Abstract
Abstract In recent years, increasing priority has been placed on the development of national intersectoral early childhood development (ECD) policies in Sub-Saharan Africa. This paper reviews the role of national ECD policies to promote young children’s access to key early childhood services. We discuss the proliferation of national ECD policies in Sub-Saharan Africa in the last decade and argue that for most countries, these documents can be useful, but are not sufficient without proper implementation and enforcement. We look specifically at the different ECD policies and institutional arrangements in four countries in East Africa: Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda and draw out some cross-country lessons for moving from policy development to implementation.
Highlights
Recent brain research suggests the need for holistic approaches to learning and development, recognizing that children’s physical and intellectual well-being and socio-emotional and cognitive development are all interrelated (Grantham-McGregor et al, 2007)
Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda each have unique challenges to the effort to promote holistic early childhood development (ECD) for children; in addition, they share many similarities
Each country has taken a different approach to developing an ECD policy, and the status of ECD policies and choice of institutional anchors varies across these four countries
Summary
In recent years, increasing priority has been placed on the development of national intersectoral early childhood development (ECD) policies in Sub-Saharan Africa. This paper reviews the role of national ECD policies to promote young children’s access to key early childhood services. We discuss the proliferation of national ECD policies in Sub-Saharan Africa in the last decade and argue that for most countries, these documents can be useful, but are not sufficient without proper implementation and enforcement. We look at the different ECD policies and institutional arrangements in four countries in East Africa: Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda and draw out some cross-country lessons for moving from policy development to implementation
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