early childhood development policy and programs … · iv early childhood development policy and...

WORLD BANK TECHNICAL PAPER NO. 367Africa Region Series

Early ChildhoodDevelopment Policyand Programs inSub-Saharan Africa:Experiences and Lessons

Nat CollettaAmy Jo Reinhold

Work in progressfor public discussion

Copyright © 1997The International Bank for Reconstructionand Development / THE WORLD BANK1818 H Street, N.W.Washington, D.C. 20433, U.S.A.

All rights reservedManufactured in the United States of AmericaFirst printing July 1997

Technical Papers are published to communicate the results of the Bank’s work to the development communitywith the least possible delay. The typescript of this paper therefore has not been prepared in accordance with theprocedures appropriate to formal printed texts, and the World Bank accepts no responsibility for errors. Somesources cited in this paper mat be informal documents that are not readily available.

The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the author(s) andshould not be attributed in any manner to the World Bank, to its affiliated organizations, or to members of its Boardof Executive Directors or the countries they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the dataincluded in this publication and accepts no responsibility whatsoever for any consequence of their use. Theboundaries, colors. denominations, and other information shown on any map in this volume do not imply on thepart of the World Bank Group any judgment on the legal status of any territory or the endorsement or acceptanceof such boundaries.

The material in this publication is copyrighted. Requests for permission to reproduce portions of it should besent to the Office of the Publisher at the address shown in the copyright notice above. The World Bank encouragesdissemination of its work and will normally give permission promptly and, when the reproduction is fornoncommercial purposes, without asking a fee. Permission to copy portions for classroom use is granted throughthe Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., Suite 910, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, Massachusetts 01923, U.S.A.

ISSN: 0253-7494

The cover of the print version was designed by Jennifer Sterling. The photos are by Curt Carnemark, The WorldBank; the National Center for Early Childhood Education, Kenya; and Nat J. Colletta.

Nat J. Colletta is principal education and social policy specialist in the World Bank’s Africa TechnicalDepartment. Amy Jo Reinhold is a doctoral candidate at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where she isresearching community-based child development and education innovations in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Colletta, Nat J.Review of early childhood development policy and programs in Sub-Saharan Africa / by Nat J. Colletta and

Amy Jo Reinhold.p. cm.—(World Bank technical paper / Africa Region series ;

367)Includes bibliographical references (p. ).ISBN 0-8213-3968-01. Children—Services for—Africa, Sub-Saharan. 2. Child

development—Africa, Sub-Saharan. 3. Human services—Africa, Sub-Saharan. 4. Evaluation research (Social action programs)—Africa,Sub-Saharan. 5. Economic development projects—Africa, Sub-Saharan—Evaluation. I. Reinhold, Amy Jo, 1967– . II. Title.III. Series: World Bank technical paper ; 367. IV. Series: WorldBank technical paper. Africa Region series.HQ792.A4C574 1997 97-17501362.7’0967—dc21 CIP

iii

CONTENTS

Foreword .......................................................................................................................................................... v

Abstract .......................................................................................................................................................... vii

Acknowledgments ......................................................................................................................................... ix

Abbreviations ................................................................................................................................................. xi

Executive Summary .................................................................................................................................... xiii

1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................................... 1Rationale ............................................................................................................................................ 1Definitions ......................................................................................................................................... 2Methodology ..................................................................................................................................... 3Organization of the Report ............................................................................................................. 4

2. Approaches to ECD Policy and Program Provision in Sub-Saharan Africa ................................. 5Enabling Conditions of ECD Efforts .............................................................................................. 9

Community Preschool Support Programs ............................................................................... 9Additional ECD Provision Efforts in Special Circumstances ...............................................11Broader ECD Awareness and Policy Efforts .......................................................................... 13

Areas of Analysis to Support ECD Design and Planning ........................................................ 14

3. Experiences in ECD Policy and Program Provision in Sub-Saharan Africa ............................... 17ECD Delivery Models and Program Implementation Issues .................................................. 17

Building on Local Culture ........................................................................................................ 17Integrating Health, Nutrition and Education ........................................................................ 18Community Participation ......................................................................................................... 19Organizing at the Grassroots for Policy Impact .................................................................... 20Targeting Investments............................................................................................................... 21

Program Quality ............................................................................................................................. 22Local Teachers and Trainers ..................................................................................................... 22Training in ECD Provision ....................................................................................................... 24

Community Preschool Teachers ......................................................................................... 24Parents and Other Local Caregivers .................................................................................. 25

Measuring Program Quality and Effectiveness .................................................................... 26Institutional Cooperation for ECD .............................................................................................. 28

Institutional Arrangements ...................................................................................................... 28National Cooperation........................................................................................................... 28Sub-national and Multi-national Cooperation ................................................................. 29

Inter-ministerial Coordination................................................................................................. 30Partnership with NGOs ............................................................................................................ 31Supportive National Policy ...................................................................................................... 32

Scale, Costs, Financing and Sustainability ................................................................................. 33Piloting and Going to Scale: Horizontal Diffusion or Vertical Dissemination? ............... 33Economic Costs .......................................................................................................................... 34

Capital Costs .......................................................................................................................... 34Recurrent costs ...................................................................................................................... 35

Financing .................................................................................................................................... 37The Role of the State ............................................................................................................. 38Partnership for ECD Financing .......................................................................................... 39

Sustainability .............................................................................................................................. 41

iv Early Childhood Development Policy and Programs in Sub-Saharan Africa: Experiences and Lessons

4. Considerations and Actions in Designing ECD Policy and Provision Effortsin Sub-Saharan Africa ......................................................................................................................... 43

ECD Delivery Models and Implementaion Issues .................................................................... 43Program Quality ............................................................................................................................. 44Institutional Cooperation for ECD .............................................................................................. 44Scale, Costs, Financing and Sustainability ................................................................................. 44

5. Future Challenges for ECD Policy and Program Provision in Sub-Saharan Africa .................. 47Enhancing Information for Planning and Evaluation .............................................................. 47Increasing Access to ECD Services .............................................................................................. 48Promoting Holistic ECD Policy and Provision .......................................................................... 48

Bibliography .................................................................................................................................................. 49

Boxes1. The Mobile War Trauma Team Builds on Culture in Angola ....................................................... 182. Community Participation for Madrassah Preschools in Kenya, Uganda and Zanzibar .......... 203. South African Congress for Early Childhood Development ........................................................ 214. Local Women Teach in Madrassah Preschools ............................................................................... 235. Follow-up and Supports for Preschool Teachers in Zimbabwe ................................................... 256. Institutional Arrangements in the Federation of Kushanda Preschools ..................................... 297. Inter-ministerial Coordination in Namibia ..................................................................................... 318. Creating a Supportive National Policy in Mauritius ..................................................................... 339. Namibian Activating Fund and Children’s Trust Fund for ECD ................................................. 3710. Public-Private Partnership for Day-care Financing in Mauritius ................................................ 4111. Building Local Institutions to Support ............................................................................................ 42

Figures1. Total Investments in ECD in Kenya 1981–91 .................................................................................. 402. Funding Sources for EDC in Kenya 1981–91 .................................................................................. 40

Tables1. Countries and ECD Programs and Policies under Study ............................................................... 32. Context, Objective and Approach of Policies and Programs under Study................................... 53. Objectives of ECD Programmatic Efforts .......................................................................................... 84. Coverage of Selected ECD Programmatic Efforts ............................................................................ 95. Enabling Conditions for Community Preschool Establishment and Support ............................. 96. Enabling Conditions of ECD Provision Efforts in Special Circumstances ................................. 127. Enabling Conditions for Broader Awareness and Policy Efforts ................................................. 138. Public Expenditure on Preprimary and Primary Education. ....................................................... 389. Financing Partnerships in ECD Program and Policy Efforts ........................................................ 39

v

FOREWORD

Review of Early Childhood Development Policy and Programs in Sub-Saharan Africa is the secondin a series of technical papers produced by the African Region’s Early Childhood Development(ECD) Initiative.

This report complements a previous paper, The condition of Young Children in Sub-Saharan Af-rica, which outlined the shape and scale of children’s survival needs—health, nutrition, and earlyeducation. The earlier report documented how children in Africa face greater challenges to healthydevelopment than any other region in the world and emphasized that timely intervention is crucial,particularly in the much neglected period from birth to primary school entry.

The present report explores ways of meeting these developmental challenges. It reviews currentprograms and policies across a set of country experiences—from the mobile Mobile War TraumaTeam in Angola, to Mauritius’ Legal Framework for multi-sectoral policy and action for ECD. Theanalysis of eleven case studies reveals the policy and institutional conditions necessary for sustainedimpact of ECD efforts.

Also in preparation are in-depth country studies of ECD models in South Africa, Kenya andMauritius. These studies will enhance out knowledge of innovative practice and quality improve-ments being tested in the region. The technical papers and lessons drawn from the country studieswill be synthesized into a single document which proposes a regional strategy for continued supportto ECD in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The ECD Initiative combines knowledge generation and dissemination with two additional com-ponents of World Bank support: a/ funding for innovative prototype ECD programs, such as thosesupported in Kenya and Uganda by the Bank’s Africa Technical Human Development Department;and b) capacity-building for African ECD Network (ECDNA) comprising practitioners and policymakers from over twenty countries has been formed and is now recognized as a Working Group ofthe Association for the Development of African Education.

The initiative is working with the ECDNA to host an African Regional ECD Workshop for practi-tioners, policy makers, researchers and donors. This forum will allow participants to build on exist-ing best practice, strengthen capacity and create policy for promoting multi-sectoral, early childhooddevelopment programs. Follow-up training activities will strengthen regional and in-country capac-ity for program and policy development and research for the integration of health, nutrition, earlyeducation and community support services in maternal and early childhood development.

Kevin CleaverDirector

Technical DepartmentAfrican Region

vii

ABSTRACT

The focus of this work is to learn from current early childhood development (ECD) policy and pro-gram provision efforts in Sub-Saharan Africa so that investments in social and human capital devel-opment might be linked more effectively. Specifically, the report aims to describe and analyze ECDprograms that holistically address the needs of children ages zero to six in their institutional andsocio-cultural context.

To do this, the report first undertakes an overview of the eleven ECD approaches selected forstudy. An analysis of the contextual impetus or enabling conditions giving rise to program andpolicy choices supporting each approach aims to help better understand why an approach fits aparticular a setting and how it may or may not be appropriate in facing another set of contextualfactors. Then, to focus upon key issues in ECD policy and program provision experience, the re-port presents lessons learned to date in: a) issues spanning ECD delivery models; b) program qual-ity; c) institutional arrangements and d) scale, costs, financing and sustainability. This presentationbegins from program and policy features affecting the child and works outward into the commu-nity, regional, and national levels. Finally, a consideration of the gaps that exist in experience andanalysis to date provides an overview of the challenges ahead in supporting children’s holisticdevelopment in Sub-Saharan Africa.

ix

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This report benefited greatly from the research work of Xiaoyan Liang as well as the assistance of theBernard van Leer Foundation (the Netherlands), and UNICEF (NY) during the research phase. Addi-tional organizations providing valuable leads and information include: the Aga Khan Foundation(Geneva), Christian Children’s Fund (USA), Foundation for Education with Production (Zimbabwe),Freedom from Hunger (USA), Redd Barna (Norway), Save the Children Federation (US), Save theChildren Fund (UK), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Con-sultative Group on Early Childhood Care and Development.

In particular, interviews as well as fax, e-mail and mail communications with John Conradie ofthe Foundation for Education with Production, Kathy Bartlett of the Aga Khan Foundation, EileenNkwanga of the World Bank, Jan Kingsbury of Freedom From Hunger and Mike Wessells of Randolph-Macon College helped to round out information on particular ECD efforts. Comments from TomEisemon, Consultant, PHREE, Mary Eming Young, Senior PHN Specialist, HDD, Fred Wood, Savethe Children, were also deeply appreciated.

xi

ABBREVIATIONS

AKF Aga Khan FoundationBvLF Bernard van Leer FoundationCA Credit Associations (of Credit with Education)CBO Community-based OrganizationCCF Christian Children’s FundCTC Child-to-Child (in Botswana)DICECE District Center for Early Childhood Education (in Kenya)ECD Early Childhood DevelopmentECDNA Early Childhood Development Network for AfricaECW Early Childhood Worker (in Namibia)EPZ Export Processing ZoneEPZLWF Export Processing Zone Labor Welfare FundFFH Freedom from HungerFKP Federation of Kushanda PreschoolsKsh Kenya ShillingsLMC Local Management Committee (in Madrassah Preschools)MBEC Ministry of Basic Education and Culture (in Namibia)MRC Madrassah Resource CenterMRLGH Ministry of Regional and Local Government and Housing (in Namibia)MWTT Mobile War Trauma Team (in Angola)NACECE National Center for Early Childhood Education (in Kenya)NGO Non-governmental OrganizationNTA Nigerian Television AuthorityTACTICOM Teacher and Community Training and Involvement in Control, Ownership and

Management (Program of the FKP)TRC Teacher Resource Center (in Namibia)UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural OrganizationUNICEF United Nations Children’s FundUSAID United States Agency for International Development

xiii

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The first years are a crucial period in the development of a child as the brain is almost fully formed atage 2. Consider that many traditional education systems begin to support cognitive developmentafter the age of 6 or 7. One must rethink this investment. Further, negative effects of malnutritionpeak at 24 months, making post-partum and preschool nutrition and feeding programs again di-rected at targets where the need is less great. There is a need to move beyond, yet build upon globalefforts targeting Child Survival and Universal Primary Education. Investments in human capitalmust be linked together in program combinations that support the health, nutrition, cognitive andsocial development of the child from birth to primary school entry.

In a region marked by persistent poverty, rapid population growth, urbanization and the increas-ing breakdown of traditional family support structures, children’s development requires urgent at-tention. Transitions under way in many Sub-Saharan countries challenge healthy child developmentas much as they provide opportunities for intervention and improvement. In an era of decreasinggovernment budgets, increasing decentralization and in a region full of burgeoning democracies yetplagued by civil strife, one must look to and learn from organizations and governments who areexperimenting, investing and supporting the development of children in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The Africa Regional ECD Initiative sees early childhood development as a holistic approach tothe total development of the child, including physical, cognitive and socio-emotional dimensions.An overall ECD program or policy therefore, supports the convergence and mutual reinforcement ofeach of these dimensions. Building upon a nation’s and its people’s efforts to meet the holistic needsof children, institutional and social contexts offer a variety of provision possibilities. Thus, this studydefines ECD programs as those which holistically address the needs of children ages 0-6 in theirinstitutional and socio-cultural context. The eleven programs included in this analysis therefore il-lustrate a range of possibilities in combining elements of ECD support. By looking across their expe-rience, this study aims to learn lessons of design, implementation and impact.

The eleven selected ECD experiences pursue a variety of objectives and utilize a wide range ofenabling characteristics and resources. The analysis of their enabling conditions suggests a designand planning exercise based upon an analysis of the following:

i. priority areas of child development that are unmet (i.e., malnutrition, school readiness,day-care,);

ii. extent and source of community and family demand for ECD services;iii. extent and type of community and family resources;iv. existing ECD skills at the local and national levels;v. availability and interest of local ECD workers;

vi. community capacity for participation;vii. local institutional capacities;

viii. extent of national awareness and demand for supportive policy;ix. external and supra-national resources for ECD provision (i.e., training opportunities, mate-

rials, networks);x. stakeholder analysis of policymovers who favor ECD (i.e., government and NGO staff,

international advisors, local movements and business people); andxi. power and extent of access to mass media.

Knowing the shape and scope of these potential ECD resources can define the prevalent enablingconditions and help in the identification and design of appropriate ECD approaches. In planningeffective ECD efforts, it is necessary to consider all of the resources in the environment of the child.Family, community, community-based NGOs, local authorities, national NGOs, government minis-tries, and international agencies are the individuals and institutional actors in a child’s life. Culture,professional standards, policy and international accords are among the ideological influences in the

xiv Early Childhood Development Policy and Programs in Sub-Saharan Africa: Experiences and Lessons

child’s surrounding support systems. In each context, these actors and influences arise in differentpatterns to support child development. A map of these factors constructed in-country and beginningwith the nation’s children at the center facilitates planning to utilize resources to the fullest. This mapcan be built through the analysis and periodic reassessment of enabling conditions.

Analysis of the eleven programs raise a wide variation of issues and experiences to facilitate fu-ture ECD program design and policy making efforts in Sub-Saharan Africa. Lessons in programmodels and implementation emerge regarding culture and holism in spanning sectors as well as incommunity participation, grassroots organization for ECD and targetting. Experience in the regionin ECD worker training, use of local teachers and impact measurement informs future eforts forpromoting program quality. Variety in cooperation between governments, NGOs and internationalbodies provides examples for consideration in assessing and exploiting the institutional landscapeduring program and policy efforts. Finally, financial analysis explores the range of capital and recur-rent costs involved in ECD efforts, experience and options in piloting, financing and sustainability.The analysis of these documented experiences reveals issues for consideration during ECD programdesign by signaling dynamics to watch for, resource possibilities to assess and pitfalls to avoid. Inaddition, several experiences suggest particular actions to support more effective planning and imple-mentation of ECD efforts.

Finally, while they are not representative of experience in Sub-Saharan Africa, analysis of theseeleven efforts does suggest a number of directions and challenges for future ECD policy and pro-gram provision in the region. In short, data collection and utilization must be stepped up for researchon key issues; expansion of access to ECD services must be addressed through raising awareness andfostering partnerships; and greater coordination of policy, research and program efforts must be or-chestrated for greater holism and cost-effectiveness.

1

1INTRODUCTION

This report is the second in a series of technical papers produced by the Africa Region’s Early Child-hood Development Initiative. The first, The Condition of Young Children in Sub-Saharan Africa, describesthe situation of children in this region and brings attention to the shape and scale of the needs to beaddressed. Complementing that document, this report will explore approaches to meeting the devel-opmental needs of children in Sub-Saharan Africa by reviewing current programmatic and policyefforts. It aims to look across a set of country experiences in ECD programming and policy to learnlessons of design, implementation and impact. In-depth country studies of ECD models in SouthAfrica, Kenya and Mauritius are also in preparation to further enhance our knowledge of innovativepractice in the region. This initiative combines these knowledge generation and dissemination ef-forts with two additional components of World Bank support to ECD: a) funding for innovativeprototype ECD programs such as those in Kenya and Uganda; and b) capacity-building for Africanpolicy makers and practitioners in the design and implementation of ECD programs through thedevelopment of an African ECD network (ECDNA).

Rationale

Children in Sub-Saharan Africa face the greatest challenges to healthy child development that existin any region of the world today. Their survival is less certain than others, as the region’s averageinfant mortality rate is one and a half times that of the world average of 60 children per 1,000. Theircontinuing health is threatened as 37 percent lack immunization against tuberculosis and a full 50percent do not have such protection against DPT, polio and measles. Their nutritional levels are alsolow and 30 percent of Sub-Saharan African children suffer chronic malnutrition. Finally, their educa-tional opportunities are dismal with only 50 percent of Sub-Saharan African children entering pri-mary school and a mere 35 percent of that group completing it. Insufficient health, nutrition andeducational supports for the development of these children result in the highest average regionalmortality rate of children under five in the world. In many areas, girls have a disproportionately lowlevel of access to all of these supports, currently limiting their own development and later negativelyimpacting that of their children. For the vast majority of Sub-Saharan African children, human capitaldevelopment investments aimed at the primary school level come too late.

The first years of life are a crucial period in the development of a child as the brain is almost fullyformed at age two. Considering that many traditional education systems begin to support cognitivedevelopment only after the age of six or seven. This investment needs reconsideration. Further, thenegative effects of malnutrition peak at 24 months, which implies that post-partum and pre-schoolfeeding programs are off the most effective target. The need is to move beyond, yet build upon globalefforts targeting Child Survival and Universal Primary Education. Investments in human capitalmust be linked together in programs that support the health, nutrition, cognitive and social develop-ment of the child from birth to primary school entry.

In a region marked by persistent poverty, rapid population growth, urbanization and the increas-ing breakdown of traditional family support structures, children’s development requires urgent at-tention. There are three transitions afoot in Sub-Saharan Africa which challenge healthy child devel-opment as much as they provide opportunities for intervention and improvement. First is the transitionto democratic governance taking place across Sub-Saharan Africa. Greater participation and dia-logue creates opportunities to create new systems as well as enhanced competition among the

2 Early Childhood Development Policy and Programs in Sub-Saharan Africa: Experiences and Lessons

population’s demand priorities. Second, the transition in Sub-Saharan Africa from centrally-plannedeconomies to market economies offers new mechanisms for hearing service demands and new spacefor entrepreneurs to meet them. Finally, the transition from war to peace in many African societiescan bring child supports into reconstruction planning and community-building agendas. All three ofthese transitions provide challenges to and opportunities for identifying financially and institution-ally sustainable solutions for child development support.

In this era of decreasing government budgets, increasing decentralization and in a region that isfull of burgeoning democracies yet plagued by civil strife, it is imperative that one looks to and learnsfrom organizations and governments who are currently experimenting, investing and supportingthe development of young children in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Definitions

The Africa Regional ECD Initiative sees early childhood development as a holistic approach to thetotal development of the child, including physical, cognitive and socio-emotional dimensions. Anoverall ECD program or policy therefore, supports the convergence and mutual reinforcement ofeach of these dimensions. It encompasses the health, nutrition and educational needs of the child. Anumber of experiences from Sub-Saharan African countries aim to meet these combined needs. Thisis not to say that any single program can achieve all, but rather to note that a handful of countries hasset out with this holistic agenda and many include efforts in all of these crucial areas.

But a nation does not start with a blank slate or a level playing field in meeting the holistic needsof children. Institutional contexts and resource availability offer a variety of provision mixtures wheresome supports to children’s development are adequate or even substantial while others are virtuallynon-existent. An immunization program can fail to complement its efforts with nutrition interven-tions or by modeling approaches to supporting cognitive stimulation. Or a day-care or crèche mayfocus upon the custodial care needs of increased numbers of working mothers, with little attention tothe developmental needs of the children. And a preschool program may merely extend primaryschooling downward, paying little attention to the nutritional and health status of its learners. Theprograms included in this analysis therefore illustrate a range of possibilities in combining elementsof ECD support.

Social and cultural contexts also offer a diverse set of needs across the Sub-Saharan region. Thespecific needs of families and societies may require very different supports to child development.Families may be headed by unemployed and illiterate mothers or have older siblings caring for youngchildren. Societies may have substantial minority groups with diverse linguistic traditions, or largepopulations of parents and children negatively affected by civil strife. To illustrate the contextual fitof each child development effort, this analysis will explore how programs and policies build uponlocal socio-cultural resources and unite with labor, microenterprise and national reconstruction agen-das to create social and cultural child support systems.

A final definitional consideration is that of the age range covered in discussing ECD programs.Where specified, the programs and policies analyzed in this study offer a fairly wide range of agerange definitions for child. This inevitably impacts the approach to child development and the sup-ports created, both in terms of delivery systems and partners. For instance, the Namibian focus uponchildren from ages 0-8 implies that the lead agencies for its Inter-ministerial Task Force on ECD arethe Ministry of Regional and Local Government and Housing (MRLGH) with responsibility for chil-dren 0-6, the Ministry of Basic Education and Culture (MBEC) with responsibility for children of 6and above. The Kenyan National Preschool Program has focused during more than two decadesupon the preschool years in meeting the health and learning needs of children ages 3 to 5. This hasled to the current reconsideration of expanded health and nutrition services as well as services forchildren under the age of 3 as well as experimentation in building upon that delivery system to reachand support these younger children. Since this study aims to learn from existing systems to linkinvestments in social and human capital development more effectively, its purposes can be met by

Introduction 3

focusing on systems and experiences that support children up to entry into primary school, coveringthe age range of 0-6.

ECD programs are thus those which holistically address the needs of children ages 0-6 in theirinstitutional and socio-cultural context.

Methodology

This study was undertaken through a review of documentation on existing Sub-Saharan Africanprogrammatic and policy efforts in ECD. Country-by-country searches were conducted in the docu-mentation collections of both the World Bank and UNICEF and a number of non-governmental orga-nizations (NGO) and government agencies were contacted directly to gather program evaluationand impact information. In addition, a number of interviews were conducted to fill in gaps in theinformation gathered.

As noted previously, the focus of this work is to learn from efforts that support children’s holisticdevelopment in order to link investments more effectively. Emerging from this rationale, the inclu-sion of health, education and nutritional aspects in a program or country policy effort became impor-tant dimensions of this review. In addition, the study considers a number of broader multi-sectoralapproaches as they address the overall development of the child’s environment: health, nutrition,education of both the child and the people who care for him/her. The strengths of these programs forsupporting ECD are relevance, holism and inter-generational involvement. Finally, because linkageto later investments is crucial for a child’s and a nation’s development, the study includes programsthat complement existing health and nutritional efforts to bring children into the stream of basiceducation opportunities. These programs offer important insight as to how ECD programs mightimprove primary school investment.

From the documents collected, brief case studies were written on eleven efforts (See Table 1). Ap-pendices provide interested readers with the full case studies for further investigation and learning.

Experiences beyond these eleven that were not fully enough documented to allow the prepara-tion of a case study will be included in the discussion as relevant.

Table 1: Countries and ECD Programs and Policies under Study

Country Policy or Program Implementing Agency

Angola Mobile War Trauma Team (MWTT) Christian Children’s Fund (CCF)Botswana Little Teachers Child-to-Child FoundationGhana, Mali, Credit with Education Freedom from Hunger (FFH) and

Burkina Faso local partners in each countryKenya National Preschool Program National Center for Early Care and

Education (NACECE)Kenya, Uganda, Zanzibar Madrassah Preschools Aga Khan Foundation (AKF), and

Madrassah Resource Centers(MRC)

Mauritius Export Processing Zone Labor Government of Mauritius, ExportWelfare Fund Day-care Program Processing Zone, NGOs(EPZLWF); Legal Frameworkfor Children

Namibia National ECD Policy Government of NamibiaNigeria Development Communication Nigerian Television Authority (NTA),

World BankSouth Africa NGO Coalition for Policy Impact South African Congress for ECDZimbabwe Kushanda Preschools Federation of Kushanda Preschools

(FKP)


Analysis across these experiences drew out lessons of ECD policy and provision in Sub-SaharanAfrica. However, several factors limited this research effort. First, the exercise was undertaken as areview of secondary sources. This left it subject to the availability and quality of existing documenta-tion of ECD efforts in the region. Further, lack of systematic and thorough data collection throughoutthe life of ECD efforts brought a variety of information types to bear, leaving gaps in program reviews.Finally, the compartmentalized sources of health, nutrition and education data and documentationmade the consolidation of information on ECD programs meeting these needs particularly challeng-ing. Nonetheless, the information and analysis presented here contributes to the dialogue on how tosupport Sub-Saharan African children’s holistic development in a cost-effective and multi-sectoral way.

Organization of the Report

The second chapter undertakes an overview of the ECD approaches included in the report, consideringtheir objectives and coverage. An analysis of the contextual impetus or enabling conditions giving riseto program and policy choices supporting each approach follows. This may help to better understandwhy an approach fits a particular setting and how it may or may not be appropriate in facing anotherset of contextual factors. To focus upon key issues in ECD policy and program provision experience,chapter 3 presents lessons learned to date in: a) delivery models and implementation; b) program qual-ity; c) institutional cooperation for ECD and d) scale, costs, financing and sustainability. This presenta-tion begins from program and policy features affecting the child and works outward into the commu-nity, regional, and national levels. Finally, a consideration of the gaps that exist in these experiences andin our analysis and understanding of efforts in the region provides an overview of the challenges aheadin supporting children’s holistic development in Sub-Saharan Africa.

5

2APPROACHES TO ECD POLICY AND PROGRAM

PROVISION IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

ECD needs are being addressed in Sub-Saharan Africa in a variety of ways. The set of eleven experi-ences under study offer several variations on preschool or day-care system support as well as experi-ence involving media campaigns, trauma healing, policy and legislative efforts and credit schemes. Ineach case, the program evolves to meet the developmental needs of children in a specific context.Thus, the programs are designed for children with working mothers in Mauritius, traumatized chil-dren in Angola, and young children headed to school in a host of countries where parents worry aboutreadiness. Each effort takes a different form. Table 2 provides a glimpse of the eleven ECD effortsselected for this study through a brief description of each context, objective and approach.

Looking more closely at the objectives of the selected programmatic efforts in Table 3 reveals thatmany address a variety of ECD objectives. Programs that address school readiness and those thataim to impact health and nutrition indicators have direct benefits upon children involved. The nexttwo categories of objectives, however, impact children indirectly through their parents and ECDworkers of various kinds (preschool teachers, parent educators, home visitors, day-care providers,

Table 2: Context, Objective and Approach of Policies and Programs under Study

Country/ Effort Context/Need Objective Approach

Angola 840,000 Angolan children Help meet the psycho- Train professionals wholive in circumstances social needs of war- work with children,

Mobile War Trauma where internal displace- traumatized children. community leaders andTeam (MWTT) ment and continued strife parents to: recognize

leave them to develop in psychological trauma ina context of struggle both children; assist childrento survive and to resolve in developing copingtrauma that can pose strategies; and copesevere impediments to with their ownnormal psycho-social experience of violence.development andfunctioning.

Botswana Children in rural areas Primary school support Train primary teachershad difficulty making to develop preschool to pass lesson content

Little Teachers the transition to full- activities implemented and teaching methodstime school attendance. by older children (“little of health, nutrition andThe unfamiliar setting teachers”) to enrich child developmentand routines, the teacher preschool educational knowledge and skillsand the materials they experiences. on to older children sowere expected to use were they work effectivelythings they had never with younger children.seen or experiencedinteraction with before.

(table continues on following page)


(Table 2 continued)


Ghana, Mali, Poor households in Address economic, Train local institutionsBurkina Faso Western Africa suffer organizational and to provide services to

from inadequate access informational sources of support poor womenCredit with Education to food, resulting in malnutrition that stunt that both increase

chronic hunger and development. incomes and savingsmalnutrition, further and motivate adoptionimpacted by women’s of supportive health,low economic capacity nutrition and child careand poor health, nutrition behaviors.and child care knowledgeand behaviors.

Kenya A wide range of quality Develop a national pre- Train and supportin preschool provision school model to improve preschool teachers at

National Preschool across Kenya in the early the welfare of young the local level. CookingProgram 1970’s with many pre- children. demonstrations,

schools suffering from learning materialslack of materials production, workshopsappropriate for early on the care andlearning. Coverage of pre- nutrition of childrenprogram teacher training empower the commu-at this time was poor, as nity of parents andonly 8 percent of all pre- caregivers to becomeschool teachers had any involved in itsbasic training in early children’s welfare.education techniques.

Kenya, Uganda, Muslim communities in Promote educational Train teachers for theZanzibar these countries had achievement through a Madrassahs; and

inadequate access to local preschool model that uses provide continuingMadrassah Preschools primary schools and the cultural and religious supervision, train Local

limited options for early values of the community Management Commit-education due to poverty, in a child-centered tees for day-to-dayand/or women’s work. approach to learning operation of MadrassahThey wanted to ensure and creating learning Preschools, and buildtheir children’s school materials. community awarenessreadiness while main- and preschool support.taining the religiousaspects of their earlyeducation.

Mauritius Full employment in Provide day-care for 5 pilot industrialMauritius has raised the children from ages 3 worksite day-care

Export Processing need for day-care as the months to 3 years and centers run by localZone Labor Welfare percentage of mothers test a public-private NGOs and sponsoredFund Day-care (EPZ) working has increased partnership model for by the EPZ Labor

from 20 percent to almost day-care provision to Welfare Fund, the50% since 1983. The learn about costs and Sugar Industry LaborGovernment of Mauritius quality. Welfare Fund and theassesses that while half government offerof households have both health and nutritionparents working, support as well as fullconditions of day-cares day child care.are often unsatisfactory.

(table continues on following page)

Approaches to ECD Policy and Program Provision in Sub-Saharan Africa 7

(Table 2 continued)


Mauritius As above, but reaching Harmonize Mauritian Promotion of a multi-beyond day-care issues law and policy with the sectoral policy, action

Legal Framework into needs in child health, provisions of the and legislative agendafor Children child protection, Convention on the Rights to support the health,

maternal labor, industry of the Child. safety, protection andfinancing, etc. development of

children.

Namibia Widespread ECD National ECD Policy to A National ECDsupport needs and support a broad spectrum Committee coordinates

National ECD Policy disparate efforts across of ECD programs for roles and efforts ofsectors brought an Inter- young children and their government, NGOs,ministerial Task Force to families. and private sector todevise a National ECD work with communitiesPolicy addressing needs in developing desiredof children from birth to ECD programs.8 years of age.

Nigeria Preschools frequently Pilot a method to support Build televisionhave only meager ECD via the production, production capacity to

Development instructional materials, a dissemination, monitor- share integratedCommunication substantial number of ing and evaluation of messages addressingPilot caregivers are untrained, ECD materials through social physical,

even illiterate and many television and video. economic impacts onparents have inadequate child developmentknowledge to provide implemented by thetheir children with good NTA and partners inhealth, adequate nutrition four pilot sites.and a clean safe,stimulating environment.

South Africa A three year consultation Serve the interest of 7 Lobby government andbuilt an agenda of ECD million young children contribute to White

South African priority needs and a as well as ECD workers Paper for coherentCongress for ECD constituency with a loud by achieving good quality national ECD policy

voice in the transition to ECD services. and commitments,democracy when recon- coordinate trainingstruction and develop- opportunities, network,ment planning gave low build awareness, etc.priority to the needs andrights of young children.

Zimbabwe The Kushanda Project Create a model for Communities select andresponded to the needs establishing and pay a teacher trained to

Kushanda Preschools of farm laborers and supporting rural pre- run a community-builtProject, Federation resettlement area popula- school centers in small preschool. Kushandaof Kushanda tions in isolation from villages or on farms. provides training andPreschools government services and follow-up, support to

from each other. Priority establish the center,needs for ECD programs nutrition supplements,emerged from families stationery materials,whose parents faced the and adult nonformaldifficulties of trying to education.work while childrenplayed all around them.


ECD trainers, etc.). The objectives of these efforts are enhanced knowledge and skills in caring forchildren. Finally, the objective of day-care provision as met by the EPZ centers is designed primarilywith impacts women in the labor force in mind. A crucial issue is: how much is quality and impactupon children a secondary agenda?

Almost all of the selected efforts pursue a number of these objectives at once. In South Africa, theCongress for ECD has agenda items aimed at supporting greater attention to health, nutrition andearly stimulation in children 0-4, as well as to developing the Reception Year phase of educare thatfocuses upon school readiness. In addition, a third agenda item coordinates training opportunitiesfor ECD workers.

Single programmatic efforts can also comprise different components aimed to meet specific localobjectives. This is the case in Kenya, where not all communities have nutritional supplement compo-nents in the local preschool. Such flexibility is also written into the Namibian ECD Policy, as theplanning and ECD program design system leaves the consideration of objectives (and therefore tar-get group or groups) up to the communities themselves. The policy lets them decide if the best pro-gram for their needs is parent education, child care, preschool or a combination thereof. Thus, manychild development objectives can be addressed with a set of programmatic efforts, as componentsconverge to address health, nutrition, education, caregiver skills development and day-care needswhere they exist.

As already noted, the existing ECD provision in any county is unlikely to be a blank slate. Wherea country has ECD efforts to build on, the existing delivery system can take on additional objectivesand support more elements of holistic ECD provision over time. This happened in Kenya as growthmonitoring skills and other child health and nutrition program elements were added to its preschoolprogram that originally stressed cognitive development. Similarly in Zimbabwe, the Kushanda Pre-school Dissemination Project, whose name literally means “build on what is there” has added moreand more extensive parent education and mobilization components over the years of its operation.

The variation in program objective translates into target populations and coverage figures thatinclude not only children, but parents, preschool teachers, and other ECD workers and professionalsand a variety of institutions in which they work. Table 4 shows the available coverage figures for avariety of target groups within these program efforts.

These ECD efforts present an array of programmatic scopes as the coverage figures range fromseveral thousand to a million children. Policy efforts such as those in South Africa, Mauritius andNamibia are not shown here, as they often aim to impact all of the children in the nation or all of thenation’s most disadvantaged children.

Table 3: Objectives of ECD Programmatic Efforts

EnhancedHealth, Parent Enhanced

Objectives/ School Nutrition Knowledge, ECD Worker Day-careProgram Readiness Service Provision Skills Skills Provision

MWTT X XLittle Teachers X XCredit with Education XKenya Preschool

Program X X X XMadrassah Preschools X X X XEPZ day-care X XNigerian Dev’t

Communication X XSA Congress for ECD X X XKushanda Preschools X X X X


Building upon systems to initiate or round out investments in early childhood development, theseprogrammatic efforts in Sub-Saharan Africa meet a range of child and caregiver-directed objectives.We turn now to an assessment of contextual factors that gave rise to the programs and look at howresources came together to formulate and address ECD objectives.

Enabling Conditions of ECD Efforts

Each program or policy effort fits into its context of local needs and builds upon available resources.Consideration of the enabling conditions that surround each particular example illuminates the pos-sibilities for use of available resources. In this analysis, an enabling condition is a characteristic of thecontext or chiod development need without which the effort would be either quite difficult or impos-sible to implement.

The efforts in this paper are broken into three general categories for the purpose of discussion: a)community preschool support efforts; b) direct ECD service provision efforts in special circumstances;and c) broader efforts to build ECD awareness and adopt supportive national policies.

Community Preschool Support Programs

Three of the eleven programs in this study establish and support community preschools. These are: theNational Preschool Program in Kenya, the Federation of Kushanda Preschools (FKP) in two districts ofZimbabwe and the Madrassah Preschools Project in Muslim communities of Kenya, Zanzibar andUganda. These three ECD efforts share a common set of six enabling conditions as seen in Table 5.

In Kenya, Zimbabwe, and the Madrassah Preschools, these enabling conditions support both theestablishment and expansion of the community preschool approach to ECD provision. In the experi-ence of the Madrassah Preschools in Kenya and Zanzibar, community demand, the first enablingcondition, emerged from concern regarding school entry. This concern had the added element of

Table 4: Coverage of Selected ECD Programmatic Efforts

Program/Coverage Children Other Target Group(s)

MWTT 14,950 574 ECD workers/parentsLittle Teachers 50,000 44 primary schoolsCredit with Education N/A 18,136 mothersKenya Preschool Program 1,000,000 17,650 preschools24,809 preschool teachersMadrassah Preschools 4,500 250 preschoolsNigerian Development Communication Pilot 10,000 400 parentsKushanda Preschools 5,000 150 teachers

7,000 to 9,000 parents

Table 5: Enabling Conditions for Community Preschool Establishment and Support

Approach Common Enabling Conditions

Establishment and support • Community demandof community preschools • Community participation

• Local training expertise(Kenya, Zimbabwe, Uganda and • Available and qualified community members to train as ECD workers

Zanzibar) • Fee-paying preschool parents• External financial support for start up


working women needing child care in the Madrassah Preschools of urban Uganda. In Zimbabwe,community demand for child care and protection needs on commercial farms served as impetus forparents’ attention to ECD. These different sources of demand require variations in local program-ming such as scheduling according to work requirements or consideration of curricular mixtures tomeet parents’ academic orientation.

In Zimbabwe, demand for child care serving children under 3 did exist. Through discussionswith communities, however, the Kushanda Project found that the demand was not substantial enoughto motivate community participation to meet the need. In effect, the community wanted the servicesprovided, but did not feel it was important enough to give their own time and other resources. Localdemand, its depth and its sources are important to designing efforts that fit the context and need.

In implementing community preschool support, these three programs also feature substantial com-ponents to either create or extend community demand and mobilize community participation. InKenya, this involves cooking demonstrations, learning materials production, and workshops on thecare and nutrition of children, and in Zimbabwe, nonformal education aims to enhance local healthknowledge as well as management skills. In mobilizing parents and communities for ECD, it is quiteimportant to note that all three of these programs began with small pilot efforts in a few communities.

The experience in Zimbabwe and the Madrassah Preschools both report the spread (often unex-pected) of interest among neighboring areas and increases in demand and participation associatedwith a dynamic of “seeing is believing” in pilot sites and surrounding communities. In these experi-ences, many local partnerships spring from one. Such an expansion “strategy” of horizontal diffusiondepends upon capturing local interest and making good on the commitment of the first partners.Effective action and learning with these first communities enhances the reputation and legitimacy ofthe implementing agency as community partner. This then fosters expansion into neighboring areas.

Components of all three of these efforts create or extend local ECD skills in preschool teachers.Two enabling conditions make this feasible: a) ECD training capacity within the country; and b)available locals to be trained as preschool teachers. The first, training capacity, is often present andextended through such efforts as the current Bernard van Leer Foundation (BvLF), UNESCO, UNICEFand Save the Children\US effort, Early Childhood Development: More and Better. This project is trainingECD trainers across Sub-Saharan Africa. The availability of local teacher trainees, however, dependsupon the provided incentives. These include the salary of the preschool teachers, opportunity costsof teaching and individual interest in teaching. In addition, availability depends upon the definitionof minimum qualifications by the implementing agency. In Kenya, requirement of a secondary edu-cation by the National Preschool Program is sometimes regarded as too high and the MadrassahPreschools require no particular level of education in that or other countries. In Zimbabwe, the expe-rience has no requirements, but has found in many areas an able pool of trainees already tending toor experienced in meeting community needs as farm health workers, former teachers andchildminders. The Kushanda effort extends their interest and skills.

But the final two enabling conditions above, fee-paying preschool parents and external financialsupport for start-up, may not be so readily fabricated or extended in the context of community pre-school efforts. Parents in extremely poor communities may not be able to support teacher salariesfully or partially by paying fees or contributing in kind. And external funding may not be available.Although an ECD effort may be mounted in the absence of local fees by establishing incentive schemesbeyond the means of the community, the sustainability of this approach depends upon the longevityof the external source of the incentive. In addition, the impact of providing this incentive upon com-munity ownership is likely to be detrimental. Provision leads communities to see the service as grantedto them and they feel less or no responsibility for its maintenance and quality. This can be fatal in asystem of community-based centers that is dependent upon community coverage of large portionsof capital or recurrent costs.

These three efforts have additional enabling conditions that differ in interesting ways. In theMadrassah Preschools experience, the presence of a respected educational institution in the com-munity—both in terms of infrastructure and status—enabled these Muslim populations to devise


community preschools appropriate to their traditions and ideals. In addition, the local MadrassahResource Centers (MRC) that train and support community preschool teachers access external tech-nical assistance and a supportive network of educational activities through the Aga Khan Founda-tion (AKF). This brings additional resources to bear in these Muslim populations and in the institu-tions (the MRCs) that serve them, including: information, materials, international consultants,opportunities for international training and conference attendance, etc. Such exposure builds localexpertise. While these opportunities and strengths are not easily replicable outside of the AKFsystem of support, the example offers a lesson in looking to supportive ECD networks not based inor organized by nation states.

In Zimbabwe, an additional enabling condition of sensitivity and response to community needsled what was originally a broader community development initiative to focus upon child develop-ment in its activities. Here, the Kushanda Project responded to the community demand for earlychildhood care and education and altered its agenda of activities. This element of flexibility andresponse later combined with community commitment to provide the impetus for the externallyfunded Kushanda Project to become a self-sustaining local institution, the Federation of KushandaPreschools. In this sense, response to community demand allowed the effort to metamorphose andmeet changing ECD needs in target communities.

In all three community preschool support cases, ECD activities began through investments byexternal sources. Indeed, all three were extended on this basis as well. In Kenya, the mixture ofexternal funding and government contributions have varied over time. In Zimbabwe, the externalfunding has shifted from supporting a stand-alone project to funding the training arm of a largerpreschool movement. But there can be no doubt that without external investment, these efforts wouldnot exist on the scale that they do today. This poses a programming sustainability question commonto most of the efforts included in this paper. If, as the dependence of these efforts upon externalsupport suggests, the national government is not mobilized to effectively meet the ECD demandsand needs in its population, then how is sustainability to be achieved?

Zimbabwe offers a lesson here as it came to include program components to mobilize grassrootsdemand for the government to support community preschools. The inclusion of such grassroots ef-forts as well as components that enhance government interest and response to community demandvis-à-vis ECD services pose useful additions to the enabling conditions of community preschool sup-port approaches to ECD provision. Additional strategies to enhance the conditions contributing to thesustainability of such ECD efforts might include: appealing to the private sector for the establishmentof worker welfare funding mechanisms, provision of direct state subsidies through matching grants tocommunities or institutions, and the provision of indirect state subsidy via tax deductions.

Additional ECD Provision Efforts in Special Circumstances

Beyond the support of community preschools, a number of other efforts considered in this studyprovide or enhance direct ECD services in the region. These include: day-care in Mauritius, psycho-social support in Angola, Child-to-Child School Readiness in Botswana and Credit with Educationin Ghana, Mali and Burkina Faso. Table 6 presents each of these approaches and its particularenabling conditions.

The enabling conditions for the public-private day-care partnership in Mauritius present a com-bination of supportive policy and available funding from government, industry and parents. Thisexperience is unusual in the region. Mauritian policy holds that “There is no single institution whichcan claim to play the leading role in ensuring the overall growth and the development of the child”(Bappoo 1994: p. 2). In a nation that considers the development of children the responsibility of all,government and private interests come together to learn both how to provide quality day-care incollaboration and how much it costs. The Sugar Industry Labour Welfare Fund Act of 1975 and theExport Processing Zone Labour Welfare Fund (EPZLWF) Act of 1988 establish funds to promote thewelfare of workers and their children. These conditions, coupled with the institutional capacity of


NGOs to provide ECD services set this pilot apart. Where employees and employers contributemonthly and government contributes annually, collective commitment to ECD is a vast enablingcondition in this country setting. Such public-private collaboration offers the region a model of holis-tic ECD provision that crosses not only ministerial lines, but sectors of the economy in order to meetestablished needs.

In Angola, the presence of thousands of children in difficult circumstances led an internationalNGO, Christian Children’s Fund (CCF), to act. It collaborated locally in the development of a modeland flexible curricula for adults to both identify and work with traumatized children as well as todeal with their own stress and trauma. The enabling conditions for this effort are not only the exter-nal generation of the idea and funding, but the presence of Angolan professionals to undertake theextensive training and adaptive effort required in each community. This effort also builds upon com-munity-level enabling conditions of local knowledge-sharing, openness to its combination with for-eign ideas, as well as energy of individuals and communities for application of the program’scollaboratively created healing techniques. Finally, CCF’s long presence in Angola as well as its part-nership with the Ministry of Rehabilitation and Social Reintegration, the Ministry of Health and theMinistry of Education, provide access to professionals and other individuals working with children.The CCF effort offers a model of adaptation of western models for appropriate awareness-raisingand skills development.

In Botswana, the enabling conditions led to the adaptation of the Child-to-Child basic healtheducation approach into a school readiness approach. This effort grew out of concern that rural chil-dren were not succeeding in school because they arrived in grade 1 unfamiliar with the settings,routines, people and materials. The use of the Child-to-Child curriculum in primary schools to pro-mote supportive child development behaviors builds operationally upon a local enabling reality:older siblings care for younger siblings and can be mobilized to support their school readiness. Addi-tional conditions enabling this effort are not only the externally available (copyright-free) modelitself, but agreement from primary schools to involve the time and effort of both teachers and older

Table 6: Enabling Conditions of ECD Provision Efforts in Special Circumstances

Approach Enabling Conditions

Public-private partnership for • Supportive national policy and legislationemployee day-care (Mauritius) • Mobilized industry concern for children and parents

• Government funding• Private funding• Fee-paying preschool parents• Local ECD implementing institutions

Psycho-social support for • External and local expertise for curriculum and model developmentchildren and communities • Local expertise for training outreach to adapt curriculum in each site(Angola) • Community participation in local adaptation of curriculum as well as

application in healing activities• External financial support for start up• Access to local trainees who work with children

Child-to-Child (Botswana) • External model for local adaptation• Local caregiver arrangement: older children care for younger siblings• Primary school cooperation and partnership• External funding

Nonformal education and credit • Groups of local women to form joint liability credit associations(Ghana, Mali, and Burkina Faso) • Local institutions (NGOs, credit unions or rural banks) to integrate

systems and skills• External expertise for curriculum adaptation and training• External financial support for start-up


children. In addition, external funding for teacher training workshops sustain the effort, but make itdependent upon funding availability. Sustainability and government commitment could be addressedsimultaneously by this program. Specifically, a dual agenda could document the program’s benefitsmore thoroughly and advocate alterations to primary school curricula and teacher training with theMinistry of Education. The enabling conditions of the effort include targeted social responsibilities,partnership between organizations and economic inputs, as the program takes advantage of all avail-able resources for child development.

Finally, the enabling conditions of the Credit with Education approach applied in three countries inthis region, Ghana, Mali and Burkina Faso, are quite different from those described above. Aimed at theinformational, organizational and economic roots of malnutrition, this approach expands the poverty-lending agendas of local credit institutions. It requires two main enabling ingredients: women inter-ested to form and participate in Credit Associations, and a local institution interested in a partnershipwith Freedom from Hunger (FFH). This institutional partnership integrates health and child care edu-cation, microenterprise and group management agenda into the local institution’s current systems andskills. This latter enabling condition, i.e., institutional interest in a systems-altering partnership, has abuilt-in incentive: such services can increase the female clientele of an NGO credit program, creditunion, or rural bank. Sustainability of external funding and expertise are less of a concern to this par-ticular program, as self-sufficiency of the local institution in three to six years is the overall goal ofFFH’s approach. Credit with Education thus combines two participant-motivating issues—income andhealthy development—to gain impact, sustainability and effectively target poor, rural women.

All of these approaches to providing and enhancing ECD activities respond to needs in specificnational (Kenya, Mauritius), sub-national (Zimbabwe, Angola) and supra-national contexts(Madrassah Preschools and Credit with Education). From these approaches we see that ECD needscan be met in a variety of ways that build from what is available in the particular context.

Broader ECD Awareness and Policy Efforts

Four approaches considered in this report undertake ECD efforts at a broader level by aiming to alterpolicy in support of ECD and build awareness of ECD in a nation. These efforts arise from specificinternal dynamics and draw, as those above, upon available resources shown in Table 7.

In Nigeria, the Development Communications Pilot Project builds upon the Nigerian Televi-sion Authority’s (NTA) educational mandate as well as its existing infrastructure. Unlike the ECDprovision approaches above, the capacity building in this project focuses upon script writing andother aspects of television production. Collaboration and funding from the World Bank provideaccess to training resources, information and models from other national children’s programs aswell as equipment for quality production. These enhanced ‘ECD skills’ aim for long-term impact

Table 7: Enabling Conditions for Broader Awareness and Policy Efforts

Approach Enabling Conditions

Development Communication • Nigerian Television Authority educational mandatePilot (Nigeria) • Local implementing institution and staff capacity

• External funding and technical supportOrganizing Grassroots Policy • Many experienced community groups, institutions and NGOs

Impact (South Africa) working in ECD• Changes in government• Openness of national policy debate

Supportive National Policy • Collective responsibility for child development(Namibia and Mauritius) • Dedicated, energetic leader(s)

• Openness to coordination of resources


upon the television industry and fuller exploitation of the NTA’s educational mandate. As in otherefforts supported by national-international partnerships, both internal and external resources of-fer long-term impact by enhancing technology and skills for ECD.

The enabling conditions of the grassroots and government policy efforts included in this studyare more difficult to pin down than those of programmatic efforts. The origin or nascent forms ofcollective responsibility as well as commitment to broad-based coordination for ECD are difficult toidentify. Context-specific and often one time only circumstances appear to underlie all of these ECDpolicy efforts.

In South Africa, the presence of many, very experienced implementing, training, research andnetworking NGOs in the ECD arena provided ample local expertise and representation to exert pres-sure upon politicians for ECD policy and action. Several associations of ECD workers and advocates,sometimes competing with each other over professional standards and optimum educare improve-ment strategies, created with their associational behavior valuable social capital behind ECD. TheSouth African Congress for ECD, with 40,000 members, built its constituency between 1990 and 1993in a consultative grassroots process among these groups and by drawing in others. Together, theyidentified needs and priorities for children and ECD workers.

From these various networking and advocacy groups there emerged one mass movement in March1994, the South African Congress for ECD. It aims to serve the needs and interests of South Africa’s 7million young children, though efforts to increase and improve ECD provision, such as establishingaccreditation norms and standards (see Box 3 for more detail). Among its first major activities in 1994were advocacy efforts to address the low priority it felt that children had received in the reconstruc-tion and development plans of the new government. Thus, beyond the presence of expertise andmobilized voices, substantive changes in national government and the alteration of policy across theboard provided opportunity for input and open debate. This dynamic and series of changes is spe-cific to the South African context.

The policy declarations of Namibia and Mauritius are widely published, but the processes throughwhich they were agreed are less documented. Anecdotal reports refer to charismatic Ministers, dedi-cated local and international NGO staff, influential international advisors and well-timed invest-ment of foreign grants and/or loans. All of these fall into a mix with national values and democraticevolution that in these cases result in supportive ECD policy.

The combination of such elements in these two countries, however, led to quite different approaches.Namibia’s National ECD Policy focuses upon the coordination of a supportive framework of rolesand activities for community-based ECD provision led by the MRLGH and MBEC. In Mauritius,however, one lead ministry, that of Women’s Rights, Child Development and Family Welfare(MWRCDFW), pursues a wide array of legislative and action agendas, including: the public-privateday-care experiment noted above, extension of maternity leave, protection of children from abuse,and the creation of a Day-care Trust Fund for institutional soft loans. The MWRCDFW pursues eachissue with the appropriate ministry and private partners. Thus, in each case, not only the presence ofthe policy-influencing elements above, but their place within the national ministerial frameworkaffects the type and focus of the ECD policy product.

Areas of Analysis to Support ECD Design and Planning

The eleven ECD experiences in this study pursue a variety of objectives and display the utilization ofa wide range of enabling characteristics and resources. This analysis of enabling conditions suggestsan exercise for those planning and designing ECD policies and programs. From the above threecategories of experiences emerge several areas of analysis and investigation for the design process.

i. Priority areas of child development that are unmet (i.e., day-care, school readiness, mal-nutrition);

ii. Extent and source of community demand for ECD services;


iii. Extent and type of community resources;iv. Existing ECD skills at the local and national levels;v. Availability and interest of local ECD workers;

vi. Community capacity for participation;vii. Local institutional capacities;

viii. Extent of national awareness and demand for supportive policy;ix. External and supra-national resources for ECD provision (i.e., training opportunities,

materials, networks);x. Stakeholder analysis of policy movers who favor ECD (i.e., government and NGO staff,

international advisors, local movements and business people); andxi. Power and extent of access to mass media.

Knowing the shape and scope of these resources can determine the prevalent enabling conditionsand help in the identification and design of appropriate ECD approaches. In planning effective ECDefforts, it is necessary to consider all of the resources in the environment of the child. Family, commu-nity, community-based NGOs, local authorities, national NGOs, government ministries, and interna-tional agencies are the individuals and institutional actors in a child’s life. Culture, professional stan-dards, policy and international accords are among the ideological influences in the child’s surroundingsupport systems. In each context, these actors and influences arise in different patterns to supportchild development. A map of these variables constructed in-country and beginning with the nation’schildren at the center facilitates planning to utilize resources to the fullest. This map can be builtthrough the analysis and periodic reassessment of the eleven enabling conditions mentioned above.

This chapter has sought to clarify the child development needs that the eleven efforts included inthis study aim to meet and the enabling conditions that make them possible. What follows is a consid-eration of the ECD provision and policy experience and lessons learned thus far that offer insight todesigning, planning and implementing effective ECD policies and programs in Sub-Saharan Africa.

17

3EXPERIENCES IN ECD POLICY AND PROGRAM

PROVISION IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

ECD delivery models and Program Implementation Issues

Building on Local Culture

Child-rearing and early education are among the primary and strongest socialization influences of ayoung child’s life. It therefore follows that a wide range of a nation’s cultural traits and habits willfeature in any ECD program or policy. While these differ among groups and communities and cer-tainly between nations within Sub-Saharan Africa, there is also a strong presence of Western modelsof ECD and especially preschool provision in the region. A particular issue of ECD policy and pro-gramming, then, becomes the array of methods used to build upon the local culture. These processescontribute to the provision of appropriate, accessible and realistically sustainable ECD programs inSub-Saharan Africa.

Local culture can be a source of curricular topics for ECD programs. Kenya’s National PreschoolProgram utilizes a curriculum with two components. The first is a centralized portion that providesa framework of national standards. The second is developed within the district centers, where gov-ernment staff, community teachers, community members and children work to collect, demonstrateand share local songs, dances and stories in their mother tongue. In a set of decentralized effortsacross this nation, these resources become part of the preschool curriculum. As far back as 1972, thepredecessors of the National Center for Early Care and Education (NACECE) began collecting mothertongue traditions resulting in a collection of ECD resource materials in twenty-six languages today.From their customs and cultures, the Kenyans devise a multi-cultural set of resources to reinforcechildren’s identity and enhance the local relevance of the preschool curriculum. The two-tiered cur-riculum allows them to do so while providing a set of national norms.

Local culture can also offer options and solutions for implementation and extension in ECD sup-port efforts. In Botswana, cultural factors underlie the support that caregivers offer to children’sdevelopment. Since older children take care of their younger siblings, this program does not targetparents, aunts or grandparents with information regarding the support of children’s health and nu-trition and early learning. Instead, it revives and relies upon a facet of traditional culture: childrenlearn the rights and wrongs of their society from their peers. The approach also stresses that learningdoes not only take place in formal settings, but encourages informal learning, as well as the notionthat children themselves can be agents of change. In other areas, the child-rearing roles of grand-mothers in traditional African society are the focus of child development programs. Thus, culturefacilitate the establishment of systems of supportive information sharing and behavioral change.

Culture can also provide institutional structures to mobilize in supporting child development.In Kenya, Uganda and Zanzibar, the existence of local Madrassahs, religious schools, provide analternate delivery system for preschool education. Building upon a locally esteemed institution inthe community, this cultural resource supports a school readiness effort in Muslim communities.Within these schools, local culture brings agendas of modern learning and traditional values to-gether to expand educational access. In the Madrassahs, Muslim community and program staffdesigned curriculum that would “provide children skills for the modern world while reinforcingidentity via building on tradition and culture” (Said and Maherali 1993: p. 38). This curriculum


integrates secular and religious knowledge according to criteria both developmental and cultural:suitability to the children’s developmental ability and cultural integrity. This dual agenda meetsthe needs and priorities of the Muslim community in supporting their children’s early learningand advancement into primary school.

In Angola, the curriculum of the Mobile War Trauma Team (MWTT) described in Box 1 changes tobuild upon the local tradition and culture in each target community.

Box 1: The Mobile War Trauma Team Builds on Culture in Angola

Two-week participatory training sessions for 20-25 people combine local traditional culture and healing rites withrecent scientific findings on child development, trauma and healing in a flexible approach that the trainees help adaptto their local situations. Much of this adaptation is achieved by the trainers and trainees together as they examine theenvironment of the child and the available supports to his/her healing and healthy development. The trainees of theMWTT project are professionals, para-professionals, parents and youth leaders who interact with children in refugeecamps, children’s homes, schools and street children’s programs. They include teachers, doctors, nurses, social work-ers, NGO staff workers as well as community leaders. The training sessions are conducted at the sites where thetrainees work with children and in a manner which consciously avoids a lecture methodology. A participatory andpartnership-oriented approach helps trainers to learn from the local community about their specific war experiences,the needs of their children, the traditional modes of healing they use, etc. Considerable discussion of how to deal withconflict at home without resort to violence encourages nonviolent conflict resolution in these communities.

Collaborative exploration of the holistic environment of the child builds in local situation analysis and leads intogroup problem-solving, skill building and partnership formulation to meet needs. The training design builds inter-ventions upon local traditions and encourages continued learning by the MWTT about various cultures and healingtechniques in Angola in each successive training. A target community and MWTT together learn how that particularcommunity heals and reinforce the importance and place of its rites in the rebuilding of local networks and cohesion.

Finally, local culture can also enhance the relevance of ECD programs and provide cross-culturalexposure from the earliest years. In Nigeria, the scriptwriters of a forthcoming children’s televisionseries look at cultural groups in the four main areas of the country to create a diverse set of characters.They aim to ensure that their stories will mesh with local understanding. The series utilizes a “Funbus”to adventure from location to location in the country, bringing knowledge of all cultures into the con-tent of the programming. This approach not only builds content upon local resources, but exploits themfor the purpose of greater cross-cultural learning and understanding within a diverse population.

In summary, there are a variety of means to build upon and build within the cultural strengths ofan ECD community. These programs utilize cultural resources for curriculum content or to exploitthe importance of familiar habits and ideas for the introduction of additional supportive informationand skills. They put the most basic elements of children’s socialization to work to strengthen healthychild development. In each case, the greatest allies for effectively engaging these local resources arethose who know the situation, its traditions and culture well. Community members, national profes-sionals and international advisors must put all of their knowledge and skills together to develop themost developmentally appropriate response to supporting and exploiting local cultural resources forchild development.

Integrating Health, Nutrition and Education

The programs under study present a variety of means for integrating children’s health, educationand nutrition services. In one site of Zimbabwe’s FKP, teacher trainees are farm health workerswho build upon their skills and knowledge to make the community preschool the center of childhealth and education. Here, the ECD workers themselves are the points of integration, as commu-nity-based health care and child care systems merge. The preschool center becomes the focal pointof child development support. In Angola, the MWTT focuses its efforts upon the mental health and

Experiences in ECD Policy and Program Provision in Sub-Saharan Africa 19

development of children who have experienced trauma. It partners with organizations that workto meet children’s physical, nutritional and educational needs to achieve convergent services forchild development. Here, the MWTT uses partnership possibilities as a targeting mechanism andthrough them achieves more holistic programs.

In Kenya, the National Preschool Program brings parents and teachers together for cooking dem-onstrations and health workshops. These efforts aim to establish community understanding andparticipation in enhancing nutrition and health care both at the preschool and at home. This ap-proach connects developmental environments—the preschool and home—as well as target groups—children and caregivers—for enhanced holism. Finally, the maternal health and child care curricu-lum of Credit with Education builds solutions to child development obstacles through discussionfrom daily events and women’s experiences. As health and nutritional facts interface with local knowl-edge, tradition and children’s behaviors, the women debate health, nutrition, social and cognitiveaspects of children’s development in the community.

The approaches of South African organizations in supporting children’s holistic developmentfrom ages 0-4 range from programs in parent education and home visiting to child-minding, day-care, playgroups and income generation. Such experiences are the subject of a forthcoming case studyin that country. When completed, the report and its focus upon the crucial ages between birth andpreschool will provide additional in-depth information on programmatic experience in integratingchildren’s health, nutrition and education in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The programs described here support children’s physical, cognitive, and social development in avariety of ways. In Zimbabwe, the skills that preschool teachers bring to and receive through the train-ing effort meet children’s holistic needs at the preschool center. In Angola, organizational partnershipthat capitalizes upon the comparative advantages of groups in meeting children’s particular needscreates a holistic package to cover target populations. The experiences of Kenya and Credit with Edu-cation present different approaches to enhancing community skills, and especially those of caregivers,crossing all of these areas of need with improved direct support to holistic child development.

Community Participation

Raising children is a fundamentally local challenge in every community in the world. Recognizingthis, policy-makers and program implementors in Sub-Saharan Africa have looked to the local re-sources—including human, financial and material—that support child development to build pro-grams and pass policy that complement existing local efforts. The selected programs reveal severalmanifestations of community participation: community agreement and acceptance of an ECD inter-vention, community support as a contingency to establish an ECD program, and community part-nership in constructing program activities.

In Nigeria, the Development Communication Project enters into implementation and experimen-tation regarding the impact of its ECD television programming through community acceptance ofthe videos, testing methodology and materials. The community must also commit to sending theirchildren to school and acting upon the messages of the programming. Here, the communities in-volved are primarily beneficiaries, their receipt of ECD support contingent upon their acceptance ofthe ECD product.

In the Kushanda Project of Zimbabwe and in the Madrassah Preschools programs, the partner-ship between community and implementing agency goes a bit further. These approaches require notonly community acceptance, but continued effort and commitment to activities as well as economicsupport. If a community does not commit to support a local preschool by nominating a teacher,paying his/her salary and providing a structure, then the implementing organization will not help toestablish a preschool in that area. Here community participation is the centerpiece of the effort. Thisis the case of the Madrassah preschools as seen in Box 2.

This formula for an ECD program, contingent upon community initiative and support, is in placein the 1995 National ECD Policy of Namibia as well.


Angola presents a different approach to the community partnership, as communities and theMWTT construct program activities by combining indigenous healing practices and Western ideas ofpsychology, trauma and healing. Similarly, Credit with Education formulates women’s Credit Asso-ciation health and child care messages by drawing upon local tradition and awareness of children’senvironments to analyze problems and collectively produce responses. Community participation toincorporate local knowledge as a program resource also echoes the Kenya experience of buildingcurriculum upon local culture through community participation. This use of community resourcesas determinants of program content applies to ECD efforts the more general program design prin-ciple of locally appropriate programming for enhanced effectiveness.

Community-based activities such as those discussed above have various manifestations. Whilethey can provide a sustainable base in the community and may achieve cost-savings through sub-stantial community inputs for infrastructure, salary and management, community capacity may notbe sufficient to undertake this partnership. The Kushanda Project increased its efforts over time tomobilize and train local communities in preschool management. Attention to these local skills led totraining elected officers of the FKP in decision-making, budget administration, planning and pro-gram supervision. Attention to local management skills must accompany the provision of trainingfor preschool teachers and other ECD workers to ensure the sustainability of community-based ECDefforts that establish new institutions.

Organizing at the Grassroots for Policy Impact

A number of efforts in the region present experience in grassroots organization for policy impact.This is an important aspect of ECD programming for two reasons. First, in a region of developingdemocracies, the experience of participating in local organization for change is an important con-tribution to national development. ECD policy provides an issue of widespread interest for publicdebate and several programs have developed venues and networks for systemic input at the re-gional and national levels. This has been most powerful in South Africa, where the NGO-drivenSouth African Congress for ECD has had direct input into the recent 1995 Government White Pa-per on ECD.

Box 2: Community Participation for Madrassah Preschools in Kenya, Uganda and Zanzibar

Each of the Madrassah Resource Centers (MRCs) supports the establishment and sustained activities of communitypreschools in targeted Muslim communities of Kenya, Uganda and Zanzibar. Each conducts awareness-raising ses-sions twice during a year and invites some 30-50 community leaders to each session. During these meetings, thecommunity leaders learn about the partnership approach and the roles of each partner: the MRC and the Community.

The community must form a Local Management Committee (LMC) to establish, support financially and managethe Madrassah Preschool. These bodies set salaries, manage resources, and recruit and oversee teachers. For its part,the MRC:

• creates awareness in the community of the importance of preschool;• supports the development of LMC to handle day-to-day operation of the Madrassah preschools;• trains teachers for the Madrassahs; and• provides continuing follow-up through supervision.

Following the discussion and description of these partnership roles, the community leaders return to their vil-lages to discuss the matter. Only if there is agreement within the community to meet their roles in the partnership willthe leaders return to the MRC. Now the work can begin. If such agreement does not exist, the community preschoolwill not either.

The LMCs are further supported by recently-added MRC Community Development Officers. They aim to en-hance community capacity for preschool support by increasing accounting training and broadening the understand-ing of ECD and its value in the community. Their role is to generate positive impact upon preschool quality byenhancing the quantity and quality of community participation.


Second, policy change regarding long-term government support to ECD, whether rhetorical,material or financial, can offer a route to sustainable impact. Such government support can be mani-fested in greater awareness, institution building or budgetary support. The emergence of clear inter-est groups for ECD brings it on to politicians’ agendas at every level. In Zimbabwe, the FKP orga-nizes a network of 220 scattered communities into a voice that demands national resources. Thisadds local parents’ and ECD professionals’ voices to the democratic dialogue.

In South Africa and Zimbabwe, grassroots efforts here come together to announce demand forECD support. In South Africa, the Congress emerged from antecedants of many years in linkingBvLF-supported ECD efforts and in the early nineties, a more formal three-year consultative processwith the extensive NGO community working in ECD. Together, these groups formulated an agendaof needs and priorities in serving children from ages 0-9 and established a body for action based onthe agenda items described in Box 3.

Box 3: South African Congress for Early Childhood Development

Only half of South Africa’s 7 million children under the age of 6 have access to ECD services. This body advocatesthat the young child get first priority in the program for reconstruction and development in the new democratic state.To advance this belief, the South African Congress for Early Childhood Development was established in March 1994in the culmination of a grassroots consultation process that began in 1990 to mobilize and unite the ECD field in theinterests of all children as well as ECD workers. The body has mobilized a strong grassroots social advocacy move-ment for young children and ECD programs, focusing upon efforts to strengthen both Reception Year school readi-ness-focused programming as well as converging health, nutrition and early stimulation efforts in programming forchildren ages 0-4.

The South African Congress for ECD is a voluntary association of individuals, organizations and institutions. Itcomprises the National Congress, the National Council and the National Executive Committee and regional struc-tures that consist of Regional Conference and Regional Executive Committee. It aims to create and promote opportu-nities for the education, care and development of the highest quality for the young child. In particular, it:

• Advocates and promotes the establishment and equitable distribution of facilities and programs to provide awholesome environment for early childhood development;

• Formulates and advocates standards for early childhood development and encourages recognition and main-tenance of such standards through accreditation and certification;

• Formulates and advocates policies and initiates, promotes and supports legislative and other measures thatencourage sound early childhood development;

• Promotes caregiver training and seeks to improve their working conditions and rights;• Promotes the principle of co-responsibility of parents, community, the private sector and the State for the

provision of early childhood development; and• Undertakes research on early childhood development.

In Zimbabwe, a grassroots institution called the Federation of Kushanda Preschools (FKP) emergedfrom a project of preschool dissemination. It addresses ECD policy issues and continues to extendpreschool teacher training and community preschool support. The nationwide effort in South Africa,40,000 strong, and the effort reaching across two districts of Zimbabwe and comprising more than7,000 voices, build ECD awareness, community support and national democracy. The emergence ofdemocracy in Sub-Saharan Africa offers a unique opportunity for ECD efforts to build, contribute toand learn from national policy debate.

Targeting Investments

In many of the community-based programs, the criteria for targeting come from a combination ofidentification of needy areas and interest in program participation by the community. The latter,often termed self-targeting, hinges upon whether or not the community shows commitment to shar-ing responsibility for the program with the government or other implementing agency. As noted


previously, the MRC undertakes teacher training and community mobilization only if the commu-nity will fulfill its roles in the partnership. It must establish the preschool center, teacher and salary.Similarly, in Zimbabwe, the Kushanda Project believed self-targeting to be a crucial element in theirsuccess. It strives to avoid the appearance of beneficently granting a preschool. If a community is notprepared to be actively involved in having a local preschool, i.e., if it does not target itself, then theKushanda Project will not support the establishment of a preschool.

But there are risks associated with this approach: the terms of the partnership may be too difficultfor the poorest of Sub-Saharan African communities to meet. First, in some communities, undertak-ing to pay the salary of a preschool teacher can be an overwhelming demand upon local resources. Inothers, sparing the space for a site or the labor to build it might keep a disadvantaged communityfrom participation. In these cases, self-targeting may be a hindrance to supporting child develop-ment for poverty reduction. A second and related risk is the requirement that in order to self-targetand participate, the community must have both access to information about the partnership oppor-tunity and the leadership skills to take advantage of it. Again, the most disadvantaged and isolatedcommunities can be omitted when using this targeting approach, due to limited access to informa-tion and lack of leadership skills.

Another approach to targeting among these examples is the identification of populations that wouldnot otherwise have access to ECD services. This is the case in Nigeria, where the Development Com-munication Project found that 36 percent of children had access to television. It then targeted pilotcommunity populations without access where the size of preschool population warranted such atten-tion. These communities will receive visits from mobile units or will establish video centers throughthe project. The Kushanda Project also applied the criterion of non-access as it began in commercialfarming communities whose residence on large private farms where there were no government ser-vices left them without access to supports of any kind. The disadvantage of using this approach is thelarge population of Sub-Saharan African children with no access to ECD services. Even with Kenya’slong-standing (1971-present) efforts in ECD, 70 percent of preschool children in that county are notreached. Therefore, this type of targeting must be used in conjunction with the more limiting criteriaof sub-national geographic units, age range, population density, income, health and nutrition indica-tors, primary school enrollment rates and/or primary school drop out and repetition rates.

Finally, four of the experiences in this study target entire populations of children through legalreform (Mauritius), policy (Namibia and South Africa) and ECD information and awareness (Nige-ria). In addition, the work of CCF in Angola targets the awareness and skills of ministry officials andother professionals responsible for children’s welfare. These efforts are targeted not directly at theprovision of services to children and their families, but at the value of ECD in a nation. The actions oflawmakers, public institutions, television production staff, and government and NGO staff expressthis value. The work of these professionals and the priorities they set indirectly impact children. Inaddition, their priorities and greater access to information regarding ECD can create broader de-mand for ECD programs and support among the population. These five programs target a nation’sunderstanding of ECD and its importance as well as the population’s parental, professional andinstitutional roles in supporting healthy child development.

Program Quality

Local Teachers and Trainers

A number of programs train community members to support child development in local programs.In Zimbabwe’s FKP sites and in the Madrassah Preschools program in Kenya, Uganda and Zanzibar(described in Box 4), locally selected women work with the implementing organization to build theircapacity and become preschool teachers. For both implementing agencies, the women’s level of edu-cation is not a factor that can exclude them from the training opportunity.


The MRCs and the FKP in Zimbabwe believe that their local residence contributes to strongerconnection both between the parents and teacher; and between the community and preschool thathas benefits for child development as well as smooth operation. The training of local women to runpreschool centers may avoid many of the high-cost problems of extensive professionalization of ECD.These include high salary requirements (as will be discussed in a later chapter) and community-ECDworker disconnect. It may also necessitate, however, a wider range of resource materials for trainingdue to the variety of education and experience levels among communities and women. In addressingthis issue, NACECE in Kenya has experimented with an alternative to its two-year in-service train-ing system that requires a secondary school certificate. This alternative training is designed for teach-ers with lower levels of education. When trainees come from a variety of educational backgrounds,trainers at the regional and national levels need curricula and training approaches accessible to thesedifferent audiences. The Namibian National ECD Policy takes this into consideration, providing thata tiered or step training system be developed. This will cater to the needs of early childhood workerswith little or no basic education, a mid-level training, and a tertiary level training.

While there are gains in community-ECD program relationships when teachers and trainers arelocal, the targeted communities’ educational levels often necessitate the provision of more intensivesupervision. This implies costs that may or may not decrease over time, depending upon the inten-sity and logistical costs of the on-going support and supervision. In Kenya, the MRCs provide moreintensive and on-going support to teachers than NACECE does. A cost-benefit analysis of these pro-grams may help assess the value of adding this intensive follow-up to the national system of pre-school teacher development.

Finally, the policy issue of teacher accreditation often emerges in countries where organizationstrain local teachers to support preschools in their communities. This happens especially when a cadreof preschool teachers with lower levels of education has equal responsibilities as government-sup-ported and more educated teachers. In Kenya and Zimbabwe, for example, challenges to establishedminimum qualifications suggest that they are too high, have been set according to unworkable for-eign standards or are not flexible in taking into consideration past experience in ECD work. If gov-ernment provides more qualified preschool teachers with training and/or salary supports, a comple-mentary local teacher training program can either a) discover how to support local teachers in reachingrequired levels of qualification, or b) consider with government counterparts the flexibility of thequalification. The question is, if expanded ECD access is desired, but local teachers with appropriateeducation are not available, should access be denied when a willing teacher trainee is present? Thedialogue suggested here would benefit from an evaluation of the quality of ECD provision by localteachers and the impact upon community children.

This issue of accreditation involves not only the teachers themselves, but also the organizations,often NGOs, that mobilize to meet training needs. In Kenya, the national structures provide training

Box 4: Local Women Teach in Madrassah Preschools

Locally selected women are the Madrassah Preschool teachers. Without this possibility of skills training and employ-ment, the majority of them would not be working outside the home. They are, on everage, 18-26 years of age andunmarried. Formal educational attainment is low, as few have any secondary education and known primary schoolperformance was low. Of those teachers trained between 1990 and 1992, 48 percent are primary school drop outs.

According to teacher support staff, sometimes the teachers’ lack of education affects their confidence in theirmore recently-acquired skills makes them apt to give in to the demands of parents for a school readiness focus,emphasizing academics against the child-centered curriculum of the MRC. This is one reason for the MRCs strength-ening their training curriculum and in-service training in the coming five year phase. Interestingly, the AKF has noteda decrease in primary school drop-outs in participating communities between these years. Further study may deter-mine whether and how these role models may affect community support for girls’ education.


support, but in the absence of full coverage, efforts such as the Madrassah Preschools meet addi-tional demand for community preschool teacher training. The training that local teachers receivefrom the MRCs, however, does not earn them accreditation. Indeed, some of the long-establishedMadrassah Preschools teachers became interested in receiving the certificate and have gone on totake the two year diploma at the District Center for Early Childhood Education (DICECE). Obtainingthe certificate is both costly and time-consuming for them. To address this aspect of time and costs, ashorter course has been introduced by NACECE.

Likewise, in Zimbabwe, though the FKP trains local teachers, the teachers cannot receive certifi-cation according to the national standards. Processes for reassessing which teachers are accredited aswell as which training systems may train and certify teachers must be undertaken in these countries.The South African Congress for ECD recently undertook this type of re-evaluation, considering qual-ity control at two levels: the quality of provision for children and the quality of training.

Two key issues for further exploration are: can training and support systems produce qualityECD professionals regardless of educational level? And, how can national accreditation systems for-mulate standards that promote quality and provide realistic guidance?

Training in ECD Provision

Community Preschool Teachers

Experiences in training ECD workers in order to establish or enhance ECD programs offer severallessons. In the Federation of Kushanda Preschools, the isolation of the farms bred an overall trainingapproach based on intensive on-site training in early childhood and close personal involvement ofthe trainers. In a combination of residential and on-site training sessions, the curriculum covers fivecomponents: a) how children develop and learn; b) models for preschool organization and facilita-tion; c) child health and hygiene; d) production of play ad learning materials from local resources;and e) management of relationships with parents for the children’s optimal development. The train-ees first learn about the ideas in each category, then see the lesson modeled and subsequently try itsapplication themselves.

Through a decade of experience in training preschool teachers to enhance ECD provision, theKushanda Project has learned that one cannot learn how to work with children in the absence ofchildren. The FKP holds this as a central principle of the training approach. In addition, they havelearned that setting up training centers that are better equipped and have more abundant humanresources than can ever be available in a teacher’s own community undermines him/her from thestart. Finally, their belief in and innovative approaches to intensive follow-up for community pre-school teachers, as described in Box 5, keep ECD trainees in contact and learning about preschoolprovision over many years.

In the training and follow-up support to local teachers in Zimbabwe, Kushanda found intensivesupport by project staff as well as the creation of local teacher support networks means to buildingconfidence and skills.

In the national preschool training effort in Kenya, government training and supervision of pre-schools teachers comes through national and district centers (NACECE and DICECE). These organi-zations serve as resources to preschool teachers. They build their capacity in appropriate skills forteaching the young, creating learning materials from local and environmental resources, and mobi-lizing the community to meet the needs of young children. The two-year in-service course entails sixresidential sessions alternated with field experience.

During the residential sessions, the teachers cover child development, health and nutrition, cur-riculum, research and evaluation and community education and mobilization. With this last subject,the teachers gain skills to take on roles beyond caring for preschool children. They become involvedin mobilizing communities for broader preschool development activities, such as establishing feed-ing programs and providing facilities and learning materials. The Kenya program uses participatory


approaches in training so that trainees bring their knowledge and experience to the efforts. Thisbuilds confidence and the alternation of training and classroom experience provides opportunitiesfor feedback and application of ideas. These efforts, like those in Zimbabwe, come together in anattempt to impart practical skills that will allow each trained teacher to exploit his/her environmentfor children’s learning.

The implementation of and training for such an expanded role was not successful in Zimbabwe,however, as the Kushanda Project found teachers unable to take on both teaching and communitymobilization and education roles. This led to the addition to the project of adult nonformal educationstaff. They work with adults to meet their educational needs and to mobilize their skills in support ofthe community preschool. Thus, what was possible in one community preschool experience couldnot be undertaken in another. This could be due to local skills, community cohesion, teacher compen-sation, or community demand and skills for ECD support. These aspects of the community preschoolworking environment can greatly affect trainee performance and effectiveness.

These two preschool teacher training schemes have learned that close proximity to the actual siteof preschool work and alternation of training with practice instill realistic expectations and boostactive learning and trainee confidence. In addition, community participation and mobilization agen-das enhance the teacher in his/her role outside the classroom if they represent a realistic workload.

Parents and other local Caregivers

In two approaches that train other types of ECD workers, Credit with Education and the MWTTenlist the participation of trainees and participants as a centerpiece of training agendas. The trainingof ECD workers in Angola takes place during two-week sessions that bring 20-25 people together tocombine traditional knowledge with recent scientific findings on child development, trauma andhealing. At or near the sites where the trainees work with children, the MWTT participatory trainingallows trainers to learn about the community’s specific war experiences, the needs of their childrenand their traditional modes of healing. Collaborative exploration of the holistic environment of thechild builds in local situation analysis and leads into group problem-solving, skill building and part-nership formulation. In addition, each training ends with trainee development of plans for translat-ing ideas into action. Thus the training enhances local understanding of trauma and creates localhealing techniques so that trainees can support traumatized children. MWTT conducts two-hourfollow-up visits twice each month in communities having recently received training, and once eachmonth in more experienced communities. During these visits, two MWTT members support traineesby helping address difficulties encountered, reinforcing learning and discussing and evaluating whatefforts work and which fail in various communities.

Putting ideas into action is the focus of the Credit with Education field agents and Credit Associa-tion participants. They discuss and learn about target issues in the topic areas of: health, nutritionand child care, group management and microenterprise development through the iterative steps of

Box 5: Follow-up and Supports for Preschool Teachers in Zimbabwe

After teachers trained in the Kushanda Project complete their course-work in the residential center, they return totheir villages to open their own preschools under trees or in abandoned buildings. Over time, the classes move totheir own shelters constructed by parents. The trainees in Chinyika receive follow-up support and supervision fromthe Kushanda Project in the form of almost weekly visits by the training instructors and later the assistant instructors.In isolated communities of Marondera, however, cluster workshops were a solution to the logistically impossibleschedule of regular one to two day visits by the trainers. These workshops bring together four to six teachers for threedays three times a year for refresher courses and opportunities to share experiences, problem solve together and buildgroup camaraderie. Solving this logistical difficulty led the project to discover the value of preschool teachers work-ing within local groups to discuss efforts, overcome obstacles and build professional support relationships.


local analysis and problem-solving. Here, the training focuses not upon the messages and their con-veyance, but upon the discussants and the utility of debate. Model lesson plans developed by FFHand the program staff provide field agents with a kit of tools and techniques for eliciting the partici-pation of the women in the learning process. The training elicits discussion and group guidance, sothat women learn the process of discussing problems, finding solutions, testing and reassessing them.

In these non-preschool training cases, emphasis upon participation and process build capacity foranalysis and synthesis of child development resources. Here, the training comes to the communities,reinforcing the principle of training close to if not actually at the site of ECD program implementation.

Measuring Program Quality and Effectiveness

There is very little information available on the quality and effectiveness of ECD programs in Sub-Saharan Africa. Indeed, a central challenge of pursuing further documentation is agreement uponelements of child development might reasonably be measured across nations, cultures and systemsof program delivery. As LeVine (1994) notes, “The shape of childhood environments... and childhoodexpereince, though varying from one individual to another even in the same family, will refelct thedominant cultural scripts for social interaction, emotional expression and other... social behavior (p.15). As both parents’ agendas for child development and their conceptions of both child care needsand appropriate responses vary across the Sub-Saharan region, it is consequently difficult to formu-late an overarching formula for defining quality and assessing impact.

Available evaluation and impact documentation shows that the programmatic impact of ECDefforts can be measured at many levels. The efforts reviewed here feature measures at the levels ofthe child, ECD worker, community, and nation.

In Angola, Green and Wessells (1995) measured the impact of the MWTT at the child level andfound that child participants had:

• More cognitive and affective response;• Enhanced perspective on the future;• Less aggressive behavior; and• Fewer stress reactions, concentration problems and psychosomatic illnesses.

Similar child-level impact reports from the Madrassah Preschool experience, the Botswana LittleTeachers effort, the FKP in Zimbabwe, and the National Preschool Program in Kenya, show that theprogram participants integrate and achieve better results in primary schools.

These assessments consider a range of effects through observation as well as through teacher andECD worker reports. Indicators include: quality of child communication, exam performance, in-classbehaviors both academic (knowledge of language of instruction, use of a pencil and following schoolroutines) and social (sharing materials, independence, responsibility). In addition, Woodhead (1995)notes the important contribution of preschool efforts to learning a non-maternal language of instruc-tion. As experienced in the preschools supported by the Kuru Development Trust in Botswana, thiscan contribute greatly to school readiness among minority linguistic populations.

In Kenya, Gakuru and Koech (1995) found that over the course of a year, groups of childrenattending community preschool in Machakos District performed better in cognitive activities such assorting object by color, shape and size and piling blocks than those who did not attend communitypreschools. In addition, the preschool children refused to participate in the assessment activity lessfrequently than children not attending preschool. The authors conclude that “this pattern reflects theexposure to similar sorting tasks at the preschools, and demonstrates an impact of the formal inter-vention programme on the children’s development” (Gakuru and Koech 1995: p. 60). Assessing theimpact of ECD interventions at the child level reveals the most direct effects of ECD programs.

The evaluation of the Angolan MWTT program (Green and Wessells: 1995) also assessed the suc-cess of training efforts. Here, they discern changes at the trainee/ECD worker level and found that 98percent of the trainees reported enhanced ability in identifying children experiencing trauma and 78


percent noted that they could put the training ideas into practice. Ninety-one percent felt that theywere able to improve children’s behavior in certain areas. Examples included: decreased sleepingand bed-wetting problems, diminished violence, improved psycho-motor skills in young children,display of greater hope in the future and trust. In addition, the evaluation learned that while 96percent were able to have better relationships with the children, only 80 percent felt that they couldmeet the emotional needs of the children. While the MWTT effort improves the situation, the evalua-tion concluded that the contextual circumstances require additional supportive measures for healthychild development.

The FKP, in their trainee-level assessment, reports that preschool teachers outside the target areasrequest training and support. This indicates its locally acknowledged value. In addition, the Zimba-bwean Ministry of Education district trainer found the Kushanda training content and the location ofthe center next to an actual preschool an improvement upon the theory-based training presented bythe network of ECD trainers supported by his ministry (Booker 1994). More formal evaluation(Nyandiya-Bundy 1991) found that Kushanda trainees made most of the equipment observed in thepreschool and that it was age appropriate and culturally relevant. Assessments of training effective-ness are central to improving approaches targeting ECD worker capacity.

At the community level, even less information on assessed impacts is available. The Kenya effortfinds that a positive change in support from parents has facilitated the management and functioningof the preschools. In addition, Kenyan parents gained knowledge as well as health, care, nutritionand early stimulation skills. In Zimbabwe, Irvine (1994) found that community-level impact of cur-riculum emphasizing traditional and local activities resulted in increased parent ownership of thecurriculum. And in Angola, evaluators observed a significant community-level impact: through thetraining and ongoing support of the MWTT, “communities that had been rather apathetic and hope-less became mobilized around the needs of children” (Wessells 1996). Finally, a community-levelchange is observed by staff of the MRCs.

There is clearly a direct relationship between the length of time a particular Madrassah hasbeen in operation and fees/salaries. The older Madrassahs charge somewhat higher fees andpay their teachers better. This might suggest that communities in which Madrassahs havebeen in operation for some time have come to understand and appreciate the education beingprovided through the Madrassahs. Further, parents in these Madrassahs have also come tohave a greater appreciation for what is being offered, since they are being asked and are appar-ently willing to pay higher fees (Said and Maherali 1993: p. 40).

At the community level, collective action and behavioral changes reveal awareness and priorityfor ECD that has important implications for program support and child impact.

The Mauritian and Namibian efforts display progress in passing policy, formulating legislation andmaking efforts to implement these laws at the national level. In Mauritius, establishment of the Na-tional Children’s Council, the consolidation and publication of social indicators, legislation to enactcompulsory primary education through grade 9 and the 1990 Child Protection Act illustrate progress inpassing legislation. Once in place, the National Council took on implementation of the country’s holis-tic child development plan for action. For example, it determined that regulation of day-care centersfalls short of being satisfactory and recommended systems and clearer ministerial responsibilities.

In Namibia, similar policy progress regarding primary education, provisions protecting the rightsof the child and a Children’s Act have been achieved. The National ECD Policy drawn up in mid-1995,however, is still relatively new to assess its implementation. There are, as may be expected, reports ofconfusion brought about by changes in the responsibilities of government employees and their NGOand community partners, as well as by the novelty of such extensive inter-ministerial cooperation.

ECD program and policy quality and effectiveness can be considered at a variety of levels, de-pending upon the approach and objectives of the effort. School readiness (as seen through participa-tion, persistence and performance) in children, enhanced skills in ECD workers, supportive behaviorchange in communities and legislation followed by implementation in national policy are among the


types and levels of impact that have been assessed in these Sub-Saharan African experiences. Moresystematic assessment is required to enhance our understanding of how and to what degree differentmodels of ECD provision can be effective.

Institutional Cooperation for ECD

Institutional Arrangements

National Cooperation

In supporting these various approaches to ECD programs, the actors in each program context hasdeveloped a set of institutional arrangements to fit the needs of its target population and objectives.These arrangements range from NGO-community driven efforts to government to private sectorinitiatives. In Botswana, the American Women’s Association began the implementation of Child-to-Child activities (using the globally copyright free materials of the Child-to-Child Trust of the UK)and later handed the effort over into a foundation of the same name. The twelve member Board ofthe Child-to-Child Foundation includes representatives from the Ministry of Education, the Ministryof Local Government and Lands as well as bilateral and multilateral donors. These members coordi-nate the school readiness efforts. Such a partnership between public and private parties interested inchild development and family welfare also exists in Mauritius, where business interests and variousministries support the EPZLWF day-care centers. NGOs manage the centers themselves and UNICEFsupports with staff training and equipment.

In Kenya, the preschool education project was launched in 1971 from the Kenyan Institute ofEducation, and the Ministry of Education made preschool education an official function within itsactivities in 1980. Functions included responsibility for registration, supervision and inspection ofsites as well as teacher training, curriculum development and creation of policy guidelines. In 1984,the Government of Kenya created the National Center for Early Childhood Education (NACECE) tocoordinate an ECD training and support system. This body works with the District centers of similarname (DICECE) to bring preschool teacher training, awareness-raising and mobilization programsto communities. In addition, DICECEs develop appropriate local curricula and evaluate the status ofpreschool children and their settings. These national institutions partner with community groupswho own 75 percent of the preschools in the national program. Communities provide land and buildthe structures, contributing furniture, food and utensils and pay fees for teacher salary and some-times support a cook as well. In addition, a variety of NGOs and private organizations in Kenyasupport particular community centers through the provision of physical facilities, materials, furni-ture, feeding programs and payment of teachers’ salaries. Finally, in Nigeria, the Development Com-munication Project is implemented through the educational broadcasting mandate of the NTA inpartnership with UNICEF, NGOs and private preschool proprietors. The Federal Ministry of Infor-mation and Culture provides oversight.

Thus, three different models of public-private institutional partnership for ECD programming emergefrom Botswana, Mauritius, Kenya and Nigeria. The first is an arrangement of coordination, whereorganizations interested and active in the field of child welfare and development in Botswana presideon Child-to-Child Foundation activities through Board participation. The second is an arrangement ofcost-sharing, where to meet a common need—the welfare of children and their working mothers, par-ents, employees—government and industry contribute to day-care financing. And the third model ofinstitutional arrangement involves role delegation, where, in Kenya and Nigeria, different parties tochild development and welfare impact implement aspects of the overall program as determined bytheir institutional comparative advantages. An aspect of this third formulation is also at work inMauritius where NGOs and UNICEF support different aspects of pilot program implementation.

In Namibia, training roles reveal complex institutional arrangements. ECD Officers of the MBECtrain Early Childhood Workers. Parent Committees which manage ECD programs receive training


from Community Activators Liaison Officers of the MRLGH. These MBEC and MRLGH Officers alsotrain Regional Councils and the Regional ECD Committees to carry out ECD responsibilities as-signed to them. National ECD coordinators orchestrate these trainings, and the regional Training ofTrainers initiative of BvLF, UNESCO, UNICEF and Save the Children\US entitled Early ChildhoodDevelopment: More and Better supports the entire effort.

Sub-national and Multi-national Cooperation

In other, areas, however, an initiative might lie below the level of national intervention and arrange-ments are decided by a variety of implementing organizations. In Zimbabwe, the institutional ar-rangements of the Kushanda Project have changed over time to meet community needs in two dis-tricts of the country. The institutional arrangements supporting this effort are described in Box 6 andrespond to external community demand for ECD programs.

Box 6: Institutional Arrangements in the Federation of Kushanda Preschools

At the start of the Kushanda Project in commercial farming communities of Marondera, two NGOs managed theeffort: the International Foundation for Education with Production and the Zimbabwe Federation for Education withProduction. This project also involved the members of the Shandisayi Pfungwa cooperative and was undertaken withthe support of two foreign donors. This combined group began an integrated community development project toraise the farm workers’ standard of living through skills training, and material and financial inputs. It also incorpo-rated adult education, literacy, extension training for health and nutrition as well as early childhood education. Prior-ity needs for ECD programs emerged from families and Kushanda altered its activities to meet this emerging agenda.

Later, in Chinyika, the ECD training center was established alongside the primary school at Arnoldine and workedwith preschool teachers who would return to their villages to establish new preschools. Here, the Project worked withgovernment agencies and established local PTAs to support each preschool. In both areas, the project spread throughoutreach training and word of mouth. Where communities displayed interest and commitment, the project wouldtake up the partnership to train teachers, establish preschools and heighten local knowledge and skills for supportinghealthy child development.

The FKP itself was created in 1991 by the parents and teachers of all the preschools involved in the project. Itjoins the isolated communities. After training in project management, institutional development, decision-making,budget administration, and program supervision, elected FKP officials began sharing responsibilities with Kushandastaff. By 1993, the FKP took over the management of the Project and employed four full-time staff (formerly of theKushanda Project).

The FKP General Meeting consists of 300 elected members. One teacher and one PTA member from each commu-nity preside on FKP policy and development. The body organizes its network of scattered communities into a voice ofdemand for national resources. It offers working members the opportunity to travel to meetings and enjoy the statusof representation. By association and membership, the FKP has raised the status and support of the preschool teacherin the villages of Chinyika and on the farms of Marondera.

The FKP has also received financial support to establish the Teacher and Community Training and Involvementin Control, Ownership and Management (TACTICOM) project. This outreach program builds upon the KushandaProject’s training model by starting with groups of five to ten villages and conducting the training on-site with the fullparticipation of the communities. Home visits, toy-making sessions and nutrition garden planting with all commu-nity members involved in a child’s development begin when the communities and the FKP agree to partner in thiseffort. Now, the teachers are not sent to the training center to learn their skills. The trainers go to the communities forthe full training period and work with larger numbers of direct caregivers in each site. Through the TACTICOMeffort, sixty new centers have emerged since 1993.

The national-international NGO partnership of the MRCs and the AKF also exists apart from therealm of national intervention. In this arrangement, the MRCs are locally registered NGOs. They sup-port community local management committees by building capacity for Madrassah management whiletraining teachers to work with children in a child-centered and culturally appropriate manner. TheAKF is an international foundation whose funds and technical staff support the project as requiredand network their experience among Ismaili populations across regions. This arrangement, while not


beyond the scope of the governments of Kenya, Zanzibar and Uganda, combines external resourcesand a network of practitioners united by a common religion to meet local needs.

Finally, the Credit with Education approach binds six organizational levels of activity together tobuild local institutions’ capacity to serve female clientele. These include: Credit Associations (CAs)of 25-30 women who form joint liability groups; field staff of the local institution who work weeklywith the CA’s in nonformal education sessions and to collect and disburse each loan; program coor-dinators from local institutions who supervise the field staff, manage the credit and health assess-ment system, and adapt curricula as needed to address local priorities; the Program Manager orDirector of the local institution who supervises the coordinators and facilitates relationships withlarger financial institutions; the Technical Support Centers of FFH in Accra and Bamako as well asthe Regional Training Center in Lomé that give start-up training to new NGO partners; and donoragencies such as UNICEF and USAID that fund the project in a variety of countries. This system ofinternal and external support, like the MRC-AKF arrangement, networks experiences across com-munities and borders.

In each instance, institutional arrangements for partnership provides management and guidancefor child development activities in Sub-Saharan African countries. Whether it is an arrangement thatshares information, costs or responsibilities, these efforts take advantage of and build on interestedenergies for child development in the vicinity.

Inter-ministerial Coordination

Inter-ministerial Coordination for ECD takes a variety of forms among these efforts and in somecases does not exist. The Namibians apply the principle of such coordination at the top. The Inter-ministerial Task Force, presented in Box 7, wrote the National ECD Policy assigning roles for each ofseven ministries, partner NGOs, private institutions and communities.

In Mauritius, a similarly broad Inter-ministerial coordination has been enacted into law. The Na-tional Children’s Council Act of 1990 established a Committee that consists of representatives fromsix ministries as well as the Prime Ministers’ Office, and a set of justice and medical practitioners.Here too, the law assigns an interesting set of shared responsibilities. A particularly innovative ex-ample is that of the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Industrial Relations and the Ministry ofWomen’s Rights, Child Development and Family Welfare to collaborate in the pilot project for pri-vate-public partnership for day-care. Namibia and Mauritius legislate coordination from the top. Ina similar commitment to coordination, the South African Interim Policy for ECD of April 1996 callsfor the establishment of inter-departmental ECD committees of health, welfare, population and hu-man resource development counterparts at both the national and provincial levels.

In Kenya, the primary responsibility for ECD programs lies within the Ministry of Education,but also collaborates with the Ministry of Health as well as the Ministry of Culture and SocialServices. Here collaboration for provision works or does not work on the basis of communicationbetween the ministries. In Angola too, communication between the MWTT and a variety of minis-tries aim to achieve coordination. Here, however, the ministries are partners as well as beneficia-ries. The MWTT aims to institutionalize an awareness of children’s trauma issues, indicators andhealing techniques within ministry programs and employees. This ECD approach in a context ofcivil strife ensures that the partners learning and acting together regarding the healthy develop-ment of children include the ministries themselves. Finally, in Zimbabwe, coordination occurs pri-marily at the local level and emerges from implementation issues. As the FKP effort aims to fillgaps in government scope of provision, these complementary roles are negotiated close to thesites, rather than at the national policy level.

Thus, coordination can be negotiated at the top and legislated, or considered a provision andimplementation matter left to the communication of local officials and partners. In both cases, com-bining the efforts of public institutions involved in different aspects of child development throughinter-ministerial coordination appears as a common feature to meet the holistic needs of children.


Where lines of communication are the sole mode of coordination, incentives and effectiveness of thecollaborative experience are uneven.

Partnership with NGOs

Building from the notions of community participation, employee private enterprise efforts and inter-ministerial government partnerships, a final set of partners in these efforts must be noted. These areNGOs, both national and international, and Community-based Organizations (CBOs). In many Sub-Saharan African countries, these organizations are the primary implementors of preschools and sup-porters of training at the local level, be it for ECD in particular, or for broader community develop-ment aimed at benefitting children.

Credit with Education depends upon such a partnership with local NGOs or local financial insti-tutions to implement its combination of credit, health and child care messages for women’s CreditAssociation development. As noted earlier, NGOs manage the pilot day-care centers in Mauritiuswith training support from government, UNICEF and additional NGOs. In Kenya, communitieswith sponsorship support from local as well as international NGOs manage preschools. In Zimba-bwe, the Kushanda Project began as a partnership between two local community development NGOsfunded by an international NGO. It grew into a federation of preschools that partners with localgovernment efforts and expands training and support activities into additional preschools and com-munity Parent-Teacher Associations. And in Angola, CCF, an international NGO, partners with otherlocal and international NGOs to meet the crucial survival needs of children in tandem with longer-term issues of healing addressed by the MWTT.

Box 7: Inter-ministerial Coordination in Namibia

MRLGH leads the ECD effort as it has responsibility for the development and management of programs for childrenand their families from birth through age 5. An ECD Coordinator develops activities within MRLGH and coordinatesamong ECD service providers through liaison with the ECD Coordinator of the MBEC and the NGO ECD Coordina-tor. MRLGH develops guidelines for establishing and registering ECD programs as well as for the training curricu-lum for Community Activators and Community Liaison Officers. At the regional level, MRLGH works with RegionalCouncils to establish and develop the capacity of Regional Early Childhood Committees and responds to requestsfrom communities for technical and financial assistance. At the community level, MRLGH conducts parent educationprograms, trains Parent Committees in the management of ECD programs and works with Parent Committees toobtain ECD program resources.

The MBEC serves children from age 6 onwards. At the national level, the ECD Coordinator creates a mechanismfor the certification of non-governmental training organizations/institutes involved in early childhood training; de-velops ECD capacity within current Teacher Resource Centers (TRC) to provide training in response to requests fromcommunities; and develops curriculum guidelines for a variety of ECD programs — parent education, home-based,center-based. He/she also develops training guidelines, materials and a training Plan of Action and creates an ac-creditation system for recognition of different levels of training/competence within the ECD field. At the regionallevel, ECD Officers at the TRC operationalize national curriculum guidelines based on regional needs; set up andmaintain early childhood corners at the TRC and produce appropriate early childhood training and awareness mate-rials in consultation with the Head Office. They train, monitor and supervise Early Childhood Workers in their sitesfor quality control; and conduct training attendance and evaluations, in addition to monitoring training progress andimpact, and identifying areas for improvement.

The Ministry of Health and Social Services (MOHSS) provides health services through the ECD programs. At thenational level, MOHSS develops guidelines used in the delivery of health components through ECD programs. At theregional level, it works with the ECD Officers to build appropriate health promotion activities into the ECD curricu-lum and assist in training ECWs in appropriate health monitoring activities. At the local level, MOHSS periodicallyscreens children in ECD programs through visits, and works with ECWs to make sur that all children are immunized.

Three other Ministries have less expansive roles. The Ministry of Finance plays a lead role in creating a structure forthe allocation of funds to ECD programs within the MRLGH and the MBEC. In addition, it provides guidance in thecreation of alternative funding strategies. The Ministry of Home Affairs advises on guidelines for ensuring the safety,security and protection of young children. Finally, the Ministry of Environment and Tourism tries to ensure that youngchildren are made aware of environmental issues and that the environment is a safe place for young children.


In each instance, partnership has brought additional legitimacy, resources and expertise to bearupon child development. No single organization, ministry or community could achieve as muchwith the resources available in isolation as it achieves in partnership.

Supportive National Policy

Some programmatic efforts in this study receive support from policy and ECD activities at the na-tional level, while others do not and may actually position themselves to alter national policy. InBotswana, for example, the government health education plan echoes the Child-to-Child methodol-ogy, as it recognizes children in primary schools as an both mental and physical potential for trans-mitting basic health education. And in Mauritius, the Ministry of Women’s Rights, Child Develop-ment and Family Welfare ‘s brief includes the development of policies to create conditions forprotection, care, comfort, socialization and education to secure children’s development. Activitieswithin this scope include:

• Pilot effort to help define costs and quality for day-care in Mauritius;• Creation of a National Association for Day-care Services;• Consideration of longer maternity leave;• Feasibility analysis of a contributory maternity benefit scheme; and• Consideration of a Trust Fund for Day-care Services to provide soft institutional development

loans.

Building upon this support, the EPZ Labor Welfare Fund and a variety of ministries play addi-tional roles that enhance ECD efforts in the country.

While both the governments of Botswana and Mauritius support these activities, the latter takesthe matter further by building a broad set of laws and programs supporting child development.These commitments emerge from policy-makers who believe that no single institution can lead childdevelopment efforts. Instead, “the promotion of the child’s physical, intellectual, social and moraldevelopment calls for a concerted and coordinated policy with the commitments, cooperation anddedication of parents, grandparents, neighbors, schools, socio-cultural and religious bodies, servicesinstitutions in the public and private sectors and NGOs” (Bappoo 1994: p. 2). Support from all par-ticipants in the child’s environment and coordination between them at all levels provides supportivenational policy for child development.

In Zimbabwe, however, the FKP has grown in an environment of encouraging, but unrealisticpolicy. After independence, the Government of Zimbabwe promoted early childhood education andcare as a fulfillment of children’s rights and a contribution to better performance in formal education.An ECD resource center established in 1975 at St. Mary’s (XXX what?) converted into a nationaltraining center and the government established a network of district trainers charged with develop-ing local level training. However, the training effort scaled down over the long term and legislationthat serves as a basis for these and additional actions has not been updated since Zimbabwe gainedindependence in XXX?. The Old Rhodesian Nursery Education Act cites standards of: pupil-staffratio of 1:20, presence of a primary school to supervise; approved curriculum; PTA; approved shelter,water, toilets, fenced yard, and outdoor playground equipment. According to the FKP, these criteriahave little relevance for many of the nation’s communities and their children. They leave most ruralpreschools and all of the FKP preschool centers out from the possibility of registration and support.To address this, the FKP membership and its staff feel the need to mobilize their 7,000 to 9,000 parentmembers as well as additional NGOs and preschools to influence these government policies. Theybelieve that “only the parents can implement community-based programs and hold the governmentresponsible for its part” (Booker 1994: p. 78). Here, government policy does not support the ECDefforts of these communities and they work to make it more realistic.

Like the FKP, the MRCs have come up against standards unattainable in disadvantaged commu-nities. In interaction with three different national ECD systems and policies, they must address the


question of teachers’ and trainers’ certification and accreditation, if there is already or will be such afeature in each country. Only in Kenya is the MRC working with an already established system. Theywant to pursue the assessment of teacher quality across a variety of teachers’ educational backgroundsand consider with government partners the possibility of establishing lower formal educational mini-mums when coupled with high-quality training. In Zanzibar (Tanzania) and Uganda, the MRC ef-forts are a resource to help develop national standards. In both cases, MRC involvement in policydialogue and standards formulation may help ease difficulties created when qualifications for stateregistration as well as regulation standards are set beyond the reasonable threshold of achievementfor community-based ECD efforts.

National policy can embrace ECD and can do so while orchestrating holistic policy across a widerange of issue areas. It can, however, also lack realism in many efforts, or in certain areas of imple-mentation. A more holistic view of the child supports thinking about required policies that surpassnational ECD standards on training and pupil to teacher ratios. It also raises broader legal and finan-cial questions regarding the responsibility for as well as ownership and management of ECD pro-grams. Indeed, such thinking leads to a process of policy formulation that entails inter-ministerialcoordination, organizational partnership and community participation.

The policy formulation process proceeds through a number of steps:

i. Situation analysis of children and families in a nation;ii. Formulation of a national strategy and plan of action to address needs apparent after

such an assessment;iii. Formulation of an investment program to finance the plan of action;iv. Mobilization of the resources required to realize the plan of action; andv. Formulation of the implementation plan to set the effort in motion.

Looking at recent documents published by the MWRCDFW in Mauritius in Box 8, one sees thatthe actions in steps one through three above have been achieved and that the effort is well under way.

Box 8: Creating a Supportive National Policy in Mauritius

Step 1: Survey on the Mauritian Family.Situation Analysis of Women and Children in Mauritius.A Statistical Profile on Women in the Republic of Mauritius.

Step 2: National Plan of Action for the Survival, Development and Protection of Children.Child Protection Act 1994.

Step 3: Master Plan for Education.

Scale, costs, financing and sustainability

Piloting and Going to Scale: Horizontal Diffusion or Vertical Dissemination?

Several of the programs under study began or are beginning from small pilot experiences. In Kenya,NACECE and the National Preschool Program emerged from over a decade of experimentation insupporting community-based ECD. And in Zimbabwe, the FKP was built upon nearly a decade ofwork in supporting commercial farm communities and resettlement communities to establish localpreschools. In both of these cases, the intent from the outset was to establish a replicable model—thewhole of Kenya and for rural Zimbabwe, respectively. Thus the pilot efforts were tested and refinedover time prior to increasing the scale of coverage.

In Mauritius, the government-EPZLWF partnership is piloting an approach to meeting the childcare needs of working parents through private-public partnership. By learning how such a day-care


scheme might be cost-effective, the pilot serves to refine a model of day-care collaboration. Its resultsmay also convince policy-makers and private sector funders that ECD programming is a worthwhilejoint investment. It is hoped that positive results will catalyze further investment in the partnershipand expand financing to additional populations and industries.

In Kenya and Zimbabwe, as well as in the experience of the Madrassah Preschools, the utility ofthe pilot goes beyond fiscal or managerial conservatism. Especially in community-based efforts, suc-cess in one community often ignites the process of expansion and supports greater community com-mitment. This aspect of beginning small has been essential to the success of the FKP and MadrassahPreschools whose approach and sustainability is contingent on long-term community participationin ECD provision and the creation of community ECD endowment funds.

There is an important difference, however, in how these ECD efforts expand their scale of cover-age. A look at Kenya and Zimbabwe is instructive. In Kenya, the pilot underwent vertical dissemina-tion. The lessons of the first years of experience were brought to the national level and the model wasaltered to take these into account. Then these were taken back out through the system through modelreplication in various districts of the country. This process brought experience up into the center anddisseminated it vertically into new areas. In Zimbabwe, however, the expansion of efforts was throughhorizontal diffusion. Neighbor communities saw the community preschool effort supported by theKushanda Project and expressed interest in participation. Model alterations were taken into eachnew community and participating communities were bound together in the formulation of networks:clusters to support teachers as professionals and a new institution (the FKP) dedicated to mobilizingparents and teachers for broader ECD action.

Thus, in these experiences piloting builds expertise, refines models, and enhances awareness ofand support for ECD efforts at the local and national levels. Taking the experience to scale, however,can be done through vertical dissemination or horizontal diffusion. The approach to achieving scaleemerges in these cases from the institutional structure (national flagship or sub-national project) andobjective (national or rural preschool model creation) of the effort. In other circumstances, well-docu-mented pilots or ongoing sub-national community-based ECD innovations might come into the policydialogue and be considered a candidate for national vertical disseminiation.

Economic Costs

The costs associated with these ECD policy and program approaches vary widely according to thetype of effort. In general, data on costs, whether capital or operational, is meager in the documenta-tion from ECD efforts in Sub-Saharan Africa.

In addition, capital costs such as those covering instructional materials and physical plant areoften covered through complex combinations of in-kind provision, fees, government and donor contri-butions. With few exceptions, data on their value are lacking across the region.

Capital Costs

Instructional materials in the preschool centers of the community-based preschool support efforts inKenya (Myers 1992) and Zimbabwe (Irvine 1994) are almost all made or collected, rather than pur-chased.1 Educational materials can be developed at little or no cost through utilizing materials—natural and waste—found in the area: grass people and animals, mealie stalk beads, counting sticks,inner-tube skipping ropes, straw and grass mobiles, etc. (Irvine, 1994).

In Mauritius, however, materials and equipment are provided in at least one of the five pilotcenters through a grant from UNICEF. While this effectively meets costs if the NGO-UNICEF part-nership is long-term and/or the NGO can locate additional donors, the sustainability of this cost

1. Myers notes a blackboard as a minimal US$ 3.50 classroom cost.


provision raises issues of both single-center expansion or replacement and multi-site replication inthe absence of additional grants.

Data on physical plant costs are more difficult to tease out of existing data. Myers’ 1992 case studyanalysis of two different preschools in the Kilifi District of Kenya provides insight into the annualcost of a community preschool building (approximately US$ 105) borne by the Paziani communityand the non-existent cost of the Madrassah in Malindi as it uses existing infrastructure when it isunoccupied during the morning hours.

Additional cost analysis of the Madrassah Preschools effort is currently under-way and a coststudy of the Mauritian pilot project in day-care is part of the current research undertaken under theaegis of the Africa Regional ECD Initiative of the World Bank. Both of these studies will provideadditional detail on both these aspects of capital costs in ECD provision as well as on its recurrentcosts, discussed subsequently.

Recurrent costs

Among programs of direct ECD service delivery, the key recurrent costs include: salaries, monitoringand supervision, and national coordination. The largest of these operational costs are the salaries ofECD workers, be they preschool teachers, ECD trainers or parent educators. In several instances, com-munities are mobilized to provide financial support to preschool teachers’ or other ECD workers’ sala-ries. Teachers in the Kushanda Preschools earn between $22 and $68 a month on average, as paid in fullby communities. In the Madrassah program, communities also pay the entire salary and set them in arange of 100-450 Kenya shillings (Ksh) per term (Said and Maherali 1993). Myers (1992) notes that thewillingness of these teachers to work for low wages and the incentive of status in the Muslim commu-nity makes this recurrent cost much lower than in the other Kenyan community he assesses. Finally,Kipkorir (1993) provides average monthly salary figures across types of Kenyan communities:

• Between 90-700 Ksh in rural areas;• Between 800-2,500 Ksh for employees of local authorities (who have permanent appointments,

pensions providing job and retirement security); and• Over 5,000 Ksh among the middle and upper classes of urban areas.

Some Kenyan communities pay salaries in full while others only contribute to them by payingfees, meaning that the above salary rates may represent different costs to similar communities.

As can be seen from this assortment of data, costs for different amounts of time (terms, months),different types of employees (community- or government-employed) and in different countries,currencies and circumstances (status or other non-monetary incentives) make comparative assess-ments difficult.

As salaries are often the largest single cost of a human development program, the community cost-sharing formula can contribute significantly to the broad access and sustainability of ECD services.Where parents demand ECD services and value them to the extent of providing salaries, the directinputs of government or other agencies can focus upon skills building, materials and infrastructuresupport. This is the case in Zimbabwe, Kenya and the sites of the Madrassah Preschool experience.

These program experiences, however, show that this sort of cost-savings may work against theagenda of supporting disadvantaged communities to provide quality ECD services. It may inadvert-ently enhance educational inequality for several reasons. First, the cost of the salary may be too highand cause a community to not participate in the mobilization and preschool establishment programat all. In such a case, as has happened in Kenya, the poorest communities do not benefit from theprogram. Second, if participating communities cannot afford to pay the teacher salary for a month orlonger, then the teacher is at the mercy of his/her neighbors for survival. This happened during therecent droughts in Zimbabwe. Further, in countries where there are government-paid preschool teach-ers, discontent can arise between these two levels of teachers because similar workloads are compen-sated on very different levels. While the implementing organization or government may save the


cost of the ECD worker salary, there are possible losses: in participation as communities cannot af-ford salaries or in quality due to teacher dissatisfaction with intermittent or unequal pay.

Another set of recurrent costs in the direct provision of ECD services is training and supervision.Annual costs cover the trainers’ and training center’s support both to previous students/communi-ties and new trainees/communities. In the following cases of Zimbabwe and Kenya, costs includecommunity and parent mobilization efforts. In Zimbabwe, Irvine (1994) notes that the training andsupport efforts of TACTICOM cost Z$6,000 for initial training and support year, and Z$2,200 annu-ally for the maintenance of one preschool effort.

In Kenya, AKF estimates that the operational budget of the MRC in Mombassa was betweenapproximately $40,000 and $50,000 per year prior to program changes made in 1995. This supportedthe costs of the annual (and sometimes biannual) training of teachers and their supervision, sessionsto raise awareness among community and religious leaders to organize new centers, and sessionsamong parents and school heads and teachers to increase public information and awareness. Asnoted previously, further cost analysis of these efforts is currently under preparation by the AKF.Finally, at the District level in Kilifi, Myers (1992) estimates that annual support to preschool opera-tions in 1990-91 was US$ 16 per child.

In the Angolan program of CCF, the awareness raising and skills training approach makes manyof the costs of the program approach operational. The first year’s training and support activities ofthe MWTT to ECD workers cost $146,000 and reached 574 trainees and approximately 14,950 chil-dren. Thus, the MWTT program cost approximately $255 per trainee or $9.77 per child. These figuresand an analysis of the program’s benefit would enable CCF and its partners to determine its overalleffectiveness and means for improving cost-effective delivery as it is taken to greater scale this year.

A final set of recurrent costs to ECD efforts among these experiences is that at the national level.Policy and program coordination efforts in Namibia have reassigned a variety of workers withexisting contracts to ECD efforts, thus accruing no additional operational costs. New operationalcosts at a value to be determined will support a national coordinator from each of the two leadministries and an NGO coordinator. This policy effort has placed substantial operational and capi-tal cost requirements upon the community and its outcome will be an important lesson for manySub-Saharan African countries.

Considering all costs—capital and recurrent—together in two community case studies: a singleMadrassah preschool and a single community preschool in the National Preschool Program in KilifiDistrict of Kenya, Myers (1992) showed that the per child cost of the Madrassah in Malindi wasapproximately $35 per child and that of the community preschool in Paziani was approximately $48per child. Note, however, that these communities have different program components included inthese costs. The Madrassah uses an existing building and volunteer labor, but has a feeding compo-nent, while the community in Paziani established the center itself and has no nutritional supplementin its program. Nevertheless, these figures present an estimate of the cost of providing appropriateECD services in these communities.

In assessing both the capital and recurrent costs of ECD efforts in Sub-Saharan Africa much moredata is required across the board. The Namibian National ECD Policy has set up a data collectionsystem which may be useful to consider adapting for a number of country data collection efforts. Thegeneration of cost data in Namibia will focus on three levels:

i. The provision of services (ECD program costs);ii. Infrastructure costs at the regional level;

iii. Infrastructure costs at the national level.

For local ECD program costs, the system will cost by type of program (center-based, home-based,home visiting, parent education) as well as by type of supporting agency (government, church, NGO,private providers). In addition, data will be collected by region as there are significant regional differ-ences. This effort will try to establish how much is spent on children and/or parents in the varioussettings. By extrapolating from the per child/parent costs, the costs of providing ECD services to allchildren 0-6 can then be calculated. The Government of Namibia can then review needs and allocate


resources to specific ECD program targets. Data on costs will thus come to support the establishmentof progressive targets in relation to the percentage of the age group to be served.

Financing

ECD programs in this study exhibit a wide variety of financing schemes. In Namibia, Kenya, Zimba-bwe, and the Madrassah Preschools, the community is responsible for partially funding ECD programsthrough parent fees, sponsor contributions, and in-kind contributions. In Zimbabwe, parent fees payteacher salaries by assessing between US$ 1-3 dollars per child each month. Myers (1992) documentedthe complex finance scheme of fees and in-kind contributions in Kilifi District where parents providethe following in-kind and non-monetary contributions (in order of mentioned frequency):

In-kind contributions: food, materials and playthings, supplies.Non-monetary contributions: fetching water or firewood, attending parents meetings, mak-

ing materials, helping with food preparation, clearing or clean-ing the compound, creating awareness, repairing furniture, rais-ing funds.

It is interesting to note the absence in Myers’ gathered responses of community labor—diggind,brick-making, building—during the construction of preschools without which there would be noprogram site. In the community of Paziani, Myers (1992) noted that the financing scheme changedover time from being 80 percent community-reliant to 80 percent local government-reliant. This coin-cided with the preschool teacher’s completion of the DICECE training course and compensated herat 2,100 Ksh per month as compared to 300 Ksh per month previously paid by the fees from thecommunity. Unfortunately, the impact of higher, government-paid salary for this trained teachermeant that after the transfer to 80 percent government financing, parent fees actually increased from10 Ksh per month to 25 Ksh. As a result, preschool enrollment declined. The question for furtherstudy is: did the training translate into higher ECD quality provision for the children commensuratewith the wage increase?

As noted, community contributions to preschool financing in the FKP and the Madrassah Pre-schools experiences is the contingency for preschool establishment. While a path to sustainability,this can inadvertently reinforce existing inequity where communities are too poor to meet the finan-cial and other resource implications of the partnership agreement. In Namibia, however, there areadditional supports should the extent of local support not be sufficient. These include the ActivatingFund and a Children’s Trust Fund described in Box 9 that buoys communities’ ECD efforts.

Box 9: Namibian Activating Fund and Children’s Trust Fund for ECD

The Namibian National ECD Policy holds that the community is responsible for funding the ECD program at thelocal level, to the extent that they are able. This can be done through parent fees, contributions from local CBOs orNGOs, in-kind contributions, or support from local business. The MRLGH can support this local effort through thesupply of basic equipment ( e.g. blankets, mats, utensils for the children, chairs, etc.) from an Activating Fund whosecontribution differs depending on the needs of the ECD Program.

At the national level, a Children’s Trust Fund shall be established in Namibia such that government contributes toit through a special ECD support tax. While there is strong government support for the development and implemen-tation of ECD program, the National ECD Policy declares that both philosophically and practically, the full responsi-bility for funding these efforts cannot fall on the government. The National Children’s Trust Fund encourages multi-sector involvement in financing ECD. A Board of Trustees including members of government, a lawyer and anaccountant appointed by the National ECD Committee manages and monitors the Trust Fund’s criteria of disburse-ment and funding mechanisms. Contributions to the Trust Fund can be made by government, national foundations/businesses, international donors and individuals. The Ministry of Finance is also to consider an alternative means offunding ECD through a new quasi-governmental body whose mandate is implementation of programs for youngchildren and their families. Funds to support this body might be generated through a national tax on businesses andindividuals.


The National ECD Policy in Namibia expects that the community be responsible for funding ECDprograms to the extent possible. The funds described in Box 9, however, provide supports that canovercome the problem of non-participation by the poorest communities for financial reasons. In ad-dition, these funds may facilitate the realization of sustainability by providing necessary communitysupport in working towards that goal. Such a support to long-term financial stability is the focus ofan experiment with community endowments in the Madrassah Preschools of Kenya.

The Role of the State

Across Sub-Saharan Africa, the role of the state in financing ECD programs varies widely. The totalamount of funding that a government can mobilize for the care and development of children dependson the size of its budget and on the way that allocations are made within and between sectors. Theportion allocated to ECD is especially difficult to ascertain as ministries other than education such ashealth, social services, agriculture, and local government jointly comprise government efforts in theprovision of ECD services. Furthermore, even if relevant expenditures were confined to the Ministry ofEducation, many countries do not have a separate early childhood unit (and therefore line item) withinthe Ministry of Education. Table 8 describes the percentage of government budget allocated to educa-tion as well as the percentages of that total allocated to ECD and primary education respectively.

Table 8: Public Expenditure on Preprimary and Primary Education

Country Education as percent ECD expenditure as Primary as percentof total government percent of total of total education

expenditure education expenditure expenditure

Angola 10.7 n 96Botswana 21.0 u 31Burkina Faso 17.5 u 42Burundi 16.7 u 45Central African Rep. n.a. n 53Chad 8.0 3.60 44Comoros 25.0 u 40Djibouti 10.5 u 53Ethiopia 9.4 0.02 61Gabon n.a. u 44Gambia, The 11.0 u 65Ghana 24.3 u 29Lesotho 13.8 u 42Madagascar 17.0 u 55Malawi 10.3 u 48Mauritania 22.0 u 30Mauritius 11.8 0.14 38Mozambique 12.0 u 50Niger 18.0 u 49Rwanda 25.4 u 68Seychelles 11.9 n 29Swaziland 22.5 0.03 33Togo 24.7 u 36Tanzania 11.4 u 53Zimbabwe 13.8 u 63

Source: UNESCO Statistical Year Book 1994, UNICEF 1995, African Development Indicators 1994-95, World Bank.Note: u = Less than 0.005 %; n = pre-primary expenditure included in primary level.


Public outlays on education for most of the Sub-Saharan countries reported in the 1994 UNESCOStatistical Year Book account for about 10-20 percent of total government expenditures. Five countriesincluding Ghana, Mauritania, Rwanda, Swaziland, and Togo, reported spending more than 20 percentof total public budget on education. However, the slice of the educational budget that goes to ECD isminute. Out of the twenty-five countries that report this data nineteen have ECD budgets so tiny thattheir magnitude is basically nil in the unit of account employed. Another three countries (Angola, theCentral African Republic, and Seychelles) group ECD expenditures together with primary expendi-ture, making the real expenditure for pre-primary level difficult to identify. For those countries that dokeep a clear record of public expenditures on ECD programs, that proportion is extremely low whencompared to the total education budget. In Ethiopia, 0.02 percent of the government education expen-diture goes to pre-primary education, compared to 0.03 percent in Swaziland, 0.14 percent in Mauritius,and 3.6 percent in Chad. It must be noted, however, that the level of government financing for earlychildhood revealed here is likely to be underestimated, as many governments also invest in early child-hood through other channels such as health, nutrition, and social welfare programs.

Partnership for ECD Financing

A variety of ECD programs and efforts in Sub-Saharan Africa are funded by non-government sources:foundations, international and national NGOs, religious groups and bilateral and multilateral aid.These organizations may provide financial assistance to help communities build and upgrade earlychildhood facilities and services. The “out-of-pocket” cost of supporting ECD programs is thereforeoften extremely low for many governments mainly because of partnership arrangements. Particu-larly in rural areas, national governments encourage and support the initiatives and innovations ofNGOs and other voluntary organizations which provide community services.

Government expenditures are further leveraged by collaborating with international donors will-ing to finance various ECD programs. These organizations invest in human capacity development oraim to relieve suffering in the early years. With the exception of the MWTT, the Nigerian Develop-ment Communication Pilot and the Kenyan National Preschool Program efforts, information on ex-act amounts of funding or flows over time were not available in the documentation. Programs forwhich at least partial financial source information was available reveal the extensive partnerships forfinancing between government and international institutions (Table 9).

A variety of these international donor and support organizations, including UNICEF and BvLFon the greatest scale, have promoted child development programs and policies by supporting train-ing, community mobilization, research, advocacy and policy development. Indeed, such efforts ledbeyond pilot phases through vertical dissemination into national programs as in Kenya, and throughhorizontal diffusion into national movements as in Zimbabwe or South Africa.

Table 9: Financing Partnerships in ECD Program and Policy Efforts

Program/Donors Government UNICEF BvLF AKF World Bank Bilateral aid

MWTT X X XLittle Teachers X XCredit with Education X XKenya Preschool X X X X X

ProgramMadrassah Preschools XEPZ day-care X XNigerian Dev’t X X

CommunicationKushanda Preschools X


To illustrate extensive financial partnership in a single country, consider the Kenya National Pre-school Program budget from 1981 to 1991 shown in Figure 1 below.

The total investments in ECD in Kenya went steadily up during the decade, increasing by thir-teen- fold. Now, consider the portions of that investment which came from the Ministry of Educa-tion, UNICEF, AKF and BvLF between 1981 to 1992 as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 1: Total Investments in ECD in Kenya 1981–91

Source: A case study of early childhood care and education in Keyna, Kipkorir, and Njenga, 1993.

Figure 2: Funding Sources for EDC in Kenya 1981–91

Source: A case study of early childhood care and education in Keyna, Kipkorir, and Njenga, 1993.

Perc

enta

ge

BvLF AKF UNICEF MOE

Year

0.0

10.0

20.0

30.0

40.0

50.0

60.0

70.0

80.0

90.0

100.0

19911981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990

K.S

hs.

Year

19911981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990

Total

0

200,000

400,000

600,000

800,000

1,000,000

1,200,000


Figure 2 shows that while total investment in preschool increased more than thirteen-fold overthe decade, a disproportionate share of this increase came from the contributions of UNICEF, AKF,BvLF. Though the government’s expenditure increase was steady and also substantial, it rose by acomparatively lower ten-fold over the decade, thanks to this leveraging. Myers’ (1992) notes that in1990-91, the government contribution to ECD per child was US$ 0.61, one-tenth of 1 percent of thenational budget for education. International contributions were: US$ 0.46 per child, with the bulk ofthe international support going to ECD teacher and ECD trainer training. By 1992, about 43 percentof the funding came from international donors. While the generous support of the donors has en-abled an increase in ECD provision, the longer term financial sustainability of such programs re-mains a major challenge.

The view that emerges from studying the costs and financing of ECD programs in the region isthat they are partnership ventures both by default and by design. The Kenya program went to scalein 1980 via a planned financing partnership between the Government of Kenya, BvLF, AKF andUNICEF. In other areas, these and additional principal actors contribute a variety of resources to theprogram, some of which may be expressed in monetary terms and included in budgets and financialgrants. The financial contributions from sources above, including CBOs, NGOs, government, andinternational agencies, combine with local community contributions to meet ECD program imple-mentation requirements.

Finally, the EPZLWF described in Box 10 presents a variation of the community-public or externalfunding paradigm of ECD programs in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Box 10: Public-Private Partnership for Day-care Financing in Mauritius

Full employment in Mauritius has raised the need for day-care facilities for young children as mothers engaged inpaid employment in on the increase. Since 1983, the percentage of women working full time has increased from 20percent to approximately 50 percent. Two-thirds of the Export Processing Zone’s (EPZ) approximately 83,000 em-ployees are female and a recent government survey found that as institutional supports were not available to helpthese women and children cope, their nutritional status and development was suffering.

In order to provide day-care for children from ages 3 months to 3 years, the Ministry of Women’s Rights, Childdevelopment and Family Welfare has initiated the setting up of five day-care centers sponsored by the EPZ LabourWelfare Fund, the Sugar Industry Labour Welfare Fund and the Ministry. The EPZ Labour Welfare Fund Act 5 of 1988established a body corporate with the objective of “to do all things as appear requisite and advantageous for or inconnection with the advancement and promotion of welfare of the workers and their children” (p. 49). Workers,employers and government contribute to the Fund. On a monthly basis, employees contribute one rupee and em-ployers contribute 3 rupees per employee. Annually, the government contributes 2 million rupees. At industrialworksites in the EPZ, these contributions, together with parent fees of 250 rupees a month for EPZ workers’ children’sattendance, and 400 rupees a month non-EPZ workers, support five centers that offer health and nutrition support aswell as full day child care.

Combinations of community input and foreign donations are the most common financing schemein Sub-Saharan Africa. While the Mauritian model offers a new public-private perspective, manycommunities, governments and international organizations work to hone their financial partnershipfor broad-based ECD provision.

Sustainability

The extensive funding of ECD efforts in Sub-Saharan Africa from outside sources is a key issue forsustainability. This is the case in Botswana, where UNICEF funded one training workshop and Nor-wegian aid supported four others. This support left the project organizers to hope that the success ofthe workshops would “inspire more international donor agencies to support the Child-to-Child


programme” (Hawes 1988: p. 53). With few exceptions, such funding is short term and/or reaches asmall community of beneficiaries. How do efforts ensure as best as possible that if outside fundingsubsides, the pursuit and impact of a program objective, be it improved skills, enhanced research, ormobilized policy cooperation will remain in place, if not in motion?

In the Credit with Education experience presented in Box 11, the services of health and child caremessages combine with credit and program management in the sustained systems and skills of alocal institution. Institutional capacity allows the program to become sustainable in three to six yearsif there is no turnover among senior program managers. During this period of time, FFH integratesthe Credit with Education services and systems into those of the partner institution. In building localskills for sustainability, FFH gives particular attention to revenue and expense planning. They be-lieve that the accuracy of these skills in application to balance costs and revenues determines thesustainability of an institution. Here, the sustainability emerges from systems and skills passed on tostrengthen a local institution.

In the Kushanda Project experience, sustainability also emerges from institution-building and sur-vival, but these are new institutions. The effort set out in 1985 to create a sustainable preschool modelfor rural Zimbabwe. In partnership with communities, it created village-level institutions supported byPTAs and outreach trainers. In addition, it helped establish the FKP, a nascent movement in two dis-tricts of the country bringing together concerned parents and citizens mobilized in support of childdevelopment programs and policies. Within the FKP effort itself, some aspects such as the local centersand changes in behaviors beneficial to children’s development are sustainable over the long term. Oth-ers, such as continued outreach and training, depend upon receipt of additional external funding.

The sustainability of an ECD effort can be financial, institutional and/or behavioral. From thebeginning of their efforts in a country, Credit with Education aims for financial sustainability. Kushandasupports institutional sustainability in each community partnership. Both efforts aim to achieve sus-tained behavioral changes. Their attention from the outset to long-term impact offers an importantlesson for ECD efforts.

Box 11: Building Local Institutions to Support

Women’s and Children’s Development

Credit with Education combines small loans with nonformal maternal and child care education in order to addresshunger’s economic and informational causes. FFH aims to enhance women’s Credit Associations skills and leader-ship abilities at the local level by building the capacity of local NGOs and financial institutions (i.e. rural banks) toprovide the self-managed associations with credit and education services. This support builds the local institution’sfemale clientele and establishes a self-sustaining system of credit with education as the field agents of the local insti-tutions to deliver both services. Weekly one-hour meetings engage the women in the curriculum built around threecritical topic areas: health and nutrition, Credit Association management and microenterprise development. The bulkof these sessions are spent on the health and nutrition topics. Children’s social and cognitive development are cov-ered in the context of the health and nutrition topics as women discuss their daily experience and their children’sbehavior. The women are thus trained to manage their own businesses, analyze each other’s loan proposals, andimprove health and child development behaviors through collective problem-solving. In Ghana, Mali and BurkinaFaso, FFH and local partners incorporate nonformal health and microenterprise education directly into the deliverysystem of a poverty lending program.

43

4CONSIDERATIONS AND ACTIONS IN

DESIGNING ECD POLICY AND PROVISIONEFFORTS IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

The eleven cases referred to in this study provide a wide variation of systems and experiences tochoose from and build upon in designing and planning ECD efforts in Sub-Saharan Africa. Bringingthem and an analysis of their enabling conditions together produces two types of lessons for ECDpolicy and program provision in Sub-Saharan Africa. The first lessons are those whose messagesmight be helpful to consider during ECD program design. They signal dynamics to watch for, re-source possibilities to assess and pitfalls to avoid. From several of these flow the second type oflesson: those that suggest particular actions to support more effective planning and implementationof ECD efforts.

ECD Delivery Models and Implementaion Issues

Local culture can inform development of curriculum, learning materials, learning-teaching pro-cesses and program structure. It can serve as a curricular resource for appropriate materials, aresource for creating accessible as well as cross-cultural messages, and a basis for combining famil-iar habits with further technical knowledge. Engaging local people and traditions puts the mostbasic elements of children’s socialization to work for ECD. Participation of the community in train-ing can support the synthesis of local and technical knowledge. This indigenous knowledge rein-forces identity and self-concept confidence as well as enhancing learning by bridging meaningbetween old and new knowledge.

In meeting children’s holistic needs, the convergence of health, nutrition and education servicescan be achieved through personnel skills, organizational partnership and community capacity build-ing in skills ranging across these issue areas.

Community participation can be elicited in varying degrees: acceptance by beneficiaries, part-nership roles for implementation and collective formulation of the ECD activity. To participate, com-munities must have access to information about the program as well as leadership skills to take onthe effort. Thus, information dissemination as well as the channels and human resources required forsuch must be taken into consideration in planning at the community level. Community-based ap-proaches to ECD provision, while offering various strengths in terms of relevance, sustainability andpossible cost savings, can thus require support at the local level for effective decentralized manage-ment. This may require both program elements for building community management capacity tosupport ECD programs and local ECD institution building for multi-site support.

Grassroots organizing to build coalitions and constituencies around ECD efforts has a doubleimpact upon the democratic development under-way in Sub-Saharan Africa. It brings ECD ontopoliticians’ agendas and builds local experience and voice in democratic participation.

While undertaking a program on the basis of self-targeting may enhance chances of sustainabilityby requiring community commitment, care must be taken to identify and create mechanisms forthe inclusion of the most disadvantaged communities. In addition, experience suggests that target-ing according to lack of access provides little useful definition in the absence of nationwide imple-mentation resources. It is also instructive to consider that none of these programs target parents


and children together. Programs such as those in Kenya and Zimbabwe include parent education,but undertake it separately from preschool activities. While social policy in Africa rarely under-takes family support, this assumption may require reconsideration in societies undergoing rapidurbanization, civil strife, or other transitions that weaken traditionally strong family supports.

Program Quality

Employing local ECD workers can enhance community-preschool/ECD institution connection andcollaboration. In addition, community participation and mobilization agendas can enhance the pre-school teacher’s or health outreach worker’s role outside the classroom/center if the resultingworkload is realistic. When their educational levels are low, however, ECD workers may require avariety of levels of training materials as well as more intensive on-going support.

Experience in ECD worker training notes that close proximity of the course to the actual site ofpreschool work instills realistic expectations and boosts active learning and confidence among thetrainees. In addition, setting up training centers that are better equipped and have more abundanthuman resources than can ever be available in a teacher’s own community can undermine him/herfrom the start. ECD worker training should aim to impart practical skills that will allow each trainedteacher to exploit his/her environment for children’s learning.

Depending upon the approach and objectives of the ECD effort, evidence from different levels ofaction will measure program quality and effectiveness. At evaluation levels from the child to thenation, one can assess: school readiness (participation, persistence and performance) in children,enhanced skills in ECD workers, supportive behavior change in communities and legislation fol-lowed by implementation in national policy. Clarity on objectives during a specific program phasewould support more specific and systematic data collection than has been the case thus far.

Institutional Cooperation for ECD

Institutions collaborating for ECD action can share information, costs or responsibilities throughdifferent arrangements. This can be achieved across public and private sectors, across national bor-ders or across district lines within a nation to take advantage of all interested energies in the vicinityfor child development.

Inter-ministerial coordination can be negotiated at the top and legislated, given the necessarypolitical will, or it can be determined by local officials responsible for implementation. In both casesthe coordination combines the efforts of public institutions involved in different aspects of childdevelopment. Greater coordination between ministries in itself can be considered substantial progressin some countries and a victory for more efficient public spending.

Partnership with and between non-governmental organizations brings additional private re-sources—material, financial, etc.—and expertise to bear upon child development. The experience inSub-Saharan Africa suggests that no single organization, ministry or community could achieve asmuch in isolation as it achieves in partnership.

Supportive national policy emerges from a holistic view of the child by encouraging consider-ations and actions during policy formulation that surpass national ECD standards on training andpupil to teacher ratios. This perspective can avoid a lack of realism while promoting inter-ministerialcoordination, organizational partnership and community participation in the policy formulation pro-cess. Finally, while many governments subscribe to the importance of ECD, the have no means forinvesting in it.

Scale, Costs, Financing and Sustainability

Piloting builds expertise and refines models. Experience from the longest-running Sub-Saharan Af-rican experiences suggests that it also enhances awareness of and support for ECD efforts at both the

Considerations and Actions in Designing ECD Policy and Provision Efforts in Sub-Saharan Africa 45

local and national levels. Such support at the local level boosts the effectiveness of horizontal diffu-sion going to scale, while at the national level it creates demand for vertical dissemination for thesame purpose. Both serve as a means to increasing the scale of ECD provision.

The costs of ECD efforts in Sub-Saharan African are borne by community, government and for-eign donors in different combinations. Little cost data is available from the region and complex for-mulas of cost sharing make comparisons across countries and even across communities difficult.Namibia’s financial data collection system, covering costs of provision of community-based servicesas well as infrastructure costs at the regional and national levels might be adapted to collect similarinformation across countries.

Substantial donor financing features among these ECD efforts, with much of it directed at train-ing ECD trainers and ECD teachers or outreach workers. This support is not on the whole directedat: helping families to meet the household costs of ECD services or providing nutritional supports.These aspects of ECD programmatic support may represent areas to consider for future invest-ment partnerships.

While external funding bolsters many ECD efforts in Sub-Saharan Africa, their resulting question-able sustainability linked to the degree of program/policy dependence at the end of implementationdemands early attention. Experiences suggest that aiming for financial, institutional and/or behav-ioral sustainability from the outset of a program emphasizes its importance throughout implementa-tion, serving to focus resource utilization for achieving this goal. A great challenge is the creation orenhancement of government commitment to and involvement in ECD efforts. Mobilizing govern-ment commitment to ECD by giving greater voice to parental demands, program collaboration, exter-nal matching funds, or ministry staff training can increase the potential for sustained provision.

47

5FUTURE CHALLENGES FOR ECD POLICY AND

PROGRAM PROVISION IN SUB-SAHARANAFRICA

While not representative of experience in Sub-Saharan Africa, these eleven efforts do suggest a num-ber of directions and challenges for future ECD policy and program provision in the region. Theseinclude: data collection and utilization for research on key issues, expansion of access to ECD ser-vices, and greater coordination of policy, research and program efforts for holism and greater cost-effectiveness. Each of these areas is addressed more specifically below.

Enhancing Information for Planning and Evaluation

A database of comparable and systematically gathered ECD data is needed to improve policy andprogram efforts in Sub-Saharan Africa. Existing information comes from scattered national or sub-national efforts and much is of little use for assessing and prioritizing needs. The efforts of UNESCOto survey ECD provision also provide incomplete pictures as they omit key factors—such as familybackground or the income level of participating children and the range of program types from whichdata is collected. Lack of accurate information makes identifying and targeting the most needy chil-dren difficult. Such data would also facilitate both impact evaluation at the assessment levels sug-gested previously and support targeting and cost-effectiveness studies.

Expanding and modifying the Living Standard Measurement Study instruments to include keyECD information can go far in solving many of these information requirements. This would allowfurther debate and research on issues both operational and evaluative.

1. The direct impact of ECD provision on children’s health, nutrition and/or early educa-tion outcomes.

2. The impact of ECD worker educational levels on quality of provision.3. The cost-effectiveness of teacher/ECD worker follow-up support at different levels of

intensity in a training and support system.4. The cost-effectiveness of ECD provision in meeting health, nutrition and/or early edu-

cation objectives, especially regarding national preschool education investments.5. The process and support mechanisms for holistic ECD policy formulation.6. The relationship between early socialization, the formulation of identity and values, and

later life productivity.7. the relationship between early socialization and the predisposition to violence and other

socially deviant behaviors.

The last two areas of inquiry are of particular importance: the documentation of ECD benefits vis-à-vis both productivity and the reduction of socially deviant behaviors. The former, impact of earlyreinforcement of social values upon productivity, represents a terrain unstudied in Sub-Saharan Afri-can ECD interventions. Do the findings of high social savings from ECD investments in industrialcountries replicate in the developing country contexts of Sub-Saharan Africa? The latter, the possiblebenefit of ECD programming to social cohesion, is particularly important to a region where child sol-diers are active in many countries and youth commit violent crime in large cities. Indeed, the ultimate


prevention of conflicts which set back human and national development is probably not merely pre-ventive diplomacy, but in fact even earlier socialization as embodied in ECD programming.

Increasing Access to ECD Services

The second major area of ECD challenge is the mobilization of resources at every level to achieve greatercoverage of services. Due to financial, material, and human resource constraints, current ECD programsin Sub-Saharan Africa serve only an average of 5.5 percent of children below age 6. Translating ourexpanding understanding of child development into effective early childhood development policy andpractice has been limited to date to the needs and circumstances of a minority of children in Sub-SaharanAfrica: those that are relatively well-off, easy to reach, and can afford fees. The majority of the children inthe region live in extreme poverty and amid high levels of violence or other threats to their development.They do not yet have access to ECD services. Mobilizing the resources to reach these children withquality ECD programming is crucial to build up civil society and foster economic development.

This will require the exploration of new models for targeting, including the poorest children asnoted above, as well as the poorest communities whose inability to participate in even the simplestprovision partnerships preclude their children’s access to ECD. In addition, attention must be givento the mobilization of the less developed countries in the region to consider ECD among the mostimportant investments in national development. The eleven efforts considered in this study are incountries that enjoy a relatively higher level of income and economic productivity than many othercountries in the region. ECD awareness-raising must break through the stereotype of ECD as a luxuryservice to establish ECD as a priority capacity building effort for national development.

Promoting Holistic ECD Policy and Provision

In many countries, there is no coherent policy framework in place and therefore no comprehensiveplan for ECD provision. In the absence of such policy support, responsibility for meeting the needs ofyoung children is divided between education, nutrition, health and welfare. Wide-ranging problemspersist when education departments focus upon preparing children for school and ignore the broaderhealth and nutritional needs of disadvantaged children; when welfare policies focus upon custodialcare for the children of low-income working mothers and ignore the holistic developmental needs ofchildren; and when health departments narrowly focus physical development agendas and do nottake up the social and cognitive aspects of child development. The resulting incomplete ECD effortsare uncoordinated and piecemeal, with a tendency towards academic orientation or physical sur-vival. With few exceptions, Sub-Saharan African children’s needs are not being met in a holistic way.

The most sustainable and successful ECD programming is embedded in an overall human capitalformulation policy that gives particular emphasis to child development. Governments should seekto supplement and unite existing development plans with frameworks for the planning, organiza-tion and implementation of a national movement for holistic child development. The integration orconvergence of ECD program inputs that combine with this sort of policy support can enhance theefficiency of ECD investments from the viewpoint of many ministries and their partners. In addition,a national consciousness of holistic child development support frees up a number of additional fi-nancial, material and human resources for ECD impact. The World Bank, with its extensive relation-ships across government ministries and its continuous investment and effort at policy dialogue shoulduse its comparative advantage to orchestrate inter-ministerial coordination and promote the impor-tance of holistic ECD investments in the region.

Some of these issues and research agendas can be addressed through the current Africa RegionalECD initiative of the World Bank. Others may be placed upon the agenda of World Bank effortswithin a particular country. In many cases, efforts to move these issues forward must be undertakenin partnership. Indeed, the models and resource utilization possibilities suggested by the experi-ences in this document may prove immediately useful.

49

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Agarwal, Seema. 1994. “Childhood Regained: From Conventional Preschools to Non-conventional Approachesin Ghana.” Prepared for 1994 International Year of the Family Conference on the UN Convention of theRights of the Child, Stronger Children — Stronger Families. Canada: University of Victoria.

Aghenta, Joseph and J. N. Omatseye. 1992. “Preschool and Primary Education in Nigeria” In. G. A. Woodhill,J. Bernhart and L. Prochner, eds. International Handbook of Early Childhood Education New York: GarlandPress.

Akinware, Margaret. 1988. “Child Care and Women’s Work in Rural Nigeria.” Prepared for The FourthMeeting of The Consultative Group on Early Childhood Care and Development. Ottowa, Canada: IDRC.

Badri, Gasim. 1992. “Early Childhood Education in the Sudan.” In G. A. Woodhill, J. Bernhart and L. Prochner,eds. International Handbook of Early Childhood Education. New York: Garland Press.

Bappoo, S. 1994. Address by Hon. Mrs. S. Bappoo, Mauritian Minister of Women’s Rights, Child Develop-ment and Family Welfare. Prepared for Achieving Education For All: Reflexion Dirigée on Parenting,Young Child Development, Quality Learning. Port Louis, Mauritius.

Bernard van Leer Foundation. 1994. Building on People’s Strengths: Early Childhood in Africa. The Hague: Ber-nard van Leer Foundation.

Booker, Salih. 1994. We Are Your Children: the Kushanda Early Childhood Care and Education Dissemina-tion Project Zimbabwe 1985-1993. Early Childhood Development Practice and Reflections, Number 7. TheHague: Bernard van Leer Foundation.

Centre for Education Policy Development. 1994. Report of the South African Study on Early Childhood Devel-opment: Recommendations for Action in Support of Young Children. Washington D.C.: World Bank.

Challenges of Change: A Survey Of The Effects Of Preschool On Basarwa Primary School Children In The GhanziDistrict Of Botswana. 1995. Ghanzi, Botswana: Kuru Development Trust.

Colletta, Nat, Jayshree Balachander and Xiaoyan Liang. 1996. The Condition of Young Children in Sub-SaharanAfrica: The Convergence of Health, Nutrition and Early Education. Technical Paper No. 326. Washington, DC:World Bank.

Evans, Judith. 1995. “Creating a Shared Vision: How Policy Affect Early Childhood Care and Development.”Coordinators’ Notebook: An International Resource for Early Childhood Development, Issue 17. Massachusetts:Consultative Group On Early Childhood Care and Development.

Freedom from Hunger. 1993. “FFH Credit with Education Strategy: Operationalizing UNICEF’s ConceptualFramework and Approach to Nutrition Security in Developing Countries.” Paper prepared at the re-quest of UNICEF, Ghana

_____. 1995. Fourth Quarter Narrative Report: October - December 1995. Davis, CA: Freedom From Hunger.

_____. 1995. Report for the Quarter Ending 30 June 1995: Program Field Report. Davis, CA: Freedom From Hunger.

_____. 1995. Report for the Quarter Ending 30 September 1995: Program Field Report. Davis, CA: Freedom FromHunger.

Gakuru, Octavian N. and Barbara G. Koech. 1995. The Experiences of the Young Children: A Contextualized CaseStudy of Early Childhood Care and Education in Kenya. The Hague: Bernard van Leer Foundation.

Godia, George. 1992. “Kenya” In G. A. Woodhill, J. Bernhart and L. Prochner, eds. International Handbook ofEarly Childhood Education. New York: Garland Press.

Government of Botswana and the United Nations Children’s Fund, 1986. The Situation of Children and Womenin Botswana. Botswana.

Government of Mauritius 1974. Sugar Industry Labour Welfare Fund Act. RL 5/351—21. Mauritius.

_____. 1988. Export Processing Labour Welfare Fund Act 5/1987. Mauritius.

_____. 1994. Ministry of Women’s Rights, Child Development and Family Welfare. Survey on the MauritianFamily. Mauritius.

_____. 1994. Ministry of Women’s Rights, Child Development and Family Welfare. Towards the Preparation ofa National Action Programme for Building the Smallest Democracy at the Heart of Society. Mauritius.


_____, and UNICEF. 1995. Country Programme of Cooperation 1996-2000, Part I: Master Plan of Operations.Mauritius.

_____, and UNICEF. 1996. Country Education Programme 1996-2000, Early Childhood Development Project 1996Plan of Action. Mauritius.

_____, and UNICEF. 1996. Country Education Programme 1996-2000, Social Policy Development Project 1996 Planof Action. Mauritius.

_____, and UNICEF. 1996. Country Education Programme 1996-2000, Advocacy Project 1996 Plan of Action.Mauritius.

_____, V. Ringadoo, Governor General. 1990. National Children’s Council Act 1990 (Act 10 of 1990). Mauritius.

Government of the United Republic of Tanzania. 1993. The National Programme of Action: Achieving the Goalsfor Tanzanian Children by the Year 2000. Tanzania.

Green, Edward C. and Michael G. Wessells. 1995. Evaluation of the Mobile War Trauma Team Program of Meetingthe Psycho-social Needs of Children in Angola. Virginia: Christian Children’s Fund.

Hawes, Hugh. 1988. Child-to-Child: Another Path to Learning. UIE Monographs 13. Hamberg: UNESCO Insti-tute for Education.

Inter-Ministerial Task Force on ECD. 1995. National Early Childhood Development Policy: Namibia. Namibia.

Irvine, Margaret. 1994. “Kushanda: Building Community Leadership and Management for Early ChildhoodDevelopment: An Evaluation of Progress.” Unpublished, Marondera, Zimbabwe.

Kipkorir, Lea I. 1993. “Kenya”. In Cochran, Moncrief ed., International Handbook of Child Care Policies andPrograms. Greenwood Press: Westport, CT, pp. 333-352.

Kipkorir, Lea I and Anne W. Njenga. 1993. A Case Study of Early Childhood Care and Education in Kenya. Pre-pared for the Education for All Forum. New Delhi.

LeVine, Robert, Suzanne Dixon, Sarah LeVine, Amy Richman, P. Herbert Leiderman, Constance Keefer and T.Berry Brazelton. 1994. Child Care and Culture: Lessons from Africa. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Mauritius Country Paper. Prepared for Achieving Education For All: Reflexion Dirigée on Parenting, YoungChild Development, Quality Learning. Port Louis, Mauritius.

Mwana: Africa Region Newsletter for Early Childhood Care and Education. July 1992.

Myers, Robert G. 1995. “The Interconnections Between Child Development Research, Policy and Program-ming.” Coordinators’ Notebook: An International Resource for Early Childhood Development, Issue 17. Massa-chusetts: Consultative Group On Early Childhood Care and Development.

_____. 1992. “Towards an Analysis of the Costs and Effectiveness of Community-based Early ChildhoodEducation in Kenya: The Kilifi District.” A report prepared for the Kenya Institute of Education, TheNational Centre for Early Childhood Education, the District Centre for Early Childhood Education inKilifi and the Aga Khan Foundation. Geneva.

“NACECE and DICECE Mark 10th Anniversary.” 1995. In Early Childhood Care and Education News V(12): 4-9. NACECE, Kenya Institute of Education: Nairobi.

Nyamwaya, David and Peter Mwaura. 1994. Child/ School Readiness Status Project (Kenya) Report 1993/4. Afri-can Medical and Research Foundation: Nairobi.

Nyandiya-Bundy, Sally. 1991. “The Kushanda Project for Preschool Teachers: An Interim Evaluation.” Un-published. Marondera, Zimbabwe.

Nyathi, Talent. 1991. “Report on the Kushanda Pre-school Dissemination Project.” Unpublished. Marondera,Zimbabwe.

_____. 1994. “Evaluation of Kushanda TACTICOM Project.” Unpublished, Marondera, Zimbabwe.

Onibokum, Olayemi M. 1989. “Early Childhood Care and Education in Nigeria”. In P. P. Olmstead and D. P.Weikart, eds., How Nations Serve Young Children.. Ypsilanti, MI: High/Scope Press.

Otaala, Barnabas. 1995. “The Situation of Early Childhood Development in Namibia as Reflected in theImplementation of the National Program of Action for Children.” Prepared for Innocenti Child Develop-ment Center Inter-Agency Workshop on ECD Policy and Action, Florence, Italy.

Bibliography 51

Olmstead, P., and D. Weikart. 1989. How Nations Their Young Children: Profiles of Child Care and Education in 14Countries. Ypsilanti, MI: High/Scope Press.

_____. 1995. The IEA Preprimary Study: Early Childhood Care and Education in 11 Countries. International Asso-ciation for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement.

“Parenting, Young Child Development and Quality Learning: A Summary of Country Situation, Zanzibar.”1994. Prepared for Achieving Education For All: Reflexion Dirigée on Parenting, Young Child Develop-ment, Quality Learning. Port Louis, Mauritius.

Said, Swafiya, and L. Maherali. 1993. “Madrassahs Resource Centre.” Prepared for the UNESCO, IESCO andAESCO Symposium on the Role of Koranic Schools. Reproduced in AKF Information Bulletin, May 1993.Geneva: Aga Khan Foundation.

Salole, Gerry. 1992. “Building on people’s strengths: the case for contextual child development. Studies andEvaluation Papers, Number 5. The Hague: Bernard van Leer Foundation.

UNESCO. 1994. Statistical Year Book.

_____. 1991. Early Childhood Care and Education: A World Survey.

UNICEF. 1994. Ethiopia Country Paper. Prepared for Achieving Education For All: Reflexion Dirigée onParenting, Young Child Development, Quality Learning. Port Louis, Mauritius.

UNICEF. 1994. “Zimbabwe Country Paper.” Prepared for Achieving Education For All: Reflexion Dirigée onParenting, Young Child Development, Quality Learning. Port Louis, Mauritius.

UNICEF Staff. 1994. “Situation Analysis of Women and Children in Mauritius 1994.” New York: UNICEF.

_____. 1994. “Strategy for UNICEF Assistance in Ghana 1994-2000.” New York: UNICEF.

_____. 1994. “Children and Women in Zimbabwe: A Situation Analysis Update - 1994.” New York: UNICEF.

Vor der Bruegge, Ellen and Maureen Plas, Christopher Dunford and Kathleen E. Sack. 1995. “Credit withEducation: A Self-Financing Way to Empower Women,” In Convergence, XXVIII (3).

Weikart, David P. and Patricia Olmstead. 1996. “The Early Childhood Services of China, Indonesia, Nigeriaand Thailand; Findings of the IEA Preprimary Project.” A Report prepared for Project RPO #679-88.Washington, D.C: World Bank.

Wilson, Sandra. 1995. “ECD programs: Lessons from Developing Countries.” Washington, D.C: World Bank.

Woodhead, Martin. 1995. In search of the rainbow: Pathways to quality in large-scale programmes for youngdisadvantaged children. Early Childhood Development Practice and Reflections, Number 10. The Hague:Bernard van Leer Foundation.

World Bank Staff. 1995. African Development Indicators. Africa Region, Washington, DC: World Bank.

World Bank Staff. 1993. “Staff Appraisal Report: Federal Republic of Nigeria. Development CommunicationProject. Population and Human Resources Division.” Report No. 11236-UNI. Washington, D.C: World Bank.

World Bank. 1995. Early Childhood Development: The World Bank’s Agenda. Population, Health, and NutritionDepartment. Washington, D.C: World Bank.

Yoder, John H. 1992. “Primary Education in Botswana” In G. A. Woodhill, J. Bernhart and L. Prochner, eds.,International Handbook of Early Childhood Education. New York: Garland Press.

Young, Mary. 1995. Investing in Young Children. Discussion Paper, No. 275. Washington, D.C: World Bank.

early childhood development policy and programs … · iv early childhood development policy and...

Documents