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Education for All (EFA)
In March 1990, in Jomtien, Thailand participants at the World Conference on Education for All ratified the Conference Declaration, which included the statement:
o "Learning begins at birth. This calls for early childhood care and initial education. These can be provided through arrangements involving families, communities or institutional programmes as appropriate."
(Article 5)
A Framework for Action was developed to guide governments and their partners from civil society in creating national plans of action with targets to be met by the end of the decade, including:
o "Expansion of early childhood care and development activities, including family and community interventions, especially for poor, disadvantaged and disabled children." (Article 5, para.8)
Ten years later in Dakar, Senegal at the April 2000 World Education Forum, 104 countries reported on the assessment of their progress toward achieving the goals of EFA – including two indicators for ECCD. The international community adopted the Dakar Framework of Action reaffirming the Declaration of 1990 including ECCD as the first of 6 goals:
Goal # 1
"Expanding and improving comprehensive early childhood care and education, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children."
In addition the following two related paragraphs:
o "All young children must be nurtured in safe and caring environments that allow them to become healthy, alert and secure and be able to learn. The past decade has provided more evidence that good quality early childhood care and education, both in families and in more structured programmes, have a positive impact on the survival, growth, development and learning potential of children. Such programmes should be comprehensive, focusing on all of the child's needs and encompassing health, nutrition and hygiene as well as cognitive and psychosocial development. They should be provided in the child's mother tongue and help to identify and enrich the care and education of children with special needs. Partnerships between governments, NGO's, communities and families can help ensure the provision of good care and education for children, especially for those most disadvantaged, through activities centered on the child, focused on the family, based within the community and supported by national, multi-sect oral policies and adequate resources." (para 30)
o "Governments , through relevant ministries, have the primary responsibility of formulating early childhood care and education policies within he context of national EFA plans, mobilizing political and popular support, and promoting flexible, adaptable programmes for young children that are appropriate to their age and not mere downward extensions of formal school systems. The education of parents and other caregivers in better child care, building on traditional practices, and the systematic use of early childhood indicators, are important in achieving this goal." (para. 31)
The Consultative Group and EFA
Key Messages:
- Eight is Too Late to start paying attention to children’s learning needs. By the time a child reaches school age, most key brain wiring, language abilities, physical capabilities and cognitive foundations have been set in place.
- Learning begins at birth…... And basic education begins then too, as we support children in their healthy development.
- Support Early Childhood Care and Development
Investing in ECCD is investing in the whole child, with dividends that continue to pay off throughout the entire life cycle.
- Parents are the child’s first teachers
In supporting the youngest children, it is especially important to recognize that parents are the child’s first teachers. Supporting and educating parents and parents-to-be is a highly effective basic education.
- ECCD as a field has valuable experiences to share, including effective strategies for supporting young children in their development, supporting families, and of greatest interest to many primary level educators, helping to make schools more ready for learners and learners more ready for schools.
CG Involvement in EFA:
CG partners within the regions and across agencies have been heavily involved in the EFA process since Jomtien.
At that first World Conference on Education for All, the CG consortium lobbied -- along with others -- to ensure that the fundamental concept that "Learning Begins at Birth" was taken on board and integrated into the overall Jomtien agreement. What is more BASIC than a solid foundation for all later learning? When we remember that our goal is to build children’s capacities to become fully participating members of society, we are reminded to look at their whole development: their nutrition and health status, their environmental supports, the love and nurturing they receive, their opportunities to play, explore, learn, interact with materials, solve problems and participate in their communities. In the context of a whole life, it becomes clear that lifelong capacity rests on the foundation established in the first several years.
In Amman, Jordan, the Consultative Group reinforced the message of 'learning begins at birth' with that of "8 is Too Late" (See Brief: 8 is Too Late). While a focus on primary education is very important, eight is too late to start paying attention to children’s learning needs. By the time a child reaches school age, most key brain wiring, language abilities, physical capabilities and cognitive foundations have been set in place. Early Childhood Care and Development programs play a crucial role in establishing basic education for all.
In preparation for Dakar, some of our partners (agency and regional participants) attended and provided inputs into some of regional meetings that led up to the conference in April, and Robert G. Myers (a member of the Secretariat) undertook on behalf of the CG a review of the decade in relation to ECD for the Dakar conference. In addition, the Consultative Group organised a Strategy Session on Early Childhood Development in Dakar highlighting key issues and challenges for the future. Finally, members from the Consultative Group on ECCD participated on the EFA Steering Committee over the last number of years.
The CG has agreed collectively that regional participants and member organisations will continue to look for appropriate opportunities for ongoing participation and active engagement in the proposed follow-up to Dakar. Through the CG and specifically through the CG's ECD/EFA Working Group as well as the EFA/ECCD Flagship Website, the CG aims to ensure ongoing awareness raising of ECCD and its ability to contribute towards the overall EFA process (e.g. it enhances children's early development, it can increase the efficiency of basic education, it complements and supports other goals such as increasing girls' education and women's literacy).
Please continue to visit this section for regular updates and progress.
The United Nations General Assembly
Special Session on Children
New York
May 8-10, 2002
The Special Session on Children is an unprecedented meeting of the UN General Assembly dedicated to the children and adolescents of the world. It will bring together government leaders and Heads of State, NGOs, children's advocates and young people themselves from 8 - 10 May, 2002 at the United Nations in New York City.
The gathering will present a great opportunity to change the way the world views and treats children. The CGEECD and a number of its regional partners and other members are amongst the NGOs and advocates involved in the preparations and discussion for this special session which will review the progress made for children in the decade since the 1990 World Summit for Children and the World Declaration and Plan of Action.
Background Documents
We the Children: Meeting the Promises of the World Summit for Children, is a landmark report issued by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. This abridged version of the Full Report assesses the progress made in meeting the commitments made to the children around the globe at the 1990 World Summit for Children based on a request for governments to undertake national reviews of progress in implementing the World Summit Declaration and Plan of Action. The review also includes best practices and lessons learned, obstacles to progress, and a plan of action for building a world fit for children. The accompanying 1990 Statistical Review the most recent data on children's rights and well-being and is based on an exhaustive 157-country data collection effort, the largest such endeavour ever. See 157 Reports for more information. UNICEF's Key Statistical Databases offer detailed country-specific information. Find Out How Your Country is Doing
UNICEF is serving as Secretariat for the Special Session on Children, under the guidance of the Bureau of the Preparatory Committee. Three substantive sessions of the Preparatory Committee have been organised to date.
Three key areas provide the framework for discussions and consideration:
- The best possible start in life for all children
- A good-quality basic education for all children
- The opportunities for all children, especially adolescents, for meaningful participation in their communities
Draft Outcome Document, 'A World Fit for Children'
A draft provisional outcome document, A World Fit for Children, drafted by the Bureau of UNGASS was presented at the second and third preparatory meetings. The draft outcome document entitled, A World Fit for Children, contains a Declaration and a Plan of Action to guide actions for children during the next decade. The Plan of Action addresses four major areas of concern (health, education, child protection and HIV/AIDS) and contains provisions for fostering partnerships, mobilizing resources and monitoring implementation. A final round of informal negotiations to complete the document will be convened from 29 April to 2 May 2002.
The Alternative Draft Outcome Document
An Alternative NGO text has been prepared by the Child Rights Caucus recommending changes to the draft outcome document, in particular requesting that the final outcome document must present more specific goals, action and issues not addressed by the current text. Also see the Draft Outcome Document for the UN Special Session on Children - Pending Paragraphs and Recommendations from the Child Rights Caucus. This document presents text recommendations from the Child Rights Caucus and other non- governmental organizations for the paragraphs still to be negotiated in the draft outcome document for the UN Special Session on Children. Additions and revisions to the original text (the Third revised draft outcome document, A/AC.256/CRP.6/Rev.3) are underlined.
The CGECCD Position on the Draft Outcome Document
The CGECCD has recommended that the alternative text (and ultimately the final document) include goals that would strengthen the position of early childhood care and development with regards to young children and their families, caregivers and communities.
The draft Outcome Document, ’A World Fit for Children’ begins to address the needs of very young children. It calls the world community to:
Ø ’Promote the best start in life through the development and implementation of national early childhood policies and programs to ensure the enhancement of children’s physical, social, emotional, spiritual and cognitive development ’(article 34e).
Ø ’Expand and improve comprehensive early childhood care and education, for girls and boys, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children’(article 36a).
However, those of us working and advocating for young children believe there remain significant and un-addressed challenges in the document:
1) the above goals are without reference to nationally defined goals and indicators.
2) there continues to be a lack of recognition that learning begins at birth, articulated in both the Jomtien and Dakar and the Education For All Declarations. This is evidenced by the fact that basic education is defined as primary schooling. We strongly believe that much more could be stated to recognise and build upon families’ achievements in supporting their children’s overall development and learning, most of which occurs in and around a child’s home and community in the earliest years.
3) we are concerned that the non-formal early childhood development programmes and parental education initiatives and the articles (4, 29 and 30) related to the Convention on Child Rights (CRC) have not yet been agreed upon.
The rights to affection, interaction, security, stimulation and opportunities for learning have been accepted and recognised as being as fundamental as the basic needs for food, healthcare and protection and not just as needs but rights, (implying duties and obligations). Children’s rights are about the obligations of all adults to protect the best interests of children, and to create the conditions under which they can develop and thrive (see enclosed ’Early Childhood Matters’ No. 98, 2001).
Despite ratification of the CRC by most countries of the world, child development has not yet become a natural and important part of the national development plans and monitoring the developmental progress of nations. In the absence of a more holistic human development/social justice framework, agencies often over-emphasize the physical status of children, because by its very nature, progress in the areas of children’s psycho-social development is more complex to assess, whereas weight or completion of immunizations schedules are easier to measure
Side Events
Also of interest, there are two important Side Events being held at the United Nations Special Session on Children. They are sponsored by UNICEF and co-organized by the CG and the NGO Working Group on Education.
Ø On Wednesday May 8, 2002, a Side Event on "Early Childhood Care and Development: Supporting Children's Development and Early Learning Through National Development Plans" will be held at 3:00-4:30 pm in the Dag Hammarskjold Auditorium at the United Nations.
Ø On Thursday May 9, 2002, a Side Event on "Establishing Indicators for Early Childhood Care and Development - Demystifying the Process" will be held in the Boss Room at the Church Centre (44th Street between 1st and 2nd Avenue) from 3:00 to 5:00 pm.
For more information on the Special Session, please go to UNICEF or the Child Rights Information Network (CRIN).
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