The role of media and communications champions is to spearhead and coordinate publicity campaigns at national and regional levels to inform policy, activities, and programmes on early childhood development broadly but with specific focus on childcare.
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…
Caregiving roles of female guardians, older siblings, and time spent on child activities
ACTION NEEDED TO PROTECT THE ENVIRONMENT FOR YOUNG CHILDREN NOW & FOR THE FUTURE GENERATIONS
Globally, almost every child on earth (99%) is exposed to at least one major climate and environmental hazards, shocks, and stress. Africa, despite its low contribution to greenhouse gas emissions, remains the most vulnerable continent to climate change. Indeed, seven of the 10 countries that are most vulnerable to climate change are in Africa exposing close to 490 million children in 35 African countries to highest risk of suffering the impact of climate change. As a build up to the 27th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 27) to the UNFCCC that will take place in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, read more about the actions needed to protect the environment for young children now and for the future generation. read more…
A call for stories: Implementation of childcare care practices
Closing date: Friday 23rd April 2021
The African Early Childhood Network (AfECN) is documenting childcare practices across the African region. This multi-country documentation aims at drawing attention to progress made, programme challenges, opportunities, and gaps in designing and implementing childcare programmes for children under age three (3) years. These efforts are aimed at shining a spotlight on the areas that need more attention and intervention by the early childhood development community and development partners.
Still interested? We invite you to share your journey, regarding how you have designed and implemented child-care programmes in your community and beyond. This is a chance to have your voice amplified nationally, regionally, and globally through AfECN platforms. The stories will be disseminated through our new and exciting Knowledge hub, a platform where you can find ECD materials and meet like-minded individuals and organizations.
Please submit your story to info@afecn.org by Friday 23rd April 2021. AfECN’s team of experts will then schedule a 20 minutes’ follow-up call with you/your representative to ensure that your story is well documented. Please indicate which day and time would best suite you for the follow-up call between 26th – 30th April, as you submit your childcare practice or story.
Please use the following key questions to guide the sharing of your story. Kindly keep your submission to a maximum of 650 words (one to three pages transcribed in word, single-spaced in font size 12), in the language you are most comfortable with
English French
Young children in Kenya prisons making headlines
PRISON CHILDREN Over 200 children in prisons and cannot be separated from their mothers
There are at least 200 children aged below 4, who were either born in prison or are still too young to be separated from their mothers who are serving their sentence. Children in prison have often been referred to as forgotten victims of crime, and the invisible victims of crime and the penal code. At the Lang’ata women’s prison, a daycare centre is offering a conducive environment for children in their early stage of development. One which shields them from the dangers of being raised solely in the environment behind bars.
Courtesy Citizen: Dorcas Wangira dissects the new report: victims of the penal code