IECD attends early childhood education and development meeting in Addis Ababa |11 December 2019

Mrs Choppy (first on the left, first row); Dr Mahama Ouedraogo (middle, front row); Professor Hasina Banu Ebrahim (University of South Africa) co-chair of the Unesco for Early Childhood Education (second from right, back row) – Photo source: IECD

 The Continental Education Strategy for Africa (CESA 16-25) clearly states that Early Childhood Education and Development (ECED) is the pillar for future learning and identifies it as the next frontier if Africa is to realise sustained quality education and training.

CESA 16-25 identifies pre-primary education as a neglected sub-sector that deserves special attention.

The CESA ECED cluster was therefore established to strengthen this critical sub-sector.

The Technical Committee of the Cluster, which was formed earlier this year, met in an ordinary session from December 5-6, 2019 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to discuss the progress of work undertaken, strengthen the Working Groups of the Cluster towards meeting its objectives.

The meeting was attended by representatives of the African Union Commission (AUC), member states and partner organisations on the technical committee including: Mauritius, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Seychelles, Zambia, Africa Early Childhood Network (AfECN), Unicef, Save the Children, Child Fund International and Unesco.

Seychelles was represented by the chief executive of the Institute of Early Childhood Development, Shirley Choppy. The Technical Committee is composed of the chairpersons and conveners of four Working Groups under the Cluster, namely: (1) Policy, Advocacy and Communication; (2) Access to quality ECED Programmes and Services; (3) Governance and accountability; and (4) Knowledge generation, documentation and dissemination.

Mrs Choppy is the chairperson of the Working Group on Governance and Accountability and the Convener is a representative from the Commonwealth secretariat. The other country members of this Working Group are from Seychelles (and IECD), Mauritius and Ethiopia.

The meeting was officially opened by Dr Mahama Ouedraogo, director of the Human Resources, Science and Technology Department of the African Union Commission (AUC) who acknowledged the importance of the Technical Committee for achieving the Cluster’s objectives as part of realising the Continental Education Strategy for Africa (CESA 16-25).

Janet Mouko, representing the AfECN, highlighted the gains made by the Cluster since its inception and called for continued support from the African Union Commission to enable the Cluster to achieve its objectives.

The meeting developed the Cluster work plan for 2020 and acknowledged the importance of promoting Early Childhood Education and Development on the Continent. IECD, being recognised by the Unesco as a Global Category II Centre for ECCE, and also as part of its new mandate, will further provide technical assistance to the ECED Cluster, with the development of a Governance and Accountability Framework for ECED in Africa based on the experience of Seychelles as a model of best practice in ECCE.

One of the major issues, highlighted by Professor Hasina Banu Ebrahim (University of South Africa) co-chair of the Unesco for Early Childhood Education, Care and Development, in her presentation on behalf of the ‘Knowledge Generation and Dissemination’ Group, is to do with ‘implementation gaps’. The capacity for action continues to affect the quality of outcomes for young children and their families.

In line with this, and to move from policy to action, the Governance Group led by Seychelles is proposing that a forum is organised for member states to discuss and share the Draft Framework, followed by a mapping exercise to take stock of an existing governance ECED system, in at least one country in Africa. The results of which will inform the trial implementation of a proposed and contextualised Governance & Accountability System for ECED, and will set the stage for the eventual establishment and institutionalisation of a robust and resilient system for Early Childhood Development, in the pilot country. These are expected to be implemented in the next two years, by the Working Group led by Seychelles in collaboration with the Working Group on ‘Knowledge generation, documentation and dissemination’ and with the support of the AUC CESA Cluster for ECED.

In conclusion, the meeting recommended that the African Union Commission maintain an active role in the provision of support to facilitate the work and implementation of the plan for 2020 and beyond, of the Technical Committee, Working Groups and Cluster at large; the Cluster to reach out to more stakeholders towards increasing its membership; find synergies with other CESA Clusters and Programmes within the AUC for further advancements of the ECED Agenda on the African Continent.

Contributed by IECD