A global call to action for early childhood

More documents

Recommendations

Info

58 REGIONAL REPORT: Latin American Network Cornerstone 3: Improve primary school quality Ongoing and/or planned activities include: • Promotion of and participation in the development of simulation software to estimate the cost of basic quality education (e.g., by Save the Children Foundation UK in Peru, Brazil, and Colombia). • Helping to collect and consolidate existing and new data on public expenditures. • Promoting and disseminating partners’ experiences linking ECCD and basic education programmes across the region. • Promoting and disseminating research on teacher training, such as the Chilean study of public and private training programmes. • Promoting as part of the school readiness and transitioning programme the use of assessment/evaluation instruments to support students’ transitioning to school. Cornerstone 2: Get ready for success Ongoing and/or planned activities include: • Promoting programmes to strengthen parents’ involvement and competencies. Promoting programmes to strengthen parent involvement and competencies. • Promoting monitoring and evaluation of parents’ competencies. • Reviewing growth and development scales. Strengthening links with health, nutrition, and protection specialists and organisations Efforts were made at the Panama Network meeting to include the participation of health, nutrition, and social agency partners such as PAHO (Latin American Center for Perinathology), INCAP (Central-America and Panama Nutrition Centre), and FLACSO (Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences). Actions planned by the Network that relate to Cornerstone 1: Start at the Beginning, include the following: • Translating materials such as the UNICEF Toolkit. • Training Network members and their partners. • Promoting the training of young ECCD researchers as well as provision of scholarship funds for research. • Promoting special issues such as articulation and readiness, children’s participation, and disabilities. • Translating key publications and materials on ECCD, along with signing an agreement with the Centre de Peru: UNICEF/Walter Silver Excellence of Montreal University to translate the ECCD Virtual Encyclopaedia into Spanish. • Translating into English Latin American research reports and theoretical papers as part of the Encyclopaedia, as well as documents from practitioners in a new section, “Voices from the Field.” • Working with World Forum national representatives for Latin America to translate the ExchangeEveryDay into Spanish, Portuguese, and probably French. Challenges ahead • Continue advocating for reduction of the gaps between theory, public declarations, and practice. • Promote health, nutrition, protection, and education links within and between ECCD programmes. • Prioritise research and innovations to strengthen and expand 0-3 initiatives/ programmes as part of the early lifecycle process (linked to preschool education). • Expand the exchange of regional experiences and research on teachers’ and caregivers’ initial and ongoing training as well as technical assistance and monitoring systems. • Strengthen the exchange of and support for cross-country experiences on financing, costing, and private sector involvement. • Share experiences on national and local regulations, standards, indicators, and developmental scales. • Share experiences on alternatives to organise institutional structures to develop policies and delivery systems in a decentralisation process. For more information, contact: Alejandro Acosta, Regional Director, CINDE Technical Secretariat E-mail: aacosta@cinde.org.co COORDINATORS’ NOTEBOOK: ISSUE 29
REGIONAL REPORT: Open Society Institute 59 Recent developments in CEE/CIS: Early Childhood Programme of the Open Society Institute The Open Society Institute’s (OSI) Early Childhood Programme focuses on expanding access to quality early childhood development, with special attention to minorities, children with disabilities, and children living in poverty. OSI, a private operating and grantmaking foundation, aims to shape public policy to promote democratic governance, human rights, and economic, legal, and social reform. Working in thirty-four countries, the Early Childhood Programme supports OSI’s mission through an agenda based on: (1) increasing human development potential through effective early interventions in the lives of the youngest and most vulnerable children and their families; (2) holding governments accountable for their commitments to young children and families; and (3) promoting the development of a vibrant civil society by fostering children’s participation skills and critical thinking, engaging parents and communities to advocate on behalf of their children, and supporting a strong early childhood sector. Our flagship initiative in Central Eastern Europe/ Commonwealth of Independent States (CEE/CIS): Step by Step Our flagship initiative is the Step by Step Programme, which began in 1994 in the CEE/CIS region as a response to declining social supports for young children and their families. Designed for a region with a deep pedagogical history and a post-communist legacy of widespread teacher-centred preschools, the initiative aimed to introduce child-centredness and community engagement into strongly entrenched national preschool and primary education systems. Over time it emphasised development of national NGOs and institutions, formal evaluation of pilot projects, and then concerted advocacy to reform early childhood policies. Programme models include centre-based services in crèches, preschools, and schools for children from birth to age 10, as well as parenting initiatives and training sessions that focus on inclusion and social justice. OSI continues to provide significant support to twenty-nine Step by Step NGOs and their regional network, the International Step by Step Association (ISSA). Extending our activities to Asia, Africa, and the Middle East While continuing to enhance our work in CEE/CIS, we are extending our activities to three regions: Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Our holistic and interdisciplinary approach to support children from birth includes working with a wide group of education, social service, and health and welfare providers; communities; families; and children themselves. In expanding to new regions, we work with local partners to develop the most contextually appropriate solutions. In 2007, we began to work in Bangladesh and Liberia, as well as with Palestinian citizens of Israel. In Bangladesh, OSI and the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) University have developed a postgraduate programme in child development. In Liberia, OSI is partnering with the Ministry of Education to develop a situation analysis that will inform ECD policy planning and programme development. Work with the Palestinian citizens of Israel will focus on the development of quality preschool standards. Plans for 2008 include an early literacy project for families living on the Thai border of Burma. An agenda for advocacy, policy planning, and accountability The Consultative Group’s 4 Cornerstones provide an important organising framework for our advocacy efforts. OSI joins international networks of donors, practitioners, and researchers to advocate for: • Increasing international investments in quality ECD. • Extending the range of early childhood programme options available. • Ensuring access for minority children to high quality ECD programmes that respect and reflect their cultural diversity. • Supporting the rights of children with disabilities to inclusive education. OSI’s Early Childhood Programme engages in the development of national early childhood policies in accordance with its mission of extending quality services to children most at risk. This includes leveraging funding for ECD through the Education for All Fast Track Initiative (FTI) and other development bank mechanisms, capacity building of policymakers, preparation of policy recommendations, and policy planning. Advocacy is particularly important in COORDINATORS’ NOTEBOOK: ISSUE 29
Page 1 and 2:
Coordinators’ Notebook No. 29, 20
Page 3 and 4:
introduction 3 • Embraces the not
Page 5 and 6:
introduction 5 The challenge and ca
Page 7 and 8: Strong foundations: Early childhood
Page 23 and 24: Our global responsibility: The deve
Page 29 and 30: Early child development: A powerful
Page 35 and 36: General Comment No. 7: Implementing
Page 37 and 38: General comment no. 7: Implementing
Page 39 and 40: New UN Convention on the Rights of
Page 47 and 48: Planning for Success: Advocacy as P
Page 49 and 50: Planning for Success: Advocacy as P
Page 51 and 52: Engaging the private and public sec
Page 53 and 54: Engaging the private and public sec
Page 55 and 56: CG SECRETARIAT REPORT 55 understand
Page 57: REGIONAL REPORT: Latin American Net
Page 61 and 62: REGIONAL REPORT: International Step
Page 63 and 64: REGIONAL REPORT: ADEA Working Group
Page 65 and 66: REGIONAL REPORT: Advocacy in the Ar
Page 67 and 68: REGIONAL REPORT: Asia Regional Netw
Page 69 and 70: International Early Childhood Resou
Page 71 and 72: 71 The Consultative Group on Early
show all

A global call to action for early childhood

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?