Joint Regional and Networking Activities
Advancing the ECCD Agenda in the Arab Region
A convergence of events in 2010 and follow up in 2011 has allowed the opportunity for key actors engaged in ECCD in the region an opportunity to organise, and influence the shaping of the early childhood agenda in the region for the years ahead:
Regional Workshop Amman and proposal for setting up a networking platform, Jordan, March 2010
Facilitated by the Arab Resource Collective (ARC) in collaboration with a larger steering group made up of key partners working in the region,
the consultations in the lead up to the workshop were triggered through a widely circulated concept note, which reviewed the developments that have transformed the early childhood scene in the Arab region in the last two decades, following the emergence of regional collective work towards the end of the 80s, and then its gradual decline at the turn of the century. While the increased attention to ECCD globally has been met in Arab countries with the accumulation of professional approaches and resources, expansion in programmes, multiplication of pre- and in-service training, and even elaboration of national policies, etc. there has been a notable absence of coordination among the key actors in the region. The purpose of the workshop was to compile an overview of the ECCD scene in the Arab region, generate a collective process of consultation about regional programmatic directions, and explore ways of establishing a coordinating structure, with a common work programme.
High Level Conference on ECCE in Arab countries, September 20-22, 2011 in Damascus reviewed the status of ECCE in the region, increased awareness of the importance of focusing on the early years, expanding early childhood programmes and services, activating the contribution from the region to the global early childhood scene, and also preparation for the World Conference on ECCE (see below). The Damascus Declaration and Framework will be posted here shortly.
The World Conference on ECCE convened in Moscow on 27-29 September 2010 assessed achievements in implementing Goal I (specific to early childhood) of Education For All adopted in Dakar in 2000.
CG Partner Activities
The Arab Resource Collective (ARC) is a regional NGO based in Lebanon, and legally registered in Lebanon and Cyprus. Founded in 1988, its purpose is to develop approaches, produce resources in Arabic and build the capacity of professionals, in the fields of health and child development. It achieves this purpose through collective work with partners, mostly NGOs who implement community-oriented programmes.
Other partners working in the region include Save the Children, Aga Khan Foundation, World Bank.
