Project profile — Early Childhood Development Support

• Bangladesh (100.00%)

• Basic Education: Early childhood education (11240) (100.00%)

• Participatory development and good governance (not targeted)
• Gender equality (significant objective)
• Youth Issues (not targeted)
• Urban issues (not targeted)
• Climate change mitigation (not targeted)
• Disability (not targeted)
• Trade development (not targeted)
• ICT as a tool for development (not targeted)
• Climate Change Adaptation (not targeted)
• Desertification (not targeted)
• Biodiversity (not targeted)
• Children's issues (principal objective)
• Environmental sustainability (cross-cutting) (not targeted)
• Indigenous Issues (not targeted)

This project aims to strengthen the capacity of selected non-governmental and civil society organizations to improve the quality of, and access to, early childhood development services for poor families in Bangladesh. Early childhood development supports children's social, physical, emotional, and cognitive development from birth to entry into primary school. The project introduces a new and more comprehensive approach to early childhood development in Bangladesh, one that focuses on enhanced child and family health and well-being, stronger parenting skills for adolescent mothers, as well as increased readiness for primary school education. Capacity development activities in early childhood development services include: technical assistance linked to organizational needs assessments; staff training and professional development; study tours to regional and Canadian programs; action research and dissemination of results; multi-stakeholder workshops; and opportunities for policy dialogue.

N/A

Results achieved as of September 2013 include: (1) 12 partner organizations are now better able to manage, design and deliver Early Childhood Development (ECD) education programs tailored to the needs of the poor. They have strengthened their abilities in organizational management, curriculum revision, production of training manuals and development of ECD learning materials, gender mainstreaming and monitoring and evaluation. (2) Sustainability plans have been created and all partners have mobilized their efforts to ensure that communities are engaged, resources are sought for centers to be sustained (where possible), and ECD knowledge is integrated in core programming. (3) In addition to sustaining existing centres, partner organizations established 126 preschools, 120 parenting programs, 36 child development centres and 74 factory-based childcare centres, and put a particular focus on monitoring, quality improvement, and the creation of linkages with other educators. (4) Of the 74 factory-based childcare centers, 43 have been handed over to factory management. (5) A total of 11,214 girls and 10,490 boys have graduated from the ECD education program. And (6), in 2013, 7,350 learners continued their early childhood education in 36 Child Development Centres and 126 preschools. These results have contributed to improving the ability of 12 partner organizations to deliver quality early childhood education for children in four regions of Bangladesh.

• Proactive disclosure