Africa ECD Portfolio Characteristics (From the Directory of Africa ECD Interventions)

• High Level of Community Participation.  In countries such as Kenya, Senegal, and Burundi, ECD programs have emerged from preschools that are organized, financed, and run by parents.  The communities contract with public-sector and NGO providers to provide specific health services and to train community-based caregivers, and they incorporate ECD into their formal action plans for development and reconstruction.

• Multisectoral and Decentralized Implementation.  In Eritrea, non-traditional arrangements for implementing ECD are emerging.  They include interministry implementation and decentralized delivery.  The Ministry of Local Governments implements the  ECD program through its regional administrations, and the ministries of health, education, labor and human welfare, information, and agriculture provide technical and monitoring support.  In Burundi, a national NGO administers the ECD program on behalf of the Ministry of Planning. 

• Visible Role of NGOs in Implementation.  In Uganda, Kenya, and Burundi, an NGO manages implementation of the ECD project and subcontracts with local NGOs for technical support.  The local NGOs provide training; information, education, and communications (IEC); mobilization; and delivery of services at the community level.  In Uganda, 25 NGOs and 100 community-based organizations selected through the Bank’s competitive procurement procedures facilitate implementation of the ECD project in 25 districts.  In Kenya, five major NGOs and foundations (the Aga Khan Foundation, Catholic Relief Services, African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF), Action Aid Kenya, and CARE Kenya) were selected from among 50 applicants through this competitive process.  The organizations implement pilot schemes to incorporate innovative programs, such as the Aga Khan Foundation’s Madrasa ECD program (in Mombasa and Zanzibar), to improve the quality of culturally appropriate ECD services.  In Eritrea, as well, national NGOs  such as the National Union of Eritrean Youth and Students and the National Union of Eritrean Women have visible roles in implementing the ECD program.

• Emphasis on Child Protection.  The concern for displaced children and orphans from wars and for children affected by HIV/AIDS is an essential component of African ECD programs.  Approximately one-fourth of the Bank’s entire credit for the Eritrean project will support the reintegration of war orphans, providing assets to families that are hosting these orphans and supporting care for the very young.  In Uganda, Burundi, and Zimbabwe, the innovation grant schemes  are being used to support indigenous, community-based organizations that provide family and community care of AIDS-related and other orphans.

• Partnership With Donor Organizations.  UNICEF and WHO are partnering with individual governments and the World Bank on many ECD programs.  Other partners that have a major role include UNESCO, UNDP, FAO, and WFP; bilateral donors such as the Italian Cooperation (GTZ), Norwegian NORAD, and Danish DANIDA; and large foundations such as the Bernard van Leer Foundation, the Aga Khan Foundation, and Save the Children Fund.  In Eritrea and Uganda, WHO is providing technical expertise to the ECD effort through its program of Integrated Management of Childhood Illnesses, and UNICEF is providing field staff to technically supervise the development of manuals and tools for monitoring child growth.

• Important Role of Communication Strategies for Raising Awareness. Strategic communications are being systematically applied to promote and reinforce the transmission of societal knowledge and positive indigenous practices on childrearing, feeding and nutrition, and psychosocial and cognitive stimulation in order to change adverse behaviors of child caregivers.  All programs in the Bank’s new ECD portfolio in Africa have strategic communications as a major component.  These efforts include use of face-to-face communications; radio, community theater, and television, where available; and other mass communication techniques (e.g., in Nigeria).  The Africa programs actively promote partnership with the private sector, where the expertise in communications resides.