JOB OPPORTUNITY: RESEARCH, MONITORING EVALUATION AND LEARNING MANAGER

As AfECN continues to expand its impact, effective monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of its projects and initiatives it is critical in assessing progress, understanding outcomes, and ensuring that evidence is used to shape policies and practices.

Purpose of the Role: The Research Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Manager will play a key role in supporting this goal by designing, implementing, and managing a robust M&E framework that tracks the effectiveness of AfECN’s initiatives and guides organizational learning.

Welcome to the PATH Early Childhood Development Knowledge Hub

From 2012 to 2024, PATH and the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation partnered to support the Ministries of Health in Mozambique and Kenya to design and pilot health system interventions that promote optimal development for the youngest children.

Along that journey other partners and donors joined this endeavour, and Mozambique and Kenya became learning hubs for promoting early childhood development in the health sector. Ethiopia, Zambia, Tanzania, Ivory Coast, and Malawi have subsequently adapted materials and approaches tried and tested in Mozambique and Kenya to their context.

‘’Breaking Ground: Early Childhood Development at the Forefront of the 73rd ECSA-HC Health Ministers’ Conference”

The East Central and Southern Africa Health Community (ECSA-HC) organized the 73rd Health Ministers Conference (20-21st June 2024) and 50th Anniversary Commemoration (19th June 2024) which was preceded by the 14th Best Practices Forum (16th-17th June 2024) and the Directors and 30th Directors Joint Consultative Committee (18th June 2024). The main theme of the conference was ‘’50 years of leadership and excellence in regional health collaboration’’. The event was held at Grand Melia Hotel, Arusha, Tanzania. The East, Central and Southern African Health Community (ECSA-HC) is an inter-governmental organization that fosters and promotes regional cooperation in health. Member states of the ECSA Health Community are Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Eswatini, United Republic of Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The guest of honor for the 50th Golden Jubilee Cerebration was the Vice President of the United Republic of Tanzania, Hon. Dr. Philip Isidory Mpango (sitting in the middle in the picture above, surrounded by Honourable Ministers of Health and Heads of Delegation from ECSA HC member states and the Director General of ECSA-HC, Prof. Yoswa Dambisya).

The conference provided a unique opportunity for representatives from 9 ECSA HC member states, development partners, research and training institutions, civil society organizations and other professionals to reflect on the progress made for the past 50 years and strategize on how to strengthen collaboration and tackle health challenges in the region subsequently.  AfECN participated in the event and presented on the experiences and lessons from 9 ECSA-HC members on scaling up implementation of Nurturing Care Framework (NCF). The work has been coordinated through the Responsive Caregiving Experts’ Committee constitute of representatives from all the member states, who guide and advise ECSA-HC through the secretariat on all issues related to roll out and implementation of NCF.

The 73rd ECSA HC Health Ministers’ Conference considered and passed 12 resolutions among which ECD features comprehensively under ECSA/HMC73/R5: Reproductive, Maternal, Neonatal, Child and Adolescent Health.

The Health Ministers Conference;

Urges Member States to: -

1. Accelerate implementation of policies and strengthen surveillance systems for initiatives that address Violence Against Children (VAC) through deliberate allocation of funding and human resources.

2. Promote institutionalization, multisectoral involvement with defined leadership roles and increased financing to support implementation of the Nurturing Care Framework for Early Childhood Development.

3. Review and streamline child protection laws to ensure harmonization of legislation at all levels.

4. Enhance community involvement and partner collaboration on issues of Early Childhood Development and Violence Against Children.

5. Integrate and implement robust knowledge management systems as mechanisms for accelerated implementation of Adolescent and Youth Sexual and Reproductive Health policies.

6. Commit to regional and global Adolescent and Youth Sexual and Reproductive Health related commitments and integrate their components into national emergency preparedness and response plans to maintain service continuity.

7. Contribute to the preparations towards the ministerial conference on VAC in Bogotá, Colombia in November 2024.

Directs the Secretariat to: -

1. Document and disseminate the findings from the Global and Regional Landscape Analysis efforts, providing opportunities within for dialogue and exchange on best practices.

2. Provide support to Member States to prepare for the Global Ministerial Conference on VAC in Bogota, Colombia in November 2024.

3. Develop a monitoring and evaluation framework and track the progress of the implementation of the past resolutions and report during the 75th Health Ministers Conference.

4. Support Member States in the implementation of the above and the past resolutions.

More information on the event and other resolutions can be found in this link https://ecsahc.org/ecsa-documents

OPPORTUNITY: RESOURCE MOBILIZATION CONSULTANT

The Resource Mobilization Consultant (RMC) will be responsible for the development and capacity building to support implementation of AfECN’s fundraising strategy. The RMC will support establishment of systems to support overall coordination, planning, development, and management of a public and private sector fundraising strategy to mobilize resources and support accountability and transparent reporting.

OPPORTUNITY FOR A PROGRAMME OFFICER!!

AfECN   would like to recruit a Programme Officer to support its work in strengthening multisectoral advocacy and sub-regional coordination mechanism in WCAR.  The broader tasks include i) supporting stronger engagement of regional and national ECD partners; contributing to improved organizational and advocacy capacities of National Advocacy Partners (NAPs); increased knowledge generation on Early Childhood Education and dissemination across the region.

Contract: 1 year (Renewable based on performance and availability of funds)

Working Hours: Full time – 37.5 hours a week

Location: Dakar, Senegal

Application procedure: Interested candidates who meet the desired qualifications should submit cover letter, Curriculum Vitae (CV), motivation statement (max 2 pages), testimonials, copies of academic transcripts as a single PDF document to careers@afecn.org. Only successful candidates will be contacted.

Application Deadline: 22nd August 2023

Call for Expressions of Interest for Early Childhood Development Advocacy Groups/Networks

Call for Expressions of Interest for Early Childhood Development Advocacy Groups/Networks

📢Are you a grassroots advocacy group seeking to make a difference in the development of young children?

We are currently accepting application for seed grants to support your efforts.

⏳: 14 SEPTEMBER 2023

PROMOTING PLAYFUL PARENTING THROUGH EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY: A CASE OF ZAMBIA

Play is the way children learn. When caregivers connect and interact with children in a stimulating, enjoyable, and emotionally safe atmosphere, they have a chance to develop amazing skills, knowledge attitudes and relationships. It is therefore critical to include strategies of promoting playful parenting in ECD policies and programmes. In this regard, we celebrate a key milestone in the inclusion of playful parenting in the revised communications strategy (2022-2025) for the Directorate of Early Childhood Education, Ministry of Education, Republic of Zambia. The African Early Childhood Network (AfECN) is delighted to have collaborated with the Ministry of Education (Republic of Zambia), and other key partners with support from the LEGO Foundation. The strategy covers the period 2022-25 and identifies critical challenges and potential strategies for effective communication to support expansion for equitable access, improve quality as well as strengthen systems for delivery of quality ECD at scale. One of the objectives of the strategy is to promote the understanding of ECE/ECD and Playful Parenting and their linkage to education and development. More about the strategy can be found Click Here…

Advocacy Corner

National communications strategies for ECD provide the basis upon which information concerning ECD policies and programmes are disseminated to stakeholders both internally and externally-by encouraging stakeholder participation and ownership, facilitating exchange of information, strengthening coordination and delivery of ECD programmes; and encouraging feedback from beneficiaries on the impact of ECD programmes.

Communications and Publicity Officer Position

To ensure efficient and effective communication with all stakeholders at global, regional and national level, AfECN seeks to recruit a Communications & Publicity Officer. This position will primarily support the development, implementation and monitoring of our internal and external communications strategy, the writing and dissemination of publicity materials, active engagement with the media and co-ordination of AfECN events and conferences.

Send a cover letter and CV expressing your interest to careers@afecn.org and indicate the position title in the subject of the email by 10 February 2023. Successful applicants shall be contacted and invited for an interview.

Improving early childhood development in the context of the nurturing care framework in Kenya: A policy review and qualitative exploration of emerging issues with policy makers

The Nurturing Care Framework (NCF) describes “nurturing care” as the ability of nations and communities to support caregivers and provide an environment that ensures children's good health and nutrition, protects them from threats, and provides opportunities for early learning through responsive and emotionally supportive interaction. We assessed the extent to which Kenyan government policies address the components of the NCF and explored policy/decision makers' views on policy gaps and emerging issues. Read More…