receive an early learning kit filled with
activities to foster the skills of early literacy and numeracy. The activities will include
pictures, games, etc, that encourage children to experiment with common everyday
objects, solve problems, and draw conclusions. They will be designed to capture
children’s natural curiosity, enthusiasm and motivation to learn, while also reflecting what
is known about emerging literacy and numeracy in the early years. They will also be fun
and exciting while building children’s sense of competence and self esteem.
The numeracy activities will be designed to help children connect mathematical concepts
with real life situations. Children will use everyday objects to solve problems, estimate
size and shape, etc, thereby becoming familiar with numbers, quantities and counting.
The literacy activities will focus on the four components of emerging literacy including:
listening, speaking, reading and writing. Children will explore through songs and poems,
make up stories, create books and read together, build sight vocabulary, explore sound
symbol relationships, and draw and talk about ideas. The scope and sequence of these
early literacy and numeracy skills are outlined in more detail in Annex II.
Young Facilitators’ Guide to School Readiness: It is envisaged that a step-by-step
simple guide will be developed to accompany the activities contained in the learning kits.
This guide, designed specifically for use by older children in their role as young
preschool facilitators will explain the purpose of each learning activity, how it should be
11
used and why it is important for children who are about to start school within a year.
Suggestions on how to expand/simplify each activity to meet individual learning needs
will also be included. The intervention will also include development of a more general
Young Facilitators Guide in the form of a clear and easy to use guide for young
preschool facilitators and their younger learners. For each of the interactive learning
sets, the guide will include workshop activities to help the older children use the early
learning materials most effectively. Finally the intervention will include development of a
series of training workshops for primary school teachers. These Teacher Training
Workshops will be designed to help teachers prepare the young preschool facilitators for
their role. Schools may be grouped together in clusters so that children, teachers and
communities can support each other in this new approach. Using participatory methods,
these workshops will review the basic child development concepts in simple terms with
an emphasis on the development of early literacy, and math concepts. Teachers will
engage in hands-on activities to become familiar with the activities contained in each set
of materials.
D. Communication/Advocacy Strategy
The primary objective of the communication strategy is to mobilize communities in
support of the child-to-child program. This will be achieved by raising awareness of
communities, families and teachers on the importance of early learning for school
readiness and on time school enrolment, and providing them with the child-to-child
model as a potential solution. The expected outcome is for parents to enroll and send
their children to school on time, children coming into school more ready for learning, and
children staying on in school and not dropping out.
Template materials will be developed by HQ in consultation with country offices, and will
be adapted, printed and disseminated locally. Formative research will identify key
messages and stakeholders. These will complement the child-to-child material that will
be developed as part of programme implementation.
A global communication strategy will be drafted, in which further definition of objectives
and target audiences, deliverables, timeline, budget, partnerships, monitoring and
evaluation will be expanded.
As a secondary layer of outcomes, the communication strategy will seek to also increase
awareness of the importance of school readiness and on-time entry among other
stakeholder such as the policy makers, ministry of education, national NGOs, etc.
III. Country Selection and Implementation Strategy
Approximately six countries representing different geographical regions will be identified
and invited to participate during an initial pilot phase. Factors to consider in the selection
process will include for example:



Low levels of primary school enrolment
High level of overage children enrolled in primary school
Low preschool coverage and absence of other early learning opportunities and
programmes such as community-based child care and development.
12



Poor retention rates, weak learning achievement and high levels of drop out
within the early years of primary school
Previous experience with child to child programs and activities
Interest and commitment of Ministry of Education and Teacher Training Institutes
Since a major objective of Key Results Area I (KRA 1) of Focus Area 2 (FA2) is to
improve disadvantaged children’s readiness to start primary school on time, the country
selection process will also consider opportunities to build on girls education initiatives.
Communities affected by HIV/AIDs will also be strongly considered.
UNICEF county offices interested in participating in the proposed Child-to-child pilot
initiative will be further explored through discussions with both UNICEF staff as well as
country partners. It will be important to elicit the commitment of the Ministry of Education
as well as teacher training institutes in order to sustain the initiative after the initial pilot
phase.
Working within the broad conceptual framework described in the previous section, each
country and participating communities will adapt and define a specific implementation
strategy. In addition, a team of educators, designers and child development experts will
work together to will develop, adapt and review the most appropriate learning materials
and training manuals for piloting the child-to-child model. Necessary revisions and
adaptations will be made as the pilot proceeds and a team of outside consultants
working in close collaboration with in-country partners will implement training workshops
for teachers and young preschool facilitators. Countries will receive ongoing monitoring,
evaluation and technical support throughout the duration of the initiative. In-country
capacity building at all levels of the program will be given highest priority.
IV. Program Evaluation
In order to determine the effectiveness of the pilot Child-to-Child School Readiness
intervention to increase on-time enrolment and school preparedness, a case control
quasi-experimental research design is proposed. A common framework and shared set
of culturally appropriate measures will be identified/adapted and used across
participating sites. Using both qualitative and qualitative measures the evaluation will
address issues related to program outcome, impact, and process. A sampling framework
will be designed in order to determine the size of the sample needed in each country to
achieve the expected outcomes.
A. Outcome
Children’s outcome will be measure by the age of school enrolment as well as school
readiness. Since preschool children’s knowledge and skills are directly related to their
health status and the conditions in which they live, outcome measures will be controlled
for variation in child’s health, nutrition, and family care environment. Data on the
developmental themes emphasized throughout the child-to-child materials will be
collected and include:
Language Development
 Listening and Understanding
13
 Speaking and Communicating
Literacy
 Phonological Awareness
 Book Knowledge and Appreciation
 Print Awareness and Concepts
 Early Writing and Alphabet Knowledge
Mathematic
 Number and Operations
 Patterns and Measurement
Social and Emotional Development
 Self Concept
 Self Control Cooperation
Approaches to Learning
 Initiative and Curiosity
 Reasoning and Problem Solving
The evaluation will identify and adapt a school readiness tool that can be easily and
readily applied across participating countries. In an effort to determine both a sensitive
and practical school readiness instrument, the following characteristics will be
considered:






Easy to administer—teachers or surveyors who receive only minimal training in
how to administer it.
Concise –relatively short duration
Low cost the assessment must be of low cost and require nothing more than
cheap materials available locally
Technological simplicity –items administration must require nothing more than
materials that are readily available in the country
Ease and objectivity of scoring—the assessment must be such that it can be
scored easily and objectively so that reliability from one score to another is
assured.
Covers a broad spectrum of development or the whole child.
The pattern of school readiness for groups of children exposed to the child-to-child
learning materials will be compared against control communities whose first grade
children have not had any exposure to the materials. Base line surveys conducted in
both control and case communities will determine the existing levels of on-time
enrolment as well as the school readiness of children as they enter school. Additional
information on each of the participating communities will provide insight into the
particular set of family social and cultural factors impinging on the quality and quantity of
the existing educational system.
In addition to the readiness of the children upon entry into formal school, a sub sample
of communities will be selected to participated in a long term follow up to determine if the
program has had any long term impact on children’s progress and performance through
out the first three years of primary school.
14
B. Impact
In addition to assessing children’s outcomes, the evaluation will also determine the
impact of the program on parents, teachers, child educators, and communities. Through
a variety of both quantitative and qualitative methods, insights into the following
questions will be obtained:





Did the program change parents’ knowledge attitudes and expectations of their
child’s school enrolment progress and performance?
Were there any changes in the knowledge attitudes and skills of the older
children as a result of participating in the intervention?
Did the materials and training have an impact on teachers teaching and learning
methods?
Were primary schools adequately prepared to respond to the needs of its
youngest learners? Did they change as a result of the program?
Were there changes in community regarding the needs of young children and
their families evident as a result of the project?
C. Process
Using both qualitative and quantitative indicators (interviews, focus groups, selfadministered questionnaires, surveys, observations) the evaluation will also determine if
the program was implemented as planned. Information collected will attempt to provide
insights into the supply, adequacy and quality of program inputs including:
 Quality and effectiveness of the children’s learning materials/activities;
 Effectiveness of the teacher and student teacher training;
 Ability of the system to provide adequate and effective supervision and
monitoring;
 Adequacy of the duration and intensity of the intervention;
 Effectiveness and suitability of the child to child concept in promoting early
learning;
 Efficacy of implementation strategies;
 Linkages between child-to-child early learning activities and first year school
curriculum.
An external evaluator will be identified to provide ongoing technical expertise in all
aspects of design, instrument development and implementation as well as data analysis.
Working in close collaboration with UNICEF HQ and the Child-to-hild trust, a preliminary
task list is identified as follows:







Develop overall evaluation design
Determine sample size (# of schools/children)
Develop/implement baseline survey (case/control)
Identify/adapt school readiness instrument/tool
Determine/review relevant existing data sources
Design/implement community profile/survey
Develop necessary tools/instruments to monitor/assess the quality of program
implementation and as well as impact on older children, parents, teachers and
schools
15



Develop training module for implementing data collection process and
procedures in-country
Conduct the evaluation training at the Training of Trainers conducted by Child to
Child Trust
Analysis of Baseline: pre and post in both case and control communities/schools
V. Roles and Responsibilities
The proposed initiative is envisaged as a partnership between UNICEF country offices
and other in-country partners, UNICEF Regional Offices, UNICEF HQ (Education
Section and ECD Unit) and the Child-to-Child Trust in London. The proposed roles and
responsibilities for each of these partners are outlined below. This preliminary
delineation of activities will be further refined and adjusted during the planning phase.
A. UNICEF HQ: Education Section and ECD Unit:
 Develop the concept of the initiative
 Develop and design partnership with Child-to-Child Trust (PCA)
 Define country selection criteria/select participating countries
 Develop the child outcome framework
 Work closely with the Child-to-Child Trust in the development of the materials
 Prepare evaluation design, methods and tools
 Develop a communication campaign
 Provide overall management and co-ordination of both implementation and
evaluation
 Work closely with selected countries in initiating the pilot
 Develop Phase II replication strategy for roll out to a larger number of countries
B. Child-to-Child Trust:
 Provide Technical Assistance:
o Materials development based on the child outcome framework
o Technical support to countries in the piloting.
 Conduct material development trainings at country level (each selected country)
 Conduct teacher trainings after country specific materials have been developed
 Provides implementing partners with follow up support, supervision and monitoring
C. UNICEF Regional Offices:
 Provide overall coordination, management and back-stopping for pilot countries
 Manage technical/financial support to countries as appropriate for piloting
 Develop advocacy and dissemination strategy to support the C-t-C model
D. UNICEF Country Offices
 Select implementing partners
 Identify pilot communities/schools
 Translate/adapt/refine all learning materials
 Replicate and distribute materials
 Provide project management and coordination at country level
 Manage project budget/secure adequate funding
 Co-ordinate program monitoring and evaluation efforts in collaboration with UNICEF
HQ and evaluation consultant
16
E. National Governments
 Collaborate closely with UNICEF at all stages of the project.
 Ensure timely integration of program and materials into the school curriculum
 Provide support advocacy and community awareness
 Develop collaboration with selected Teacher Training Institutes
F. Implementing Agencies
 Coordinate day-to-day operations
 Provide ongoing supervision and follow-up
 Implement program monitoring/evaluation tools
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VI. Proposed Project Timeline
ACTIVITIES
Concept Note
Once finalized, to be shared with the UNICEF country offices to
garner interest to be part of the pilot
Children’s Outcome Framework (school readiness
characteristics)
Two sets:
- children 0 – 4 years old
- children 4 – 6 years old
Set of activities to promote school readiness based on the
children’s outcome framework:
Two sets:
- children 0 – 4 years old
- children 4 – 6 years old
Template Materials and Roles
Six sets:
Materials for pre-school children
- children 0 – 4 years old
- children 4 – 6 years old
Materials for school children
- children in grades 2 – 3
- children in grades 4 – 5
Materials for teachers
- teachers of grades 2 – 3
- teachers of grades 4 – 5
Country level material development and implementation planning
workshops (based on template materials)
- Piloted in 5 selected countries
Finalize materials, translate, adapt and print locally
LEAD RESPONSIBILITY
Education Section, UNICEF
TIMELINE
January 2007
Education Section, UNICEF
January 2007
CtC Trust
April/May 2007
CtC Trust
June/July/August 2007
UNICEF and CtC Trust
- UNICEF selects pilot countries and
mobilizes local teams
- Trust facilitates workshops
CtC Trust and UNICEF
Working with UNICEF country offices
Sept/Oct 2007
Nov/Dec 2007
ACTIVITIES
Country level training workshop for teachers of selected
schools
- 5 selected pilot countries
- 15 – 20 selected schools per country
Advocacy Campaign
To include:
- advocacy note
- country campaign plan
- implementation of advocacy campaign
Monitoring & Evaluation Strategy and Plan
To include:
- M&E strategy and plan note
- Consultancies to support the country M&E
- External evaluation agency on board (baseline and post
intervention)
Implementation Phase
Mainstreaming in pilot countries and expansion to other
countries
LEAD RESPONSIBILITY
and local partners
CtC Trust
TIMELINE
Jan-March 2008
(To align with the
school calendar)
Education Section, UNICEF
with UNICEF Department of
Communication
To be launched before
field launch of the pilot
Education Section, UNICEF
with UNICEF Evaluation Office along
with a consultant with child-to-child
expertise
On-going. To be
initiated before the
launch of the pilot
UNICEF: M and E
CtC Trust: Follow up support and
looking at mainstreaming
UNICEF and country level local
partners
April 2008 – August
2009
September –December
2009
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Annex I:
Helping the little ones: Helping my own learning
Examples of Suggested Activities
Understanding and Communicating
 Happy Sounds
 Pictures Around the Room
 Peek-a-boo
 Listening and Answering
 Finger Play Songs
 Patterns
 Familiar Sounds
 Puppet Play
 Children’s Picture Book
 Listening to Stories
 Acting and Miming Stories
 Letters Sounds, and Pictures
 Writing My Name
Activities for Exploration and Problem Solving
 Counting Twos
 Look at Numbers of Things
 How Many Things in a Container?
 Nesting Toy Count
 Textured Shapes
 Finding Colors
 Counting things here or at home
 Upside down Pictures
 Matching Game
 Looking at the World Around Us
 Puzzle Place
Activities for Interacting with and Understanding Others
 What am I feeling?
 My special friends
 Songs with Names
 Taking Turns
 This is me
 This is my family
 My things your things
 Can you do what I do?
 Things that make me happy
 What do you mean?
 Words for getting along with others
 Words for feelings
 Words for how things are used
 Sharing Likes and dislikes
Activities for Moving and Doing
 Kicking bells
 Face Socks
 Holding Blocks
 Reaching
 Turn and Find
 Bean bags
 Blocks and Containers
 Hide and Seek
 Drop in Boxes
 Nesting Cups
 Scribbling
 Making pictures or models with natural materials (sticks, clay etc.)
 Jumping down
 Hoping, skipping, and counting
 Obstacle course
 Try a toss
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ANNEX II:
Fun with Letters and Words: Scope and Sequence of Learning Outcomes:
 Learn the sound associated with certain letters. Emphasize the sound letters
make as words are written. Help children make sense of print by talking with
them while writing. Help children listen for and repeat the initial sound in his
name.

Learn letters in their name, sounds associated with those letters, and how to
recognize their name. Words are made-up of groups of letters; letters represent
sounds; words begin with the letter on the left and ends with the last letter on the
right. Learn to recognize words to familiar songs and poems.

Listen to and discuss family stories. Through interesting discussions children will
understand how “stories” work.

By conducting interviews children learn how to ask questions to gather
information. Use information to create books and stories to share with family and
friends.

Practice making letter-sound connections. Pronounce words as they are written.
Emphasize sounds at the beginning, middle and end of each word.

Understand all the reasons why we read and write. For example to remember
information (make a list), communicate information (write a letter), learn new
information (read a paper).

Learn new words and understand how words are organized into complete
sentences. Learn to organize thoughts and make them understood. Learn to
express their ideas and stories as well as understand the ideas and stories of
others.

Recall events, retell stories and speak in complete sentences help children
master prerequisites for learning to read.

Think about and discuss how to identify and discuss children’s questions about
going to school
Fun with Numbers: Scope and Sequence of Learning Outcomes
 Understand that a number represents a set of objects; practice counting,
ordering, and comparing groups of objects. Learn to count, write, identify and
represent numbers 1 to 5.

Count sets of object to 10 and identify the numerals 1 through 10. Sort groups of
objects and practice observing, describing, and making distinctions between the
characteristics of objects. Practice counting to 10.
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
Order sets of objects and learn how to compare the relative differences between
them— longest to shortest, lightest to darkest, more to less, lightest to heaviest.

Recognize, create and extend patterns. Understand that a pattern is a form of
ordering that repeats itself. Make predictions.

Understand the geometry is the study of shapes and spatial relationships.
Provide children opportunities to relate math to the real world by looking for and
naming different shapes.

Explore numbers one through 20. Understand that the number 12 is represented
by one group of 10 plus 2 ones, 15 is represented by one group of 10 plus 5
ones.

Add two sets of numbers together to get a total. Play with sets of objects and
counting to find the total number

Practice adding to and taking away from sets of objects.

Review math activities from the previous eight sets. Observes the ways
children’s approaches differ now from when they did the task earlier. Make up
number riddles to challenge children to think about numbers from one to twenty.
23