During the first 1,000 days, young children and caregivers have a myriad of touchpoints within the health system. Leveraging these moments to promote nurturing care interventions that are not consistently emphasized in primary health care (PHC) — such as responsive caregiving, safety and security, and opportunities for early learning — can alter their developmental trajectories. This practical global resource aims to support national and sub-national planning for promoting young children’s development in PHC. It highlights opportunities to leverage primary health care platforms and provides concrete examples and guidance for delivering interventions that promote nurturing care for early childhood development.
Promoting nurturing care: How governments are uniting to strengthen ECD in PHC systems
When health officials, civil society representatives and development partners convened in early October for a side event at the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation’s East & Southern Africa Early Childhood Development Partners’ Convening in Nairobi, there was a singular shared goal on everyone’s mind: Ensuring that responsive caregiving, early learning, safety and security, and development monitoring and counseling are prioritized and promoted at scale in primary health care (PHC) systems, alongside health and nutrition interventions.
ADAPTING AND SCALING EARLY LEARNING OUTCOMES ASSESSMENTS IN THE WEST AND CENTRAL AFRICAN REGION
The study provided a comprehensive overview of the existing assessment tools and indicators for early learning quality in sub-Saharan Africa. The review process adhered to the updated guidelines from the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) and followed Arksey and O'Malley’s five-step framework. The steps included first specifying the research question, followed by identifying relevant studies, selecting which studies to include, and then extracting, mapping, and charting the data. Finally, the results were collated, summarized, and reported. To ensure methodological rigor, the scoping review aligned with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Extensions for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) guidelines. Furthermore, the screening of publications for eligibility was guided by the SOCT framework, ensuring a consistent application of inclusion and exclusion criteria throughout the review process.
Act For Early Years
AfECN is a member of the High-Level Advisory Group of the Act For Early Years campaign. This is a global movement working to ensure that every child has access to quality early childhood development, essential to thrive and achieve lifelong well-being. The campaign brings together governments, civil society, donors, businesses and advocates to prioritise investment in the early years as one of the most effective ways to break cycles of poverty and inequality and to build a more equitable world. Act For Early Years is supported by a broad coalition of partners including Theirworld, UNICEF, UNESCO, LEGO Foundation, Dubai Cares, Brookings Institution, ECDAN and many others.
AfECN is actively contributing to enhancing the visibility and uptake of the Act For Early Years campaign across Africa. The network leverages existing regional platforms to integrate the campaign’s key messages into discussions at major events across various sectors. AfECN is also collaborating with key stakeholders to strengthen country-level engagement and to mobilise youth champions for greater advocacy and action in early childhood development.
Find out more and join the campaign at www.actforearlyyears.org.
Launch of Africa Country Profiles for ECD Countdown To 2030
The African Union, The African Early Childhood Network, UNICEF, Early Childhood Development Action Network (ECDAN), and World Health Organization (WHO) will launch the Africa ECD Country Profiles Countdown to 2030 during #CPHIA2025.
the Africa ECD Country Profiles Countdown to 2030
ECD AND CLIMATE CHANGE WEBINAR
Join AfECN and partners as we spotlight the intersection of climate change and early childhood development, sharing country findings, lessons, and advocacy entry points to strengthen action for Africa’s youngest.
Date: Wednesday, 24th September 2025
Time: 15:00
Duration: 1hr30Min
ONLINE TRAINING: A Tool For Costing Early Childhood Programmes
Join this informative webinar with Dr. Emily Gustafsson-Wright of the Brookings Institution to explore how the Childhood Cost Calculator (C3) can unlock more and better Early Childhood Care and Education financing by supporting implementers and policymakers to collect and analyse critically needed cost data
OPPORTUNITY: ACCELERATING EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT OUTCOMES IN WEST AND CENTRAL AFRICAN REGION
TERMS OF REFERENCE (TOR) FOR ECD COORDINATOR
The ECD Advisor/ Coordinator supports AfECN’s programmatic 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. The ECD Advisor/Coordinator, based in WCAR, will work under the supervision of the Executive Director to provide technical and coordination support.
Kindly submit your applications to: careers@afecn.org with the subject “West African Coordinator”
The deadline for applications is 29th September 2025.
2025: Africa conference on childcare
The African Union Commission (AUC) in collaboration with the African Early Childhood Network (AfECN) is co- convening the Continental Childcare Conference , to be held in Addis Ababa 18th -20th June 2025, under the theme Building Partnerships for Accelerating Action towards Quality & Inclusive Childcare in Africa.
First meeting of Early Childhood Development (ECD) experts in the East African Community (EAC)
The EAC recognizes Early Childhood Development as a critical foundation for human capital development, economic growth, and social equity, aligning with Article 120(c) of the EAC Treaty and the EAC Child Policy (2016). Despite progress, many children under five in the region lack access to quality ECD services. This meeting aimed to consolidate regional efforts, address cross-cutting challenges, harmonize guidelines and validate strategic priorities towards a comprehensive Regional ECD Policy and Action plan, building global commitments like the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 4.2) and the Nurturing Care Framework.