A global call to action for early childhood

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4 introduction are framed around the 4 Cornerstones and were presented at the CG’s Annual Consultation in October 2007 in Santiago, Chile. Naturally, using these key messages raises a number of questions, particularly when developing a specific policy agenda: • What do these statements mean for our community, country, or region? Principles and Guidelines • In what areas are we doing well? Where do we need the most improvements? • How can we use the 4 Cornerstones to raise public awareness and gain consensus around a policy agenda? Where would we start? Which area needs the most attention? • Given our particular needs, what messages are missing? What other goals are important? In creating policy and when planning and implementing early childhood programmes, several principles and guidelines should be kept in mind. These include the following: • Development begins before birth. Therefore attention to children’s developmental needs and risks should begin with pre- and post-natal interventions. • Development occurs continuously as a changing child interacts with a changing environment. Therefore, interventions can focus on changing the child and/or on changing environments, including family, community, service delivery, and broader social and economic environments. • Development is multifaceted and integral. Therefore, it is essential to integrate health, nutrition, and stimulation/learning in programme elements. • Children develop along many paths as risk conditions are reduced and as they play, use all their senses, imitate, and interact socially with others. Therefore, a range of programme options are available to facilitate development. • Children develop when adults provide a healthy environment, are emotionally and socially responsive and involved, talk to children, provide appropriate and varied play materials, etc. Therefore, interventions should include attention to adults as well as to children. • While recognising the importance of universal approaches, it is important for equity reasons (and perhaps for financial reasons) to focus interventions on those who are most vulnerable, attempting to reach the largest possible number of children who live in conditions that put them at risk. • It is important to build on what caregivers know and do well, including traditional knowledge and practices. This may require flexibility in programmes that are sensitive to cultural differences, but it also requires awareness of the general framework provided by the CRC. • Programmes should be cost-effective and efficient. • To be effective, early childhood interventions and programmes must assure adequate quality. • How can we use these messages to help build capacity in the field of Early Childhood to take action on behalf of young children? • How can we use these messages with policymakers? Media? Other new champions for young children? • What special events can be planned throughout the year that can highlight promising initiatives around each message? As the importance of the early years gains recognition, we will come under increasing pressure to define what we want policymakers to do. These messages are only a beginning. You can make them come alive when discussing them in the context of your community and country. Please continue to let us know how you use these Cornerstones. What works? What needs further revision? Developing an advocacy strategy for early childhood Recognising the strengths of the CGECCD as a global coalition that facilitates influential knowledgenetworking and advocacy processes aimed at influencing decision makers and development partners working in Majority and Minority World contexts, the CG proposes a framework for advocacy, based on the 4 Cornerstones, to move our work forward globally and on a regional/national level. This framework includes: • Raising public awareness about the importance of Early Childhood. • Developing consensus on specific policy goals and monitoring. • Building capacity within the Early Childhood community to advocate for change. • Reaching out to new champions who have influence on policymakers. • Targeting specific events throughout the year. COORDINATORS’ NOTEBOOK: ISSUE 29
introduction 5 The challenge and call to action It is against this background that the CGECCD offers the following challenge and call to action. 1. We respectfully request that our own participating organisations: • Maintain and strengthen their attention to Early Childhood with financial resources, human resources, programmes, and technical support. • Integrate Early Childhood into ongoing or new programmes, including those focused on: - Health - Nutrition - Education - Social protection - Conditional cash transfers - HIV/AIDS - Emergencies - Women´s work - Community development In particular, we call on UNICEF, with its worldwide reach and prestige, to play the important role that it can play to improve early childhood. We also call on the World Bank and others to continue to incorporate early childhood into the Fast Track Initiative. To do so would be consistent with the 1990 Jomtien Declaration on Education for All and the subsequent recommendations in Dakar (2000) which clearly state that “learning begins at birth.” It would respond as well to the target set forth in the EFA Framework for Action, which recommends “expansion of early childhood care and education activities, including family and community interventions, especially for poor, disadvantaged, and disabled children.” 2. We urge the World Health Organisation’s Commission on Social Determinants of Health to incorporate Promotion and support of cost-effective early childhood programmes must be a priority for global development. Early Childhood into its programming. This action would: • Be consistent with the WHO Constitution that says: “Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and is not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” • Recognise that the health, nutrition, and early stimulation and learning components in an intervention programme directed to young children can operate synergistically to increase the effectiveness of all components, enhancing physical and psychosocial well-being. • Help to mobilise the technical and political power and resources of the health community, without which ECCD will improve slowly, at best, and without respecting the holistic nature of child development. We know what needs to be done to move the Early Childhood agenda forward. We need to rethink the conventional wisdom on education interventions. Learning begins at birth— it does not wait until kindergarten or primary school. We need to intervene earlier and invest intensively in programmes that combine health, nutrition, and stimulation for young children ages 0-8. Early Childhood Care and Development is the first step towards achieving Education for All and the Millennium Development Goals. The Fast Track Initiative cannot succeed unless we focus on children’s early years. Promotion and support of cost-effective early childhood programmes must be a priority for global development. Young children are a wise investment—perhaps the most productive investment a society can make. By investing in young children, we can help to guarantee a more equitable and prosperous future for all. Louise Zimanyi, Director With input from CG Partners Robert Myers and Joan Lombardi Cambodia: PLAN International/Adam Hinton COORDINATORS’ NOTEBOOK: ISSUE 29
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71 The Consultative Group on Early
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A global call to action for early childhood

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