Inception Report - review of Uganda's ECD policy

List ListList List of A AA Acron cron cron crony yy yms msms

CBO Community Based Organisation

CE Cambridge Education (the implementing agency)

DEO District Education Officer

ECCE Early Childhood Care and Education

ECD Early Childhood Development

ECDE Early Childhood Development and Education

ECD-WG Early Childhood Development Working Group (of the MoES)

EPRC Education Policy Review Commission

FBO Faith-based Organisation

FSD Financial Services Deepening

IECD Integrated Early Childhood Development Policy

M&E-WG Monitoring & Evaluation Working Group

MoES Ministry of Education and Sports

MoESTS Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Sports

MoGLSD Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development

NCDC National Curriculum Development Centre

NCHE National Council for Higher Education

NGO

Non-government organisation

NIECD National Integrated Early Childhood Education Policy

QA & AS Qualifications Framework and Accreditation System

SDG Sustainable Development Goals

SPWG Sector Policy Working Group (of the MoES)

ToR Terms of Reference

TRC Technical Reference Committee

UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund

UPE Universal Primary Education

PROBLEM STATEMENT PROBLEM STATEMENT

A- Ideally, an ECCE policy aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals’ framework would enable the education sector to provide better quality early childhood care and education opportunities for all children under the age of 8, in an equitable and inclusive manner, using trained and qualified teachers.

B- Uganda has an ECD policy and education law which focuses on regulation of the provision of Early Childhood Education (ECE). Under this policy, the provision of ECE is in the hands of private providers and NGOs. The effect of this policy and approach has been: limited access to ECE since not all children are given ECE; underage enrolment under UPE; an expensive ECE system; and poor learning outcomes for learners in later stages. In addition, Uganda lags behind her East African region counterparts in ECD delivery (Kenya at 53.5% access, Tanzania at 35.5% access while Uganda had 9.5% access by 2014). Moreover, Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 4) considers ECCE as a key aspect of broadening inclusion for all learners in education. While the National Development Plan (NDP 11) proposes public investment in ECCE, this proposal is in line with the 2016 NIECD Policy and Uganda Vision 2040.

C- Therefore, in order to address the above gaps, there is need to reconsider both the policy and legal stance on the delivery of ECCE. This calls for the review of the 2007 ECD Policy and the Education (Pre-Primary, Primary and Post-Primary) Act of 2008, to provide for standardised quality training and support of ECCE teachers and caregivers, and greatly improved access.

UPDATED OBJECTIVES OBJECTIVES

1. To generate evidence to validate implementation of the current ECD policy.

2. To draft an ECCE policy and operational guidelines.

3. To draft an annualised 10-year costed action plan for the proposed ECCE policy.

4. To develop a Qualifications Framework and Accreditation System for ECD training with a costed implementation plan.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY EXECUTIVE SUMMARY EXECUTIVE EXECUTIVE

The Ugandan Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES) under the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) has contracted Cambridge Education (CE), which is the education arm of Mott MacDonald, to review the Ugandan education sector’s 2007 policy on Early Childhood Development (ECD). During the Inception Phase, it was agreed that the revised/updated Policy would be named an Early Childhood Care and Education Policy i.e. an ECCE Policy. As set out in the Problem Statement, there should ideally be a realistic ECCE policy in place, aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals’ framework, which enables the education sector as a whole to provide better quality early child care and education opportunities for all Ugandan children under the age of 8, in an equitable and inclusive manner, using trained and qualified teachers.

Currently in Uganda there is an education sector ECD policy (2007) which is ineffective because it is not funded; it is not aligned with the changing national and international policy environment; it is being provided predominantly by the private sector; it does not create conditions for full access to quality, equitable and inclusive ECCE services; and it is not usually delivered by qualified and skilled teachers. Therefore, the rationale for creating a costed ECCE Policy is that:

• Government reports that it is already funding nearly 82,000 pre-primary children who are in P1 classes in UPE schools across the country. This is not an efficient use of funds as these children are not experiencing dedicated early childhood education that is appropriate for their cognitive development. International and national research indicates that targeted investment in good quality ECD would provide long term and substantial benefits for Uganda, with cost benefit analyses showing that for every Ugshs 1,000 spent on ECD the country would over time benefit by Ugshs 1,600. This is greater financial benefit than gained from investment in any other phase in the education cycle. At the same time the Ministry of Finance calculates that for every Ugshs 1,000 invested in UPE, Government loses Ugshs 600 because a majority of the children have not accessed pre-primary education prior to entering primary school.

• Uganda has fallen behind other countries in the East African region in ECD delivery - particularly Kenya and Tanzania where respectively 53.5% and 35.5% of children access ECD services, compared to only 9.5% in Uganda in 2014 (ESSAPR, 2013/14). This means that Uganda is not meeting its declared intention to harmonise education provision with other East African countries as a signatory of the Treaty for the Establishment of the East African Community (1999).

• The National Development Plan (NDP 11) 2015/6 -2019/20 promotes public investment in ECCE, this and other developments since the publishing of the education sector ECD Policy in 2007, including the 2008 Education Act, the 2016 NIECD Policy, and Uganda Vision 2040, mean that there is need to update and align the Policy to meet the Ministry of Education and Sports emerging commitments.

• The growth of ECCE provision and development of early childhood practices internationally, supported by the relevant Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 4), necessitates an appropriate policy response from Uganda, as signatory of the SDGs, that allows for broadened inclusive access to ECD services.

• As proven by international research and referenced by the World Bank, there is increasing evidence that children who have experienced ECD when they are under 6 years old, are more likely to succeed later in their work and contribute positively to society and the economy.

These factors underpin the Problem Statement and Project Objectives that are outlined on page 1 above. Furthermore, the activities and methodology proposed in the body of this report are a response to these and to the Terms of Reference (ToR) for the project (see Annex A). This report outlines CE’s technical approach in Section 3, toensure that the draft ECCE Policyis based on evidence drawn from across Uganda (Objective 1), and that stakeholder consensus has been built around the proposed policy interventions. CE’s task is: To provide draft ECCE policy proposals for Government’s consideration that are aligned to the SDGs framework internationally and to the NIECD 2016, the Vision 2040, and the NDP-II nationally. Furthermore, that these proposals are implementable and supported by operational guidelines which are comprehensive and practical (Objective 2). To provide the support of an Economist in costing the models for ECCE service provision and ECCE teacher training, and for enhanced public sector capacity to respond to the proposed policy interventions (Objective 3). Finally, to work with training institutions and quality assurance bodies to develop a Qualification Framework and Accreditation System which allow teachers/caregivers to train in such a way that will create a cadre of effective ECCE practitioners who are able to build a career in the ECD sector (Objective 4). This redrawing of the ECCE policy, standards and training environment is scheduled to take 12 months to achieve. The project will contractually end in March 2018. The individual contractual milestone deliverables that align with the objectives are outlined in Section 4 of this report below – from pages 29 to 31.

Navigating this Inception Report

The report is structured as follows:

• Section 1 provides an introduction and background to the assignment;

• Section 2 summarises the main outputs of the four objectives;

• Section 3 presents the approach that CE intends to adopt to tackle each of the Project Objectives. It contains the in-depth technical response and outlines the key activities;

• Section 4 is a tabular summary of the main contractual project deliverables and reports;

• Section 5 presents the project Roadmap in graphic form;

• Section 6 details the timeline for delivery of the project in a Gantt chart;

• Section 7 details the quality assurance plan to ensure that the project delivers to a high standard and as intended;

• Section 8 concludes with a diagrammatic summary of the MoES project reference committee and working group structures and membership.

SECTION ONE: INTRODUCTION SECTION ONE: INTRODUCTION ONE: INTRODUCTION ONE: INTRODUCTION

Background

Quality ECCE programmes are critical in providing a foundation for school readiness and success in life. To ensure quality service there is not only a need for policies to provide direction but also for resources in terms of finance, materials and human resources. In Uganda establishment of the Education Policy Review Commission (EPRC) in 1987 and its subsequent reports of 1989 were the first milestones for recognising the importance of ECCE for increasing access to education, followed by the Government White Paper in 1992. The two documents strongly recommended, among other things, the attainment of Universal Primary Education (UPE) in Uganda. Pre-primary education is, therefore, given attention since it forms the platform for the sustainability of UPE and lifelong learning.

The aims and objectives of Pre-Primary Education in Uganda, which are laid out in the Government White Paper are to:

a) Develop the child’s capabilities, healthy physical growth, good social habits, moral values, imagination, self-reliance, thinking power, appreciation of cultural backgrounds, customs, language and communication skills in the mother tongue, and,

b) Emphasise the development of a feeling of love and care for other people and Uganda as a whole.

After investing massively in UPE, the government found it fitting that policy stretches to cover ECE which forms the basis for the sustainability of UPE and lifelong learning. The current ECD policy, which was approved and published in 2007 and which has been in existence for ten years, is largely being implemented by the private sector. This policy sought to provide guidance on the provision of holistic ECD services for optimal child development and for the assurance of inclusion and equity. It recognises the public sector’s role in ensuring the fulfilment of children’s rights and the Government’s obligation to provide some measures of control and responsibility for the quality. In 2016, the newly published NIECD Policy (2016) created the framework for relevant sectors to review their services in relation to ECD and to ensure alignment to the aims and objectives of the NIECDP.

It should be noted that the MoES has made significant progress under the 2007 Policy, including the development of:

i. The Learning framework for ECD 3-6 years in 17 languages and caregivers guide;

ii. The Thematic Curriculum for P1 – P3 with teachers’ resource books in 16 languages;

iii. The ECD Caregivers’ Training Framework (2012) and training modules on community child care programmes aimed at ECD instructors;

iv. Guidelines for establishment of ECD centres, along with a Community Mobilisation manual and Centre Management Committee training manual;

v. Early Learning and Development Standards for 36 months and 72 months;

vi. Policy guidelines on capacity building of Early Childhood Development and Education (ECDE) personnel;

vii. Guidelines for support supervision of ECCE.

However, in comparison with other East African countries, Uganda is still lagging behind in its provision

of ECCE services (refer to Annex C for additional information on the East African context). As of 2014, both access and quality were still very low, with enrolment standing at 9.5% implying a 90.5% gap in eligible children accessing ECCE service (EMIS 2014). Access to pre-primary education in the rest of the East African States was better (Kenya 53.5%; Tanzania 35.5% and Rwanda 29%) (EFA Country Review Reports 2015). In Kenya, pre-primary education is free and compulsory; in Tanzania each primary school has a pre-primary classroom; and in Rwanda, the Government is responsible for teacher training as well as curriculum development (EFA Country Review Reports 2015). While each country has its own unique context, for Uganda, a weak policy framework, limited access and low quality constitute the main concerns affecting delivery of pre-primary education. In addition to these concerns, the MoES outlines a series of other factors that are stated in the ToR, as follows:

1. Weak policy – the 2007 ECD Policy for the education sector does not guarantee compulsory preprimary education. To ensure full access issues of culture and economic status need to be addressed through systematic communication and advocacy efforts to market ECCE.

2. Inadequate child’s holistic development as well as coherent services from birth to primary education - integration of care, health, education and nutrition is still lacking. The curriculum and contents is delivered by differently trained personnel. The focus in most cases is on academics.

3. Data on ECCE providers and beneficiary groups is limited. Available data shows many vulnerable children, especially in disadvantaged communities, do not access any form of ECCE, and where they do, it is very poor quality.

4. Inequalities in access to ECCE - Many vulnerable children face barriers that limit access to ECCE including affordability, lack of access points, hours of operation, language of service, and lack of information about services and support for the parents. Leaving service provision to private proprietors tends to compound rather than reduce inequalities as they try to maximise profits.

5. Present programmes are too inflexible. They need to be informed by principles of social inclusion and also include practical and concrete ways to ensure that all children have access to the support, care and education that equips them for life and learning. There is need for a national approach to implementing high quality programmes with the flexibility to encourage local engagement and respond to local circumstances.

6. Collaboration and networking needs to be improved as ECD is a multi-sectoral process that addresses the holistic development of children (health, education, nutrition, hygiene and sanitation, safety and security, etc). This calls for clarity of roles, shared responsibility, and empowering caregivers at the household and facility levels as outlined in the NIECDP.

7. Capacity Building is required with extensive professional, educational and training support for individuals within early childhood services and for the ECCE sub sector as a whole. There is need to thoroughly examine and learn from existing ECCE models, frameworks, and best practices. Capacity and technical guidance is necessary to enhance knowledge of such matters as legal requirements for creation of ECCE centres, curriculum and pedagogy.

8. Funding of ECD as the investment in ECCE remains low. Linked with this is the low quality

particularly in areas where children are from disadvantaged communities socially, economically, remote and rural sections. Increasing and involving government in ECCE funding is needed as the current allocation, at less than 0.1% of the sub sector (Basic Education Department) total, is far from adequate.

These concerns are backed by statistics which indicate that based on the 2014 household population census, 3,827,118 children aged 0-8 years are attending school and pre-school while 3,214,761 are not attending any school or pre-school. Most of these children are between the ages of 3 and 5, as indicated in the table below, which also indicates a lack of data for children below the age of 3 who might be attending some form of ECCE centre.

Distribution of children aged 0-8 years attending school/pre-school

Source: UBOS, 2014 Uganda Household Population Census

The 2016 Statistical Abstract published by UBOS indicates that only a total of 477,123 children were enrolled in pre-schooling in 2015.

Source: UBOS, 2016 A Statistical Abstract

The available data sources regarding the number of children participating in ECCE services are often conflicting and partial and do not provide a full picture of who is gaining access and who is excluded There is also very limited data on the number of children aged 0-3 that are accessing ECD services as data are often not disaggregated by the different age groups within the 0-8 age continuum.

The Education Act 2008 recognises pre-primary education as the first level of education in Uganda. The ECD education sector policy recognises four programmes, namely day care centres, home-based centres, community centres, and nursery schools. However, the majority of these centres (about 80%) are in the hands of the private sector, and out of the financial reach of many Ugandans. There are relatively few children benefiting from institutionalised ECD centres, and those not in centres may remain at homes with their parents, yet the services given to the parents to be able to address the ECCE needs of their children are also minimal. The current ECD policy fails to identify sources of funding for ECD-related activities at scale. In addition, effective implementation of the ECD Policy continues to face challenges

due to lack of adequate data on the provision and use of ECD services, the limited competence of many ECD personnel, inadequate funding, poor quality of infrastructure, inadequate ECD structures, lack of clarity on language barriers, lack of appropriate enforcement mechanisms, and minimal availability of support supervision.

In March 2016, the government of Uganda approved and published a NIECD Policy and a costed action plan. This policy gives overarching guidance to all Ministries and governs the delivery of ECD services in Uganda through a life cycle approach. It indicates that ECD services include prenatal and postnatal care, early infant stimulation and education, parent education, health and nutrition education and care, sanitation, and protection against abuse, exploitation and violence. It cautions on the existing inequities in access to ECD services, particularly for categories of children in difficult circumstances such as street children, orphans, those affected by HIV/AIDS, and children in conflict situations. This policy gives priority to inclusion of the most vulnerable children who especially stand to benefit from quality ECD services otherwise they will continue to lag behind in their development.

To ensure comprehensive and holistic development of children from conception to 8 years, the policy highlights seven policy actions one of which is Early Childhood Care and Education. Through this policy the Government of Uganda commits to ensure that children’s early learning at all the different stages of development is implemented and supported. It calls for increasing access to equitable, quality, integrated, inclusive and developmentally appropriate early learning and stimulation opportunities and programmes for all children below eight years in Uganda.

The NIECD Policy also prescribes that each of the policy actions should take a multi-sectoral approach with contributions and participation of all relevant stakeholders, MoES included. Generally, these stakeholders are expected to:

a) Mainstream ECD issues in their Policies, Plans and Budgets.

b) Review and monitor implementation of appropriate policies and laws in line with the framework.

c) Mobilise and ensure availability of funds to implement their sector-based provisions in the framework.

d) Strengthen partnerships, coordination and monitoring for Effective IECD Services

e) Prepare and share periodical plans and reports as per set guidance.

f) Designate an officer responsible for ECD to support the implementation of the NIECD policy framework.

Specifically, the policy mandates MoES to provide guidelines for establishment and management of nursery schools and other ECD Centres through:

a) Streamlining the licensing, classification and registration of ECD Centres.

b) Streamlining and harmonising the training programmes for caregivers and ensuring certification and accreditation of awards offered.

c) Setting basic requirements and minimum standards for establishing ECD Centres and ECD teacher education institutions.

d) Setting clear policy guidelines for managing the transition from pre-primary to primary education.

In addition, MoES provides policy guidelines on capacity building of Early Childhood Development and Education (ECDE) personnel and the development of guidelines for support supervision, instructional materials and curriculum for ECCE. Based on this background the existing education sector ECD policy will be reviewed to address challenges that hinder quality and equitable access to ECCE, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children.

The purpose of this policy review is to provide guidance for optimal holistic development of healthy and productive children between 0-8 years in Uganda, as an essential resource for national development, as well as enhance partnerships that promote holistic approaches to ECD and effective learning/teaching processes appropriate to that age group. Based on this background, the existing education sector ECD policy will be reviewed to address challenges that hinder quality and equitable access to ECCE, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children.

The Rationale for Investing in Early Childhood Education

ECD is internationally defined as the provision of health and nutrition, cognitive stimulation, care, safety and protection, and education from conception to eight years of age. Holistic ECD services are increasingly being recognised as a key strategy for the realisation of children’s rights and poverty reduction (refer to Annex C for a more detailed overview of national and international literature and models of delivery). The rationale for investment and engagement in ECD by governments, service providers and parents is underpinned by three pillars:

I. a rights-based approach that asserts every child has a right to adequate care and education;

II. a scientific approach that highlights evidence for the plasticity of the brain in the early years, the importance of the neural connections made, and the long-lasting consequences of damage or neglect in this period; and

III. an economic approach that robustly proves the cost-effectiveness of investment in early years of a child’s life. Where this investment is not made early on in the life of disabled and children from poorer and more marginalised communities (and according to the Lancet, these are the least likely children to access ECD1) the initial disadvantages such children face are compounded and increase the long-term economic challenges they meet in later life with consequences for their ability to contribute positively to society and the economy.2 Therefore, the earlier in a child’s life that an ECD- related intervention is initiated, the greater the return. Investment in high quality ECD provision has been linked to reduced inequality, higher wages, and ultimately, increased economic growth (see diagram of the ‘Heckman Curve’ below).3

1 The Lancet’s Early Childhood Development Series, (2016) The Lancet, Vol. 389, No. 10064

2 World Bank (2015). Early Childhood Development: Context. [Available from: http://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/earlychildhooddevelopment/overview#1]

3 Heckman, J. (2012). Invest in early childhood development: Reduce deficits, strengthen the economy. [Available from: http://heckmanequation.org/content/resource/invest-early-childhood-development-reduce-deficits-strengthen- economy]

These strategies are reflected through new global commitments, articulated through the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (2015), many of which are strongly linked to this life stage. Specifically, SDG 4.2 aims to ensure that:

‘By 2030 all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood development, care and pre-primary education so that they are ready for primary education.’

The risk of children not attaining their developmental potential and opportunity during this sensitive period is also the focus of a recent Lancet series on Early Childhood Development.4

Recent research reaffirms the significance of early development for future health, behaviour and learning. The brain develops most rapidly in the first few years of a child’s life.5 Accumulated adversity from the prenatal period and throughout early life can disrupt brain development, attachment, and early learning: with delays widening over time. Poor health and nutrition, inadequate care and stimulation, and a stressful environment can lead to a trajectory of poor health and schooling outcomes and so perpetuate the poverty cycle.6 According to Uganda’s 2015 National Planning Authority report, 80% of the population cannot afford the fees charged for pre-primary education which limits access.7 Devoting more resources, especially to the most disadvantaged children, should be the priority in a broader national early childhood care and education policy.

4 Black, M., Walker, S.P, Fernald, L. Andersen, DiGirolamo, C. Lu, C. et al (2016) Advancing Early Childhood Development: from Science to Scale 1 Early childhood development coming of age: science through the life course. The Lancet October 4, 2016 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(16)31389-7

5 Shonkoff JP, & Richter L. The powerful reach of early childhood development: a science-based foundation for sound investment. In: Britto PR, Engle PL, Super CS, eds. Handbook of early childhood development research and its impact on global policy. New York: Oxford University Press, 2013: 1–23.

6 De Haan M, & Gunnar MR, eds. (2009). Handbook of developmental social neuroscience. New York: Guilford Press 7 National Planning Authority, (2015). Program based budgeting for ECD in Uganda.

ECCE and Uganda: A Situation Analysis

The Ugandan Government has embraced this rationale for investment in early childhood services for well over two decades. The Uganda Education Sector ECD Policy (2007) recognises pre-primary as the first level of education in Uganda under the four programmes; day care centres, home-based centres, community based centres and nursery schools. The Education Act (2008), while setting ECCE as the first level in the education system, reinforced the ECD Policy’s determination that the management of preprimary education should be a responsibility of the private sector, which in turn limits access to preprimary services especially to the most vulnerable families.8

The distribution of ECCE centres in Uganda reflects the impact of the decision to have ECCE provision driven by private sector investment. The distribution of services reflects income levels and shows regional variations. Ejuu argues that the gaps in provision between urban and rural and between richer and poorer districts is growing.9 Areas whose populations earn a high income tend to attract ECD proprietors with an assumption that the parents and guardians will afford the fees. This pattern of ECD centres appears to have eliminated the majority of rural children from benefiting from access to preschool. A regional analysis of distribution of ECD centres shows that the central region had the greatest concentration of ECD centres totalling 2,858 (39% of the nationally identified ECCE facilities), followed by the eastern region with a total of 1,640 centres (22%). The western region followed with 1,098 centres (15%), while one of the poorest region, the northern region, ranks fourth with a total of 831 centres (11%). The south western region had a total of 751 centres (10%) while the north eastern region with the smallest geographical area and high levels of poverty had the least number of centres totalling only 190 (3%). The central region appears to have the highest share of ECD centres due to the fact that the region has the highest number of urban centres and income generating activities.10

A study11 in 2000 found a need to support ECD proprietors in infrastructure development as a prerequisite to boosting the quality of ECD structures in Uganda. The quality of learning in most of the pre-schools assessed indicated many shortfalls. This was compounded by poor learning environments, poor hygiene, poor infrastructure, unqualified teachers and low quality playing kits as a result of inadequate resources. The majority of the centres did not meet the minimum quality standards. Ejuu argues that ECD in Uganda requires both public and private investment and also stronger partnerships.12

The majority of proprietors of ECCE centres in Uganda lack adequate financial support to put up permanent and habitable structures, especially in rural areas. Parents struggle to put up structures which are of adequate quality and do not leak during the rainy seasons. In addition, there is an acute shortage of qualified teachers and caregivers in most of the ECD centres. The staffing gap has been bridged by

8 Ministry of Education and Sports, (2008). Uganda Education Act. GoU: Kampala.

9 Ejuu, G. (2012a). The Status of Implementation of the Education Sector Early Childhood Development Policy in Uganda. UNESCO: Kampala.

10 Kyasanku P. C, (2015). The State of Early Childhood Development and Education in Uganda. Unpublished, Makerere University

11 Gallagher, J & Clifford, R. (2000). Article published in Early Childhood Research & Practice. Frank Porter Graham Child Development Centre

12 Ejuu, G. (2012b). ‘Determinants of Public Investment in Early Childhood Development within the Education Section at National and Local Levels in Uganda’. Accessed at http://ir-library.ku.ac.ke/123456789/3589.

primary seven and senior four leavers who seek jobs in ECCE centres having failed to continue with their education. While present regulations expect that a kindergarten teacher should train for two years, after scoring at least 6 passes at ‘O’ level, many ECD centres are staffed with untrained teachers and caregivers.

SECTION TWO: A SUMMARY OF THE OUTPUTS OF THE OBJECTIVES

SECTION TWO: A SUMMARY OF THE OUTPUTS OF THE OBJECTIVES TWO: A SUMMARY THE OF OBJECTIVES TWO: A SUMMARY THE OF OBJECTIVES

Cambridge Education was contracted by the Government of Uganda to review the existing 2007 ECD policy (including the existing different models of delivery). This work will support MoES to develop cost effective modalities for Government intervention into the provision of ECCE services and their equitable expansion, in line with the policy environment (NDPII, Vision 2040, NIECD). A proposed revised education sector Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Policy with associated guidelines and costings will be developed.

Specific Objectives, as highlighted on Page 1 of this Report, are:

1. To generate evidence to validate implementation of the current ECD policy.

2. To draft an ECCE policy and operational guidelines.

3. To draft an annualised 10-year costed action plan for the proposed ECCE policy.

4. To develop a Qualifications Framework and Accreditation System for ECD training with a costed implementation plan.

These objectives will result in:

The Early Childhood Care and Education Policy

Early childhood in this context refers to the first eight years of life. This period is extremely crucial as the rate of development of children is very rapid and the foundations are laid for cumulative lifelong learning and human development. ECCE is a foundation for lifelong learning and development, and has significant impact on success as children transition into primary education. It therefore becomes necessary to pay attention to ECCE and to invest in it adequately.

There is also increasing focus on ECCE as a means for improving the efficiency of primary schooling, by improving school readiness. There is a close statistical link between low levels of pre-primary participation, inefficiencies in early primary grades and poor cognitive skills. Underage admissions in already overcrowded and poorly resourced primary schools lead to low achievement, grade repetition and systemic inefficiencies. The introduction of play-based learning pre-primary classes can increase children’s readiness to learn, reduce pressure on early grade Teachers and improve children’s chances of progressing through the school curriculum. 13 Research conducted in Uganda in 2013 highlighted many of these challenges and indicated a return of 60% in terms of investment in pre-primary education on future income, productivity and health.14

The ECCE policy will clarify the MoES’s policy position and a mechanism for fulfilment of its roles and responsibilities. It will provide an action plan to ensure access to quality education services for children

13 Crouch, L. (in press 2017) Stumbling at the first step: efficiency implications of poor performance in the foundational first five years. Cited in M Woodhead, J. Rossiter, A Dawes & A Pankhurst (2017). Scaling-up early learning in Ethiopia: exploring the potential of 0-Class. Young Lives.

14 Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development (2016). Quality pre-primary education in Uganda. How can universal access be achieved? Budget Monitoring and Accountability Unit Briefing Paper 7/16.

from conception to eight years of age, and it will drive continuous improvement of services. The revision of the education sector ECD policy also aims to ensure reference to the 2016 NIECD policy. Therefore, the updated ECCE policy will provide a comprehensive approach towards ensuring a sound foundation for early learning for every Ugandan child. The Policy will provide programmes and provisions for children from birth to eight years of age, catering for all domains of development i.e. cognitive development, knowledge, skills, and understanding, language, communication and literacy, social and emotional development, and approaches to learning. It will cover early learning and care priorities for each age bracket within the continuum, i.e. care, early stimulation for children birth to 3 years, developmentally appropriate early learning for children of 3 to 6 years, and lower primary education for children of 6 to 8 years, with components of school readiness and transition for 5 and 6 year old children. The policy will support application of a variety of ECCE programme and related services in public and private settings countrywide by endorsing different categories of service provision such as day care centres, play groups, nursery schools, community-based centres, and home-based care.

The Operational Guidelines and Standards

Generalised recommended operational guidelines will be developed and provided to the MoES to guide in the implementation of the ECCE Policy and offer benchmark parameters and step-by-step guidance on how to review the existing Ugandan operational standards or to take the decision to develop new ones. The general operational standards generated will also provide direction on how the existing operational standards can be aligned to the new ECCE policy. The actual content and revision process of the operational standards will be agreed upon through a consultative process led by the MoES and the Technical Reference Committee.

The Ten Year Costed Action Plan

A costed annualised implementation strategy will be developed. This will be a ten-year actionable roadmap that will help the MoES to achieve the policy goals that will enable many Ugandan children to attain the desired milestones for ECCE. This plan will be a critical tool that will guide and direct programmes to meet the growing demand for ECCE. It will provide systematic implementation strategies and budget for all thematic areas of the ECCE policy; demand creation; service delivery and access. This in turn will enable MoES to prioritise ECCE interventions, make strategic resource allocation decisions, mobilise resources, and monitor progress of their interventions.

A proposed ECCE Qualification Framework and Accreditation System

The emergent Qualification Framework and Accreditation System will ensure that there are a costeffective, realistic and implementable set of qualifications for those working in ECCE, which are attractive and attainable, while ensuring that after qualifying they will be competent practitioners, recognised within the sector for their level of competency, and have access to progression routes and career paths required for a workforce to deliver age appropriate packages of ECCE services.

Nomenclature and Scope

Before describing CE’s approach to delivering the project objectives in Section 3 below, a note on

nomenclature is required. Throughout this Inception Report, CE uses the term Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE), in line with the proposed name of the revised policy. However, where ‘ECD’, ‘ECDE’ or ‘ECE’ are used in official literature or where the intention is to refer to the broader early childhood sector then the appropriate acronym is adopted. The decision to use the acronym ‘ECCE’ was determined both by the use of this term in the Project ToR (Annex A), and also as a result of the inception period discussions, where the MoES and other partners clarified that the policy must address the needs of children from conception to the age of 8. As a result of this determination a broader focus on care and education is more appropriate than a restricted focus on education alone (i.e. encompassing ECCE, not just ECE). While the policy recommendations will talk to the role of other government ministries, for instance in relation to the role of pre-schools in creating space for health and other services, also developing upon the cross-cutting responsibilities that the education sector has in relation to other government ministries as detailed in the NIECD Action Plan for Uganda (2016 - 2021), it is not the intention of this process to provide policy and standards in relation to early childhood health, social development, etc. These are clearly the responsibilities of the other relevant line Ministries.

SECTION SECTION THREE: APPROACH AND METHODOLOGY THREE: APPROACH AND METHODOLOGY THREE: APPROACH AND THREE: APPROACH AND

Cambridge Education (CE) will share knowledge freely with counterparts, co-construct workshops and meetings, consult stakeholders at all levels, share tasks as appropriate while managing their overall coordination, and acknowledge the contribution of others. A key element of this participation will be the involvement and guidance of the Technical Reference Committee (TRC) that has been appointed by the MoES, and also the other Working Groups that have been established by the MoES for purposes of increasingly senior checking and approval. These Committees together represent an important set of diverse stakeholders and perspectives that can help to influence the activities of the consultancy team.

The project will seek to learn and build on existing ECCE evidence and data including recent evaluations of government, CSO partner and private supported initiatives, including for example the GPE-funded CCCP training evaluation, the DFID-funded ARK project, the rollout of NIECD actions and the National ECD provider’s inventory. Deliberate efforts will be made to identify, link and collaborate with ongoing ECCE initiatives such as the research undertaken by GeoGecko and any others as recommended by the MoES.

See the diagram below for an overview of the guiding principles that underpin CE’s approach:

Objective 1: To generate evidence to validate implementation of the current ECD policy

Activity 1: Develop an information and knowledge base on ECCE

Activity 1.1 Desktop research: The desktop research will start during the inception process and will inform a limited literature review that focuses on the rationale for investment in ECD, supported by international and regional experience of ECD provision, and models of ECCE delivery. The Ugandan context will be highlighted with an overview of ECD programmes being conducted in Uganda. The desktop research will also inform the approach that the Project team takes to the survey and mapping exercise described below under Activities 1.2 and 1.3. Furthermore, during the immediate post-inception period this foundation of knowledge will be expanded as new information arises and the Consultancy Team expands their review.

Activity 1.2 Conduct a national study of delivery of ECCE services to provide analysis of existing ECCE models and practices, and develop case study monographs of effective models of ECCE delivery. The study will profile existing ECCE programme models for children up to the age of 8, according to type15, provisions and geographical location Furthermore, the survey will provide information on cost, provider, and delivery mode16 with the aim of assessing the relevance, effectiveness, sustainability and efficiency of these models of delivery. The study will involve a survey of a range of ECCE centres supported and triangulated with interviews and observations. Using a mixed methods approach we will create a picture for the MoES of:

i. the current status of ECCE in 30 communities in 10 districts across Uganda;

ii. processes and practices in up to 180 modes of ECCE centres;

iii. skills, abilities and qualifications present among caregivers;

iv. nature and capacity of key training and support institutions;

v. networks and associations available;

vi. compliance with government requirements; and

vii. challenges that the ECCE centres face.

The selected districts, which represent a cross-section of Ugandan districts, have been selected purposively. The process of selecting the 10 districts was conducted based on the following:

• •• • All districts included in the Uganda National Early Childhood Development Service Provider Inventory (2016) were stratified by region (based on the traditional four regions) and then by intensity of ECCE service provision extrapolated from the data (including districts with high, medium and low intensity of provision).

• •• • To ensure that these districts were broadly representative of the country, they were then checked and the list modified based on providing a cross-section of wealth, including urban and rural districts, intensity of interventions and educational performance.

•• • The variables that were used are listed below in the table.

•

15 Types would include: Public referring to Government-run UPE schools with income-generating ECCE classes attached; Not-for-Profit provision by NGOs, FBOs and CBOs; Private referring to for-profit provision by individuals and companies; Community and Informal referring to voluntary contributions within the community, including positive parenting initiatives

16 The delivery modes refer to day care centres; home based centres; community based centres; nursery schools or kindergartens; and lower primary classes

Criteria used to determine the district sample:

No. Criteria

1. In each region,

• A district with high numbers of ECCE services

• A district with few ECCE services

2. GPE/QEI/MoES priority districts and other CSO supported districts

3. Districts with minority populations such as refugees, pastoralist and fishing community

4. Rural vs urban districts

5. National examination results in Primary Leaving Exam (PLE) and National Assessment of Progress in Education (NAPE)

The final proposed list of Districts to be targeted is:

Reasoning

To understand the drivers and barriers to access and quality ECCE services. Regional differences are known to be important determinants of access to ECCE17

Draw lessons from ongoing interventions in terms of what is working and not working such as GPE CCCP interventions, so as to inform ECCE models

Document and consider unique needs specific to these subpopulations

Document contextual enablers, inhibitors and resources that impact ECCE provision

Document high performing and less well performing to help understand the relationship between ECCE and later performance

The national study will provide rich verifiable data on present ECCE delivery modes and types. This ‘deepdive’ approach will inform the revised policy, the operational standards and implementation guidelines, and the Qualifications Framework and Accreditation System, and will also enable the Project team to calculate costings for the various models of ECCE service delivery. To that end, we will implement the following process (refer also to Annex C for a more detailed discussion of the proposed methodology):

Step 1: We will draw a purposive sample of ten districts with two from each of the (traditional four) regions of Uganda - Central Region (including one with island communities), Western Region, Eastern Region, and Northern Region (of which one will be in Western Nile and will include provision for refugee communities), along with 2 extra districts (Kampala and one from among the Karamoja districts).

Step 2: During district visits, and with the assistance of the District Education Officer (DEO) and local leaders, the Research Team will identify and stratify the ECCE service providers according to rural

17 See Education Statistical Abstract 2011 for regionally varied spread of ECD sites.

settings and urban settings. Care will be taken to include those privately-owned sites which appear to have been missed in previous surveys.

Step 3: Finally, the modes of service delivery will be stratified according to those outlined in the Policy. These are:

i) day care centres for children aged 0 - 3

ii) home-based centres for children aged 0 - 3 and 3 - 6

iii) community-based centres for children aged 3 - 6

iv) nursery schools/kindergartens for children aged 3 - 6

v) lower primary classes for children aged 6 - 8

In addition, we will include:

vi) Other initiatives (which do not fall into modes i - v)

Step 4: In each district three sub-counties will be identified and within them the researcher will identify up to five ECCE sites representing each of the modes of service delivery. If the researcher identifies any centre/site which does not fit into the five modes, this will be added. Each of the selected sites will be visited by a researcher. Data will be collected over the course of a full day, including structured observations of the site, a questionnaire for the head of the ECCE centre, and separate focus group interviews with site Management Committee members, teachers/caregivers and parents. The researcher will also observe between 30 and 45 minutes of the learning process in a live session and assess the quality of the learning process using a carefully calibrated set of variables in an observation tool. The questionnaire and site observation data will be coded and entered onto Android Samsung Tablets that each researcher will carry, with individual password-protected access. The interview scripts will be analysed using analytical induction. Analytic induction is a research strategy aimed at systematically developing causal explanations for types of phenomena. Meanwhile, the learning process observations will be analysed by the early learning specialists in the team using an analytical framework that they will develop for the purpose based on the MoES’s Early Learning Standards, local conditions and international experience. Collectively, these data will be triangulated and supplemented with data from interviews with sub-county and district officials and NGO/CBO providers.

Step 5: The data will be analysed to understand the key variables and those variables will be cross tabulated to better understand the effectiveness and efficiencies of the various modes of delivery. In addition, these data will be compared with data that the MoES collects at district and national levels to better understand the strengths and weaknesses of existing data collection processes and to draw out the gaps in these processes. Overall a maximum of 18 sites will be profiled in each district, making a total of 180 profiles, with 30 profiles of each mode of service delivery. The 30 profiles will then be analysed using correlational statistical tests to isolate and relate key variables. From this analysed data, a set of case study monographs will be developed describing a limited number of models of delivery. The focus in these monographs will be on, inter alia, how well the models care for and stimulate children, the staffing approach used, the infrastructure provided, and whether each one offers value for money. This analysis and measurement of how variables correlate and function in existing modes of service delivery will help determine the most effective modes for use in the national scale up of ECCE programmes. We will also use the survey results to produce 5 costed cases (or 6 should other initiatives, which do not fit within existing modes be found); one for each mode of delivery, as well as unit cost per child.

Activity 1.3 Identify Gaps in Present ECD/ECCE Data: During and immediately after the inception period the CE Consultancy Team will collect any existing databases of ECD/ECCE service delivery, including on service delivery sites and organisations. This data will be examined for depth and breadth. While it will not be possible for this project to produce a comprehensive picture of ECCE delivery nationally throughout Uganda,

nonetheless by providing data from a number of selected sites in each region across the country, the project will provide a more complete picture of the state of delivery of ECCE than is presently available. It will also allow us to identify where MoES information and data gaps exist and advise the MoES on how to fill these data gaps. While there is some data available on ECCE sites – see UNICEF’s Uganda National Early Childhood Development Service Provider Inventory (June 2016) and the recent FSD survey of over 10,000 state primary schools which report that they offer ECD classes – it is incomplete and does not tackle the burgeoning private sector and informal provision of ECCE both in urban and rural areas.18

Activity 1.4 Use of the baseline data: The data collected and analysed during the research process will be used to inform the various outputs required from this project. These data, and what they tell us about the state of ECCE in Uganda, will be presented to regional and national workshops in September 2017 for endorsement and critical review by relevant district and national officials. The mapping exercise will also allow CE to advise the MoES on the state and accuracy of its present data on ECCE and how gaps that have been identified could be filled.

Activity 2: Ensure all recommendations have been verified and endorsed through broad consultation

Activity 2.1 National Consultation: At the various stages of the project the Project team and the TRC will make sure that key national stakeholders are kept informed of the thinking behind the approach being taken at every stage of the project, and of the emerging proposals and recommendations for the Policy. In particular, there will be presentations at two national consultation workshops held in Kampala at strategic moments in the project – after the survey findings and report on existing models are available for feedback, and then again towards the end of the Project when draft Policy recommendations are available. The Workshops will invite national stakeholders and service providers. At the same time throughout the project a hierarchy of committees established by the MoES – namely the TRC, the ECD Working Group (ECD-WG), the M&E Working Group (M&E-WG), the Education Sector Coordination Committee, the Sector Policy Working Group, and the Top Management Committee - will inform and monitor the development of the Policy and supporting documents. These two processes for consultation and gaining feedback are critical to ensuring that the resultant Policy and operational guidelines are practical and in line with government requirements.

Activity 2.2 Regional Consultation: At a critical stage in the development of thinking on the ECCE models, when the results of the survey and the report on existing models are available, there will be a series of ten regional workshops across the country, culminating in one of the National Workshops highlighted above, where feedback from the regions will be presented. Officials from every district in the country will be invited to attend one of these workshops, along with parent representatives, NGO, CBO and FBO practitioners and experts, as well as refugee leaders and other stakeholders. At the workshops the realities of implementing the proposed models will be debated, and local ECCE service providers will be invited to comment on their experiences. These regional consultations, as with the national ones, will be documented by CE. The recommendations emanating from them will be used to make inform the Policy and other outputs from the project and to make sure that these documents contain standards and implementation strategies which are feasible and relevant to the needs of Uganda.

18 Prew, M (2015a) Review of the Provision of Basic Education and Early Childhood Care and Education in Uganda, with special reference to Mityana District. Jacobs Foundation, Zurich

Activity 2.3 Use of Evidence from the Consultations: Once the evidence has been collected from these engagements, the CE team will work on proposing revisions and additions to the 2007 ECD Policy as well as using the data to inform the four target Operational Standards and the QF & AS. The data on costs, which will be collected while in the field, will be used to start developing costing models for the various modes of ECCE delivery.

Objective 2: To draft an ECCE policy and operational guidelines

Activity 3: Develop a proposed revised education sector ECD Policy19 with operational standards and implementation guidelines

Activity 3.1 Inform the ECCE Policy: The proposed ECCE policy will be a revision of the MoES’s ECD Policy of 2007. The 2007 Policy was due for a ten-year review. The revised Policy must reflect developments in the field of ECD over the intervening period and the publishing of the NIECD Policy in 2016. The Policy that is developed will be a sectoral policy that underpins and aligns with the Government of Uganda’s NIECD Policy. The exact nature of the revisions will be informed by the research and consultation processes described in Activity 1 and 2 above.

Activity 3.2 Write the revised ECCE Policy: The Project team will collate the information and data collected during Activities 1 and 2 above, as well as the costs projections of the different ECCE choices available, and use these materials to propose the contents of the revised ECCE Policy. The aim will be to develop a policy document which is practical and implementable within the context of Uganda, meaning that choices will be made with the TRC about what targets are realistic to ensure prioritisation and real improvements. The policy and the supporting documents detailed in 3.3 will be thoroughly critiqued through the inclusive consultation processes described and will undergo various iterations, until they are deemed fit for purpose.

Refer to Figure 3, below, which presents a visual representation of the steps outlined above.

19 The Technical Reference Committee agreed on 7 April 2017 that the new and updated Policy would be called the ECCE Policy

Figure 3: Process for Review and Revision of the Policy

Activity 3.3 Development of supporting documents: The Project team will make sure that the proposed MoES ECCE Policy is realistic and implementable by guiding the review of the operational standards. A guidance paper will be developed and submitted on how to review and develop the following documents:

i. Revision of the Operational Standards, particularly (a) the Learning Framework with specific reference to learning areas 4 and 5; (b) the guidelines for establishing ECCE centres and training institutions; and (c) the centre management committee manual to incorporate other stakeholders e.g. parenting guide. These must align with the 2016 NIECD Policy and Action Plan and reflect good practice identified in the research for this project. This will also involve consultation and coordination with MoES units and particularly NCDC.

ii. Proposals on optimal Operational Standards based on international practice for consideration by relevant MoES units and departments as the basis for changes to existing operational standards

iii. Production of implementation guidelines, which will explain how the policy and the operational standards can be implemented at local, district and national levels.

Activity 3.4 Cost the implementation of the proposed Policy and standards over a 10-year implementation period: To feed into Activity 4 (below) and Objective 3, the Project team is tasked with producing costed options for implementation. The Economist on the team will contribute to the survey implementation by guiding the requirement for gathering unit costs (refer to Annex E on requirements for data), and will then undertake a process of consultation with the MoES to determine what the avenues for financing are and where this leads interms of feasible implementation options. This will result in a 10-year costing for the rollout of the ECCE Policy by MoES, including at district level. This is key to ensuring that the proposals in the Policy are prioritised, implementable, time bound and costed.

Objective 3: To draft an annualised 10-year costed action plan for the proposed ECCE policy

Activity 4: Provide proposed costed models of ECCE delivery models and training ECCE practitioners

The Economist will use the data related to the implementation of the ECCE Policy, identified ECCE delivery models and the QF & AS to produce costed options for delivery and training. With the data collected from the research phase there will be a process of consultation with the MoES to determine the avenues for financing and, therefore, what the feasible implementation options could be.

The experience of the Economist in the costing of proposed innovations in the education sector is that costs based on existing similar initiatives cannot be relied upon as a basis for costing a national rollout. This is due to the following:

• Innovations are often introduced by individuals or communities who have great enthusiasm for the action. As a result, these early initiatives often benefit from contributions of time (for example, parents supporting activities in the classroom) or in kind and goods (for example, books contributed by members of the local community) which improve the quality of provision. In some cases, the innovation would not happen at all without these contributions. However, such essential contributions are unlikely to be available to all in a national roll-out and any costing based on the unit costs of early adopters is likely to be an underestimate of true

costs.

• Funding may come from a variety of sources – public, private and voluntary sector – each requiring different methods of accounting. In addition, some support may be given in kind; for example, an international NGO may fund some of the teachers and employ them directly.

• Unless existing provision has very clear financial recording and access to financial information from its partners, it is often very difficult to amalgamate these sources into a single per unit cost.

• Some innovations occur within an existing institution such as a school. Experience dictates that it is often very difficult to isolate the separate cost.

Therefore, it is proposed that costing should be based on the resources (managers, caregivers, administrators, equipment, premises) that are necessary to deliver a particular model of implementation. Given the amounts required of each resource, the Project team can then apply appropriate prices (which may differ by region) to obtain a total cost. While such an approach to costing requires the construction of a detailed set of spreadsheets, it has the advantage that the financing impact of any proposed change in delivery can be easily inspected. At the point that spreadsheets are well developed, a workshop with the MoES will be held to review their usefulness as a financial planning tool.

In order to achieve this output, the Economist will undertake the following steps:

1. Contribute and oversee the data collection exercise

The proposed methodology requires a considerable amount of data. In order to ensure the effective use of the data collection instruments by the researchers, the economist will work with researchers to guarantee the successful roll-out of the survey. The Economist will also meet with the MoES, the Technical Reference Committee, the Uganda Bureau of Statistics, and any other relevant stakeholders able to shed light on current financing models and mechanisms in the ECCE sector.

2. Analysing the survey data and developing the basis for financial planning

When the proposed strategic policy actions and action plan have become clear, the Economist will work with members of the Project team and the MoES to:

• •• • develop a clear understanding of the resources that will be required to deliver the action plan;

• •• • draft the spreadsheets required to develop the annualised financing plan;

•

•• • undertake the preliminary population of the spreadsheets for discussion.

3. Completion of costed ECCE models and training options aligned with financial planning tools

Finally the Economist will review the financial planning spreadsheets and costed options for ECCE services and training with the MoES and other key stakeholders. The feedback from this consultation will inform the final costing report.

As an extension of the development of the QF & AS, the CE team will also propose costed training models. These will be based on data which will be collected during the survey. Specifically, for this objective we will be collecting data on existing opportunities and challenges in pre-primary teacher training for the ECCE sector in Uganda offered by universities, teacher training colleges and other providers. This will include working alongside technical experts from the MoES and NCHE, in partnership with local universities and teacher training colleges. Overall, we will approach this part of the task with the aim of promoting effective and sustainable approaches for quality improvement.

The proposed training models need to be cost-effective, flexible and practical so that candidates can be trained in public or private teacher training colleges and universities or by registered and certified private

providers with the requisite infrastructure and skills. As with the policy and QF & AS recommendations, the proposed training models will be subjected to scrutiny to ensure that they are relevant to Uganda, and costed to ensure that they would be affordable in the medium term.

Objective 4: To develop a Qualifications Framework and Accreditation System for ECD training with a costed implementation plan

Activity 5: Develop a Costed ECCE Qualifications Framework and Accreditation System (QF & AS)

Activity 5.1 Gather data: As with the revision of the policy, it is critical that the QF & AS is informed by (i) realities on the ground; (ii) the capacity of the Ugandan Government, and training centres and other providers; and (iii) international best practice. To make sure that the QF & AS and proposed training models are adequately informed, considerable qualitative research will be required to generate data that underpins these three considerations, as well as the potential costs of implementing the proposed QF & AS. These data will be collected during the first few months of the project, alongside the research to inform the policy, from the survey and specific data gathering processes in teacher training colleges (including MoES programmes such as CCCP), the key universities (Kyambogo, Makerere, Ndejje, Nkumba and UCU), and with private providers who are involved in training caregivers and ECD facilitators including the YMCA, and the Aga Khan Foundation.

The data gathering process will involve defining, through consensus building on the requirements, the aims and objectives for a national QF & AS for the ECCE sector in Uganda. This will aim to unify views on the assumptions embraced in the 2016 NIECD Policy, which indicates that a well-trained and appropriately qualified workforce is pivotal for improving the quality of ECCE services in Uganda. At this stage the balance between practice-based and theoretical qualifications will be debated, at the same time as building understanding of what qualification frameworks and competency-based approaches are.

Activity 5.2 Develop the QF & AS: This objective will be achieved by working alongside key stakeholders on a five-step participatory process (see Figure 4, below). The team of local and international ECD specialists have considerable experience of developing such frameworks for ECD and other education levels, in a number of developing countries. The emergent QF & AS will be workshopped with key stakeholders to ensure that they are in line with government requirements and capacity. The main aim will be to ensure that the resultant QF & AS are cost-effective, realistic and implementable within the Ugandan context and, as a result, offer a set of qualifications for those working in ECCE, which are attractive and attainable, while ensuring that after qualifying they will be competent practitioners and have access to progression routes and career paths required for a workforce to deliver age appropriate packages of ECCE services. Refer to Figure 4 below for an overview of the steps outlined above.

Figure 4: The Steps Required to Achieve the Development of the QF & AS

Activity 6: Enable the MoES to use the QF & AS to manage, audit and review the Policy and ECCE training standards

It is essential that the MoES is in a position to continue its oversight and quality assurance role in relation to ECCE in order to advance equitable access to quality delivery. The QF & AS will provide the framework within which the MoES can monitor and quality assure the implementation of the revised policy. It will also allow the MoES, in support of its university and training organisation and institutional partners, to ensure that pre-primary teachers and practitioners across Uganda, and particularly in the most disadvantaged areas of Uganda, are appropriately qualified and supported. The team will propose strategies for enhancing the provision of pre-service and in–service training through professional development. This in turn aims to attract quality intake to join ECCE training and the ongoing development of career paths. CE will also provide information sharing sessions with MoES officials and relevant practitioner trainers from universities, primary teacher colleges, as well as from private providers of ECCE practitioner training where the revised Policy, along with the standards and guidelines, and the QF & AS, are unpacked, and ways of using the QF & AS to manage and review the Policy and training standards will be agreed upon.

SECTION FOUR: PROJECT FOUR: PROJECT DELIVERABLES DELIVERABLES

Our overarching assumptions in undertaking this assignment are that:

- All parents want their children to attend an ECCE facility

- Private and public providers respond positively to the revised policy and develop appropriate ECCE facilities in each community

- Stakeholders are willing to be involved during the whole project cycle

- All documents are made available

- Revised policy will work to increase equity and access

- Revised policy will provide clarity on the roles and responsibilities of the MoES within the broader integrated plan and improve the environment for efficiency of service delivery

Figure 5: A Summary of the Project’s main Deliverables No. REPORT/DOCUMENT TITLE

1 Inception Report

The report shall outline the Consultant’s understanding of the assignment, the roadmap and detailed work plan to achieve the specific objectives, strategy, methodology, a quality assurance plan and timetable for the services. It will also provide a draft baseline survey plan detailing the baseline tools, approaches and methodology to conduct the baseline with geographical location / sample size, stakeholders and models to be assessed.

The final inception report shall incorporate comments that have been received by the consultant.

Alignment with Objectives and Tasks from the MoES

Assumptions and Risks

Assumptions:

2 Report on the existing ECE models and implementation status of the ECD policy provisions

The report is expected to cover the following:

a)ECCE Policy Review: Baseline information with details on the mapped ECCE Models and practices showing type, provisions; geographical locations, services provided, mode of service delivery, costs, service providers, and i) the current status of ECE; ii) processes and practices; iii) skills, abilities and qualification present; iv) capacity building institutions; v) networks and associations available vi) compliance with government requirements and vii) challenges. Emphasis will need to be put on: Materials and Resources that include: Classroom; Outdoor play space; Learning materials; Records. Human Resources that include: Caregiver’s salary; Supervision; Refresher training; Initial training and Community mobilisation.

b)Detailed information on National and Regional Consultative meetings with documented reviews/ related literature on ECCE policy implementation, categories of stakeholders consulted and documents reviewed. Information on the implementation status of ECCE policy provisions and the operational guidelines detailing the status and levels of implementation of the policy provisions at national, district and community levels with highlights on the relevance, effectiveness, sustainability and efficiency of the available systems. The information gathered and written should be organized in such a manner that enables the ministry to understand: what has worked and what has not worked in terms of resources, structures and systems, capacities etc. and the role of the civil society and non-government actors on the effectiveness of the support systems for the Government.

Planning for Objective 1

• Inception Report will be approved as per workplan timeframe

Risks:

• Approval of Inception Report delayed and affects implementation of activities

Assumptions:

Objective 1

Task I

Task II

Task III

Section 4, page 5-6 of ToR

• Agreement can be reached on the feasible models

• Survey produces adequate evidence to cost the existing ECCE services provided

Risks:

• Lack of agreement will make the costing exercise problematic

• Lack of evidence or greatly differentiated evidence

3 Report on the review process of the existing policy, operational standards, and ECCE qualification and accreditation frameworks

The report should provide findings highlighting their overall independent assessment about the implementation of the ECCE policy for the past years i.e. 2007 to 2014. The firm will bring to the attention of the stakeholders and ECCE service providers, whether the purpose and goal of the existing policy is being met; what changes are needed to improve the effectiveness and access; whether policy aligns with the best practices in early childhood care and education and the policy implementation process has been effective and make indicate their independent judgement.

A description of the validation process and information on the validated content with overall ECCE policy implementation finds for past the years (2007 – 2015)

This report will include the following:

a) An inception report on the process of the policy development, operational standards, and ECCE qualification and accreditation frameworks highlighting documented findings from the review of the education sector ECCE policy 2007; Review of the ECCE operational standards; Consultative meetings to guide the policy review process and reports from the consultation workshops and meetings at all levels including documentary reviews and components and process of revising the policy and operational standards and development of a costed plan of action. It should also include proposed strategic policy actions and action plan for the revised policy with clear government commitments in line with the NIECCE policy and the roles assigned to the education sector.

b) First draft of the revised Education sector ECCE policy and operational standards with complementary costed plan of action with annualised financing plan of the proposed options over a 10 year period.

c) Information on situational analysis of ECCE instructor programme.

d) Information and evidence of capacity development and system strengthening in ECCE Operational Standards for at least two public universities, NCHE, MoES officials and ECCE teacher training institutions. ECCE teacher training Accreditation System and Qualifications Framework with clear implementation strategy and road map.

Objective 2

Task I – Phases 1, 2 and 3

Objective 3

Tasks a) to f)

Section 4, page 7-10 of ToR

Assumptions:

• Providers will understand the importance of the standards documents and be able to use them to improve their services and delivery Risks:

• The completed operational standards and implementation guidelines not being published, and not distributed nationally in sufficient numbers to reach all providers

• Private and public providers pay lipservice to standards

4 Draft ECCE Policy with a 10-year costed action plan, revised operational standards and ECCE qualification and accreditation framework

5 Final Draft ECD Policy with a 10-year costed action plan, revised operational standards and ECD qualification and accreditation framework

This draft policy should include the following:

a) The revised ECCE policy, operational guidelines and standards with a complementary timebound 10-year prioritised costed implementation strategy.

b) ECCE qualifications and accreditation framework including a mechanism that guides periodical evaluation of ECCE performance indicators for trainees, instructors and training institutions.

This shall present the final costed ECD Policy, operational standards and ECD qualification and accreditation framework incorporating stakeholder’s comments, input and submission of the final documents

Output of All Objectives

Section 4, page 10 of ToR

Assumptions:

• Access to research sites and key informants can be arranged

• The revised ECCE Policy will be seen by clients as an improvement on the 2007 MoES ECD Policy

Output of All Objectives

Section 4, page 10 of ToR

• The revised policy will be used by providers to improve their delivery and service

Risks:

• The completed policy not being published

• There are not enough copies of the policy

SECTION FIVE: THE ROAD MAP SECTION THE ROAD MAP

SECTION SIX: A DELIVERY TIMETABLE SECTION

The

2.4

Establish a professional network with colleagues and key staff of local universities and associate colleges

2.5 Selection and training of Research Team to conduct survey

2.6 Field visits to gather survey data on best practice models of ECCE provision

2.7 Cleaning and analysis of data

2.8 Draft report on the existing ECCE models and practices and existing policy provisions and their implementation status

2.9 Draft report on situational analysis of ECCE teacher training models

2.10

Complete and submit final report on existing ECCE models and ECCE policy implementation provisions

2.11

MoES TRC, ECDWG and M&EWG review and initial feedback on the report on existing models and policy implementationfeeding into preparation of presentations for the Consultative Workshops (3.2)

2.12 Submit final final report on existing ECCE models and ECCE policy implementation provisions

3.1 Conduct preparatory administrative work to arrange consultation workshops at regional and national level

3.2 Hold consultative workshops at regional and national level to discuss the findings of the survey and report on ECCE best practice models

3.3 Draft review of the education sector ECD policy

3.4 Draft review of the ECCE operational standards

3.5 Draft review of the ECD qualifications and accreditation status

3.6

Completeand submitreport onthe reviewprocessof theexisting policy, operational standards and ECD qualification and accreditation frameworks

3.7

MoES TRC, ECDWGandM&EWGreviewandfeedbackonthefinal report

3.8 Submit final report on existing ECCE models and ECCE policy implementation provisions

4.1 Propose to TRC strategic policy actions and action plan based on consultations

4.3 Develop revised operational standards

4.4

Develop an ECD qualifications framework in collaboration with relevant institutions. (To include: developing an outline of the framework, stakeholder consultations with MoES working group and key institutions, drafting and finalising the framework, and developing costed implementation, support and evaluation plan)

4.2 Develop an annualised financing plan for the policy actions and QA & AS

4.5 Share first draft ECCE policy, operational standards and QA & AS with costings

4.6 Participate in validation process of the draft policy and action plan

4.7 Submit draft ECCE policy with a 10-year costed action plan, revised operational standards and ECCE qualifications and accreditation framework

4.8 MoES TRC, ECDWG, M&EWG and SPWG review and feedback on the draft documents

5.1 Integrate comments from approval process

5.2 Develop camera ready versions of the policy, costed action plan and operational standards

5.3 Finalise ECD qualification and accreditation framework

5.4 Finalise costed action plan and revised operational standards

5.5

Submit Draft final ECD policy with a 10-year costed action plan, revised operational standards and ECD qualifications and accreditation framework

5.6

MoES TRC, ECDWG, M&EWG, SPWG and Senior MoES Management review and approval

SECTION SEVEN: QUALITY ASSURANCE SECTION PLAN PLAN

Quality Assurance and Accountability

Internally, Cambridge Education (Mott MacDonald) has comprehensive policies, procedures and practices in place on all aspects of quality. CE operates a strict, externally-audited Quality Assurance system registered under ISO 9001 covering all aspects of the business. The Mott MacDonald Group maintains an internal Quality Environment and Safety Management System (QES) to achieve the satisfaction of client requirements in the execution of each service provided and the company instils a culture of continual improvement of the business processes throughout the Group. The QES Management System provides processes to help manage and minimise risk on projects; commercial, professional, technical and environmental risks, and also those relating to health and safety.

At the second level, the Mott MacDonald/CE-appointed management for this Project will apply internal controls to improve the QA applied to the project processes and outcomes. This includes all documents generated bythe project beingsigned off by both the project Team Leader and theDeputy Team Leader, as well as final approval of the Project Principal, based in Cambridge, UK. This team will ensure that all project outputs are of the high standard that Mott MacDonald and Cambridge Education are known for. Documents which do not reach these standards will be rewritten to those standards before submission. The QES System is implemented on each project through a unique quality plan (the Project Plan of Work), which is prepared by the Project Manager to define the organisation, responsibilities and procedures to be applied to the project. The Project Plan of Work defines the project scope; the personnel responsible and procedures for project implementation, management, checking and review functions; document and change control; contract and client communications management; budgeting and financial controls; reporting; filing and archiving. Every stage in the project cycle is subjected to quality assurance checks.

Externally,theMoESBasicEducationDepartmentwilltaketheleadinmonitoringand ensuringthequality of both the process and deliverables of this project. The Basic Education Department has constituted a multi-sectoral Technical Reference Committee, which is a working group that reviews and provides technical inputs in both the process and products of the project. An existing education sector committee, the ECD Working Group, which as with the TRC includes MoES officials and experts from outside the Ministry, plays a similar role. This means that as outputs go through the various committees they are interrogatedbybothrelevantMoESofficials andECD experts from otherMinistries,aswell as ECDexperts from the higher education sector, and from UNICEF, the Aga Khan Foundation, FENU and other NGOs which work in the national and international ECD field. Once the outputs of the project have passed these committees, being modified at each stage, they will be scrutinised by the MoES Top Management. This ensures that the proposed costed and revised ECCE Policy and supporting guidelines, as well as the QF &

the individuals concerned. They are then produced to a high standard and submitted to our client for comment. Depending on these comments, revisions might be made before finalisation and official dissemination. All reports will be provided to the client both electronically, as well as in hard copy.

The milestone reports for Deliverables 1, 2, 3 and 4 will include cumulative elements towards meeting our overall objectives, including reporting on existing ECCE models, the baseline study, a situational analysis on ECCE/ECD teacher training models, Operational Standards, Qualifications Framework and Accreditation System, the Monitoring Strategy and the Costed Plans. We will also aim to produce regular progress updates highlighting key messages to the TRC. Such regular progress reporting will enable us to ensure that all main stakeholders are kept abreast of developments within the project.

SECTION EIGHT: The Ministry of SECTION EIGHT: The Ministry of The Ministry of The Ministry of Education and Sports Working Education and Sports Working Education and Sports Education and Sports

Groups Groups Groups Groups

An overview of the core engagement by the Government of Uganda in the project and its consultation process

Annex A - MoES Terms of Reference for the Review of the ECD Policy 2007

Annex B – The Technical Proposal submitted by Cambridge Education in response to the MoES ToR (of Annex A)

Annex C – A review of international literature and summary of ECD models

Annex D – Research Methodology

Annex E – Costing factors to be taken into account during the data collection exercise

Annex F - Consultancy Team

Disclaimer:

This document is issued for the party which commissioned it and for specific purposes connected with the above-captioned project only. It should not be relied upon by any other party or used for any other purpose.

We accept no responsibility for the consequences of this document being relied upon by any other party, or being used for any other purpose, or containing any error or omission which is due to an error or omission in data supplied to us by other parties.

This document contains confidential information and proprietary intellectual property. It should not be shown to other parties without consent from us and from the party which commissioned it.

IV. Appendices

Section 7. Terms of Reference

TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR CONSULTANCY SERVICES TO REVIEW THE EDUCATION SECTOR EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT (ECD) POLICY AND OPERATIONAL STANDARDS

I: Background

Quality Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programmes are critical in providing a foundation for school readiness and success in life. To ensure quality service we do not only need the policies to provide direction but also the resources in terms of finance, materials and human resources. In Uganda establishment of the Education Policy Review Commission (EPRC) in 1987 and its subsequent reports of 1989 was the first milestone for recognizing the importance of ECCE for increasing access to education, followed by the Government White Paper (GWP) 1992. The two documents strongly recommended, among other things, the attainment of Universal Primary Education (UPE) in Uganda. Preprimary education is given attention since it forms the basis for sustainability of UPE and lifelong learning.

1.1 Agreed Issues at Negotiation Stage

The Consultant’s proposal is an integral part of these Terms of Reference subject to agreement reached at negotiation stage between MoES and the Consultant, M/S Mott Macdonald Ltd Trading as Cambridge Education on the following issues:

i) Objective 3 together with the Communications Specialist was removed from scope of services and therefore the entire project will be implemented within in a period of twelve (12) months.

ii) A Technical Reference Committee was incorporated in the ToR as well as in the revised Technical proposal by Cambridge Education. Similarly the Non Key Expert – ECD Uganda Policy Adviser was removed to be replaced by the Technical Reference Committee which will provide technical support and guidance to the consultancy firm as well as advice on policy process and related issues.

iii) Cambridge Education submitted new candidates for the Economist Expert position and the ECD Qualification Framework Expert, with recommendation of the best candidate for consideration. The CVs were provided and reviewed by MoES team and Ivy Papps was considered for the position of Economist while Linda Biersteker (Travis) replaced Barbra Koech as the ECD Policy Development Expert.

iv) Cambridge Education reporting will follow the MoES reporting mechanism details of which will be discussed and agreed at the inception stage

v) The consultant committed to provide all the required personnel to perform to the client’s expectations.

vi) The limit of liability and professional indemnity insurance will be set to the contract value in the contract agreement

The aims and objectives of Pre-Primary Education in Uganda, which are laid out in GWP are to:

a) Develop the child’s capabilities, healthy physical growth, good social habits, moral values, imagination, self-reliance, thinking power, appreciation of cultural backgrounds, customs, language and communication skills in the mother tongue, and,

b) Emphasize the development of a feeling of love and care for other people and Uganda as a whole.

After investing massively Universal Primary Education the government found it fitting that policy stretches to cover Early Childhood Development (ECD) which forms the basis for the sustainability of UPE and lifelong learning. ECD then was largely in the hands of the private sector with no overarching policy to govern and guide the sub-sector. It was against this background that the Education and Sports Sector developed a national policy on ECD. The Early Childhood Development policy was approved and published in 2007. It recognizes the public sector’s role in ensuring the fulfillment of children’s rights and the Government’s obligation to provide some measures of control and responsibility for the quality.

The purpose of this policy is to provide guidance for optimal holistic development of healthy and productive children between 0-8 years in Uganda, as an essential resource for national development, as well as enhance partnerships that promote holistic approaches to early childhood development and effective learning/teaching processes appropriate to that age group. The policy was developed based on the following reasons:

a) The Constitution of the Republic of Uganda which guarantees the rights of children in Article 34, states that a child is entitled to basic education, which is the responsibility of the state and the parents of the child,

b) The Convention on the Rights of the Child and policy instruments like the Children’s Statute (1996) and Children’s Act (2004), articulate children’s rights and the need to adhere to them,

c) This policy therefore is geared towards the fulfillment of the Education For All (EFA) targets and Millennium Development Goals (MDG5) and,

d) The Uganda Vision 2025 implicitly focuses on providing specialized education and training programs for the disadvantaged, vulnerable groups and gifted children as well as improving the quality and standards of teacher training.

The guiding principles to this ECD Policy include:

a) Multi- sectoral process that calls for adopting an expanded vision of a policy framework in which ownership, execution and management of the ECD policy and programs are shared among all the key stakeholders in a holistic manner.

b) Effective public-private partnership and networking because service delivery involves various stakeholders at all levels; - family, community and government level.

c) Enhancing equitable access to ECD services for all children in Uganda.

d) Harmonization of quality of ECD services across the board in the country.

The policy intended to assist with:

a) Creation of an enabling environment which can support the child’s optimal development, mastery of more complex levels of thinking, feeling and interacting with people and objects in the environment through fostering partnerships with the private sector,

b) Enhancement of the learning process for acquiring knowledge, skills, good habits and values through experimentation, observation, reflection and play,

c) Enhancement of capacity building of families and communities as key stakeholders in early childhood development and stimulating social mobilization,

d) Perpetuation of the national heritage, cultural, moral and spiritual values in society through children as the future of the nation,

e) Promotion of sectoral partnerships through linkages between Education, Health and Nutrition, Gender, Water and Sanitation, in support of ECD,

f) Ultimate reduction of wastage in UPE program by reducing incidences of repetition, enrolment and dropout of under aged children in Primary One classes, and,

g) Assurance of national standards, co-ordination, regulation, direction, mentoring, monitoring and evaluation in ECD.

II: Implementation status of the ECD Policy:

To ensure the quality of the service provision the following have been developed, published and distributed.

a) The Learning framework for ECD 3-6 years in 17 languages and caregivers guide produced by NCDC for use by pre-school care givers.

b) The Thematic Curriculum for P1 – P3 with teachers’ resource books in 16 languages used by lower primary teachers.

c) The Early Childhood Development Caregivers Training Framework (2012) and training modules on community child care program used by the ECD instructors.

d) Guidelines for establishment of ECD centres; Community mobilization manual and centre management committee training manual for use by various stakeholders including district officials, NGOs/CSO implementing partners.

e) Early Learning and Development Standards for 36 months and 72 months used by care givers with support from the local government ECD focal point officers and instructors to ensure quality and attainment of the desired outcomes.

The policy recognizes four types of ECD centres. These are: community based; home based; day care; and nursery schools. According to the MOES statistical fact sheet 2014, there were a total of 5,055 ECD centers in the entire country with a total enrolment of 457,186 boys and girls (230,400 girls). 80% of the centres are in urban areas and out of financial reach for most Ugandan children.

The government acknowledges the importance of ECCE, but makes little investment in this area. The provision of Pre-Primary Education is thus dependent on NGOs and multilateral organizations, such as Plan International, Save the Children, Aga Khan Foundation, Child Fund etc. Challenges and constraints that affect the increased access to early childhood care and education, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children include:

1. Weak policy – the early childhood development policy for the education sector does not guarantee compulsory pre-primary education. The issue of culture and economic status tends to hold parents back. A well planned and systematic communication and advocacy effort to market ECCE and to create the conditions for its acceptance and implementation is needed.

2. Inadequate child’s holistic development as well as coherent services from birth to primary education - integration of care, health, education and nutrition is still lacking. The curriculum and contents is delivered by differently trained personnel. The focus in most cases is on academics.

3. Data on Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) providers and beneficiary groups is not substantial - Consolidated and comprehensive data on providers, users and the number of children accessing ECCE in both formal and informal setting is limited. Available data shows that many vulnerable children especially in rural areas, post-conflict areas, isolated communities, and poor urban and other disadvantaged communities do not access any form of ECCE, and where they do, it is very poor quality services.

4. Inequalities in access to ECCE - Many vulnerable children especially in conflict areas, isolated communities, and poor urban and other disadvantaged communities do not access any form of ECCE or access poor quality services. Barriers that limit access to ECCE include affordability, lack of access points, hours of operation, language of service, and lack of information about services and support for the parents. The fact that service provision is left to private proprietors tends to compound rather than reduce inequalities. As a result, the poor fall prey to exploitative proprietors who may focus on maximizing profit rather than benefiting intended beneficiaries.

5. Flexibility of programmes - ECCE should be built on principles of social inclusion that actively engages parents and other caregivers of children regardless of gender, culture, language or disability and also include practical and concrete ways to ensure that all children have access to the support, care and education throughout early childhood that equips them for life and learning. Parents in all situations face a challenge of balancing time between dealing with home chores and available quality time for child care. There is limited opportunity for parents to come together to share and support each other. Fathers feel that it is the responsibility of the mother to interact with children, while most mothers think that the role of the father is only to provide material things for the family. There is need for a national approach to implementing high quality programs with the flexibility to encourage local engagement and response to local circumstances.

6. Collaboration and Networking - The practical challenge however, is that ECD is a multisectoral process that addresses the holistic development of children (health, education, nutrition, hygiene and sanitation, safety and security, etc). This calls for clarity of roles, shared responsibility, and empowering caregivers at the household and facility levels. In a bid to address this, the GoU recently drafted the National Integrated Early Childhood Development Policy (NIECDP) under the coordination of the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development (MoGLSD). The draft policy, currently pending Cabinet approval,

articulates roles, responsibilities and core policy actions for respective ministries and other stakeholders. Specific to the education sector, responsibilities are limited to early childhood education with a call to the sector to engage other ministries in the delivery of core services central to children’s effective learning.

7. Capacity Building - Extensive professional, educational and training support for individuals within early childhood services and for the ECCE sub sector as a whole is required at different levels. There is need to thoroughly examine existing ECCE models, frameworks, and best practices. Very often the proprietors and other providers have the good will but lack or have very limited technical expertise to establish a quality ECCE programme. As an example proprietors may be able to identify needs for education and strategies for mobilizing resources but rarely possess the full range of technical and professional skills required for building and operating ECCE centers. Capacity and technical guidance is necessary to enhance knowledge of such matters like legal requirements for creation of ECCE centers, curriculum and pedagogy.

8. Funding of ECD - the investment in ECCE remains low. Linked with this is the low quality particularly in areas where children are from disadvantaged communities socially, economically, remote and rural sections. Increasing and involving government in ECCE funding need to be addressed. Resource allocation to support and strengthen community based early childhood services are still limited. The current allocation, less than 0.1% of the sub sector (Basic Education Department) total, is far from adequate.

The Global Partnership for Education (GPE) Grant for the Republic of Uganda for the Teacher and School effectiveness Project, is centred on improving education service delivery at school and classroom level. It comprises of three components. The first two components focus on teachers and school effectiveness enhancing strategies. The third component, of relevance to this assignment has a number of key programmes, including early childhood development (ECD). The objective of this sub-component is to enhance the enabling environment for quality ECE provision for improved school readiness for children aged 3-5 years. GPE support will focus on preparing the foundation and policy environment to adequately meet existing gaps and increasing needs for early learning and to plan a potential scale up of the provision of quality ECE services.

III: Statement of objectives of the consultancy

Based on the above, a consultancy firm is required to support the Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Sports (MoES) to review the existing ECD policy (including the existing different models of delivery). Most importantly, the review process will aim at articulating the justification and cost effective modalities of Government intervention in the provision of ECE services for equitable expansion, in line with the NIECD framework. A Revised Education Sector Early Childhood Care and Education Policy and a Costed 10-year Strategic Plan with complementary advocacy strategy will be developed.

IV. Appendices Lump-Sum

Specific objectives are:

1. Generate informed evidence based ECE policy review process and stakeholder consensus on the policy recommendations for consideration by Government.

2. Develop a revised ECCE policy providing for Government cost effective modalities .of expanding access to ECE services, operational guidelines and standards guided by the evidence based and recommendations from (1) above; with complementary time bound (annualized for the 10 year period) and prioritized costed implementation strategy.

3. Develop an ECD Qualification and Accreditation Framework including a mechanism that guides periodical evaluation of the ECD performance indicators for the trainees, instructors and training institutions.

For the realization of these tasks, the Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Sports would like to engage a competent consultancy firm to undertake the above tasks.

IV: Scope

Objective 1: Generate informed evidence based policy review process and stakeholder consensus on the recommendations.

The MoES intends to collect broad and specific details about the existing early childhood education programmes in Uganda. This will inform the revision of the current education sector ECD policy and guidelines. It also intends to document the existing models and the good practices. The information gathering process is to take place through partnering / collaborating with early childhood education implementing partners that may include but not limited to: NGOs, CBOs, FBOs, LGs, bilateral and multilateral agencies through consultative workshops and detailed programme assessments

Task I: Conduct a baseline on the existing ECE models and practices by Mapping of all the existing ECE programme models for 0 to 6 year old children by type, provisions and geographical locations. This activity should provide information regarding provisions by costs, provider, and delivery mode with an aim of assessing the relevance, effectiveness, sustainability and efficiency of these models. The information gathering should be organized in such a manner that enables the ministry to understand: i) the current status of ECE; ii) processes and practices; iii) skills, abilities and qualification present; iv) capacity building institutions; v) networks and associations available vi) compliance with government requirements and vii) challenges. Emphasis will need to be put on: Materials and Resources that include: Classroom; Outdoor play space; Learning materials; Records. Human Resources that include: Caregiver’s salary; Supervision; Refresher training; Initial training and Community mobilization.

Key deliverables for Tasks 1: Detailed baseline report on the mapped ECD Models and practices showing; geographical locations, services provided, mode of service delivery, costs, service providers, and all relevant information in the tasks.

Task II: Review the existing policy provisions and their implementation status across all levels. That is national, district and community levels and the role of the civil society and nongovernment actors on the effectiveness of the support systems for the government.

A detailed written report on this task should provide the decision-makers in the MoES and other relevant agencies with knowledge and evidence on all the identified scalable models; alternative scenarios for implementing quality ECCE programme and specific recommendations to enable them to make decisions towards revising the policy.

Task I11: Conduct consultative meetings at national and district levels to validate the reports and generate consensus using existing operational structures. Based on the above mentioned elements the consultancy firm will be required to present their findings highlighting their overall independent assessment about the implementation of the ECD policy for the past years i.e. 2007 to 2014. The firm will bring to the attention of the stakeholders and ECD service providers, whether the purpose and goal of the existing policy is being met; what changes are needed to improve the effectiveness and access; whether policy aligns with the best practices in early childhood care and education and the policy implementation process has been effective and make Key deliverables for tasks II&III

a) Detailed report on the existing ECD Policy provisions.

b) Findings on the overall ECD Policy implementation for the past years (2007 – 2015)

IV. Appendices

Objective 2: Develop a revised Education sector ECD policy with clear strategies on Government’s strategies to expand access to ECE services for equity; with supportive operational guidelines and standards guided by the evidence base and recommendations from (1) above; with complementary time bound (annualized for the 10 year period) and prioritized costed implementation strategy.

Task I: Develop a revised policy consistent with government policy development guidelines.

Phase I: Planning and consultations

Phase II: Drafting a revised version of the policy

Phase III: Validation of the policy & standards

Phase IV: Approval processes

Inception report

Levels of achievement of the different components of the policy

Key lessons

Challenges

Recommendation

s

Revised version of the policy Operational standards

Costed plan of action

Policy objectives, strategies

Policy positions

Institutional framework for implementation of the policy

M & E framework Standards

M & E framework

Approval processes at various levels by partners; within the ministry; & line ministries

Cabinet memo

Proposed Methodology and Products

Phase one: Planning and Consultations

As indicated above, the process of developing the policy and action plan will be participatory and inclusive. A number of national documents will be reviewed. A national workshop and a series of meetings, is proposed. The aim of the workshops and meetings is to ensure that the policy, operational standards and implementation design of the plan of action is rooted within the current social and economic context of the country. The consultancy firm will be expected to facilitate:

1. Technical discussions with all stakeholders to develop an understanding of the components and process of revising the policy and operational standards and development of a costed plan of action.

2. Document reviews of information and data from various sectors and implementing partners for the different categories of programmes.

3. Sample surveys

4. Field visits to different categories of ECCE programmes

5. Wrap up meetings to come to consensus on the processes of reviewing the policy and operational standards and development of the costed plan of action will be discussed in the Working Group (ECD, Basic Education and M&E) meetings. These reports will have to be distributed and discussed with: Ministry of Education and Sports, Forum for Education NGOs in Uganda, National ECD forum, GPE Coordination entity and GPE supervising entity.

Phase two – Drafting the revised version of ECCE policy with costed action plan and operational standards.

The consultancy firm will in reference to the situational analysis report, and in regular consultation with the Ministry of Education and Sports, ECCE Working Group; draft the revised policy, budget implications and costed action plan and operational standards. The firm will be expected to:

a. Propose and present strategic policy actions and action plan for the revised policy with clear Government commitment to expand equitable access to ECE services across geographical areas and various income groups of the population; in line with the draft NIECD policy and roles assigned to the education sector.

b. Develop an annualized financing plan of the proposed options, clearly indicating the following: (i) unit cost of ECE per year per child for Government and households based on competencies to be realized by children; (ii) overall costs of ECE services per year for Government; and (iii) investment plan over a 10 year period.

c. Revise the operational standards to ensure alignment with the revisions in the ECCE policy. Key standards here relate but not limited to: (a) curriculum framework with specific reference to learning areas 4 and 5; (b) guidelines for establishing ECCE centres and training institutions (c) centre management committee manual

d. Effectively participate in the validation process of the draft policy and action plan with standards that will be led by the MoES.

IV. Appendices

Phase three - Approval

The final validated draft of policy, operational standards and plan of action will be submitted to MoES for approval processes, before final approvals by the Cabinet and Parliament. In the course of this process, the consultancy firm is expected to undertake the following:

a) Integrating comments from the respective approval processes ad levels into the in the final policy documents.

b) Developing camera ready versions of the policy, costed action plan and operational standards for submission to the MoES.

Key deliverables for Objective 2

a) Inception Report for the process of Policy development Reports from the consultation workshops and meetings at all levels including documentary reviews.

b) First draft of the revised Education sector ECD policy and operational standards with complementary costed plan of action

c) Final validated draft of the Education sector ECD policy and action plan; with operational standards.

d) Camera ready documents (Education sector ECD policy, costed action plan and revised operational standards).

Objective 3.

Develop an ECD Qualification and Accreditation Framework including mechanisms that guide periodical evaluation of the ECD performance indicators for the ECD teacher trainees, instructors and training programs.

For the realization of this objective, the consultant will undertake the following tasks:

a. Undertake a situational analysis of ECD instructor and care givers’ training programs to generate an understanding of the status, gaps, and delivery challenges. Key guiding documents for review in relation to this task include:

i) Existing frameworks and guidelines on ECD teacher training.

ii) Policies that guide the decisions used by National Council for Higher Education in the process of accrediting ECD programs.

iii) The ECD caregiver training framework (2012)

iv) The draft competence profiles of the ECD teacher (UNESCO 2015).

v) Assessment guidelines and rules used by Universities and other tertiary Institutions offering ECD teacher training programs

b. Propose and build consensus on a clear career path and progression for ECD instructors and care givers based on international standards and good practices in collaboration with at least 2 public universities and colleges.

c. Develop an ECD Qualifications Framework to guide all stakeholders in the process of training, assessment, accreditation and certification which will aid effective implementation of the National ECD Caregivers’ Training Framework (2012). This

should ensure harmonized assessment and certification procedures across training providers, drawing from developed training programs.

d. Develop a clear costed implementation strategy and roadmap for the operationalisation of the framework.

e. Develop capacity of at least two public universities and MoES staff on the implementation of the framework.

f. Provide mechanisms for periodical evaluation of the performance indicators and competence profiles of the ECD teacher trainees and instructors.

Key deliverable for objective 3

a) Report on situational analysis of ECD instructor programs

b) ECD teacher training Aaccreditation Ssystem and Qqualifications Framework with clear implementation strategy and road map.

c) Reports and evidence of capacity development and system strengthening in ECD Operational Standards for at least two public universities’ staff, MoES officials and 4 ECD teacher training institutions.

2.0 Deliverables of the Assignment

The consulting firm shall deliver the followings;

1) An inception report to be submitted to M&E Working Group, three weeks after signing of the contract. The inception report will, among other things, state the consultant’s understanding of the assignment, the roadmap and detailed work plan to achieve the specific objectives enumerated above and give statement of capability to accomplish the task;

2) Report on existing models and ECD policy implementation provisions

3) Report on the review process of the existing policy, operational standards, and ECD qualification and accreditation frameworks

4) Draft ECD Policy with a 10 year costed action plan, revised operational standards and ECD qualification and accreditation framework.

5) Draft Final ECD Policy with; a 10 year costed action plan, revised operational standards and ECD qualification and accreditation framework.

3.0 Staffing requirements and qualifications

The Consultant is required to elaborate in his technical offer on the envisaged logistical set-up and deployment of appropriate skills for the execution of the assignment. The consultant should carefully review the scope of work and propose a team of well-organized competent staff, adequately equipped with the necessary knowledge and skills to execute the assignment, The Consultant will be expected to present his staffing schedule in a manner that makes it clear as to which personnel will be involved in a specific activity. A staff organogram reflecting the envisioned activities should therefore be presented.

IV. Appendices

3.1 Key Professional Experts

The staff to be provided by the Consultant shall be sufficient to cover all the phases of the assignment. The Consultant shall also provide other support staff, technical and nontechnical, that are needed for the duration of the services.

The key professional staff shall include the following:

1) Team Leader

2) ECD Policy Development expert

3) ECD Qualification Framework expert

4) ECD Training and Instruction Experts: (2 in number.)

5) Economist

6) Social research expert

3.2 The staff shall possess the following qualifications

(a) Team Leader

i) The Team Leader shall have international experience in ECD and should have led teams in undertaking either an assignment on Educational Policy development or ECD qualification Framework

ii) Extensive specific experience of not less than 10 years in education policy and management.

iii) Minimum academic qualification required is a Masters degree in a relevant field.

iv) His or her experience should cover both developing and developed countries so that best practices can be got from both.

v) Experience in East African region will be an added advantage.

(b) ECD Policy Development expert

He/she will to lead policy development strand of this assignment (objectives 1-3), should have experience in policy formulation and research, with at least a post graduate qualification in education and, a minimum of ten (10) years in ECD Programme development and implementation. Expertise in teacher education and training with extensive multi-country / regional experience and team leadership are added advantage.

(c) ECD Qualification Framework expert

He/she will to lead the ECD Instructor Accreditation and Qualifications strand of this assignment (objective 4); should have a minimum of ten (10) years’ experience in ECD instructor and training programming with at least a post graduate diploma in teacher education and training, with proven international experience in Teacher Training, Accreditation and National Assessment systems. Proven knowledge on Early Childhood Education programming, training and evaluation is an added advantage.

(d) ECD Training and Instruction Experts: (2 No.)

The expert should have international experience in training, programming, curriculum development and evaluation, implementation early learning programs and children related assessment procedures; instructor and trainee assessment and accreditation; quality assurance of ECCE service delivery, expertise in addressing holistic and/or multi sectoral developmental aspects (cognitive, psychosocial, physical, emotional and affective) of children, and evidence of related assignments one has undertaken in this field. Recent publications produced by the experts or even regular institutional publications on ECCE and/or relevant areas will be an added advantage. The expert should possess a post graduate qualification ECD related field with a minimum of 8 years of general experience with at least three of international experience.

(e) Economist

He/she should have experience in education financial modals and budget stimulations experience of working on Uganda’s education system simulation model would be an added advantage. He/she should at least have at least post graduate qualification in Economics.

(f) Social research expert

He/she will be responsible for all research activities related to this assignment and should have at least a post graduate qualification in Social research related field with a minimum of 10 years experience in policy development, curriculum design, and research and, proven related tasks to this assignment are an added advantage.

3.3 Non- Key Experts

In addition, the Consultant is at liberty to propose non-key staff / experts as deemed appropriate for the successful execution of the assignment. It is highly recommended that these have clear specializations and roles in this assignment. These may include - but not limited to the following areas: a) Materials development including content presentation and layouts, Administrative tasks that come with international team deployments, b) Research team, this should be a national team of research assistants to support data collection activities as appropriate.

4.0 REPORTING

4.1 Reporting Requirements - General

The Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Sports through the Commissioner Education Planning and Policy Analysis thorough the Policy Analysis Unit and the two Departments of Teacher Instructor Education and Training (TIET) and Basic Education assisted by the focal point officer for the UTSEP-GPE project will coordinate and manage the assignment.

The consultant shall hand over all data collected during the course of the assignment to the client in formats approved by the client. Reports shall be delivered to the clients address as stated above.

4.2 Reporting Requirements - Specific reports

The Consultancy for the preparation of the revised ECD policy will be undertaken in twelve (12) calendar months

It is however the responsibility of the Consultant to establish a detailed work program within the above time frame, taking into consideration the estimated man-month requirements. This should be guided by his professional judgment of the assignment’s requirements and knowledge of the local conditions and needs.

The detailed schedule for the required reporting is contained in Table below.

1 Inception Report

The report shall outline the Consultant’s understanding of the assignment, the roadmap and detailed work plan to achieve the specific objectives, strategy, methodology, a quality assurance plan and timetable for the services. It will also provide a draft baseline survey plan detailing the baseline tools, approaches and methodology to conduct the baseline with geographical location / sample size, stakeholders and models to be assessed.

The final inception report shall incorporate comments that have been received by the consultant.

The report is expected to cover the following:

1 month 10% 6

Report on the existing ECE models and implementation status of the ECD policy provisions.

a) ECCE Policy Review: Baseline information with `details on the mapped ECCE Models and practices showing type, provisions; geographical locations, services provided, mode of service delivery, costs, service providers, and i) the current status of ECE; ii) processes and practices; iii) skills, abilities and qualification present; iv) capacity building institutions; v) networks and associations available vi) compliance with government requirements and vii) challenges. Emphasis will need to be put on: Materials and Resources that include: Classroom; Outdoor play space; Learning materials; Records. Human Resources that include: Caregiver’s salary; Supervision; Refresher training; Initial training and Community mobilization.

3 months 20% 6

b) Detailed information on National and Regional Consultative meetings with documented reviews/ related literature on ECCE policy implementation, categories of stakeholders consulted and

Report on the review process of the existing policy, operational standards, and ECCE

documents reviewed. Information on the implementation status of ECCE policy provisions and the operational guidelines detailing the status and levels of implementation of the policy provisions at national, district and community levels with highlights on the relevance, effectiveness, sustainability and efficiency of the available systems. The information gathered and written should be organized in such a manner that enables the ministry to understand: what has worked and what has not worked in terms of resources, structures and systems, capacities etc. and the role of the civil society and non-government actors on the effectiveness of the support systems for the Government.

The report should provide findings highlighting their overall independent assessment about the implementation of the ECCE policy for the past years i.e. 2007 to 2014. The firm will bring to the attention of the stakeholders and ECCE service providers, whether the purpose and goal of the existing policy is being met; what changes are needed to improve the effectiveness and access; whether policy aligns with the best practices in early childhood care and education and the policy implementation process has been effective and make indicate their independent judgement.

A description of the validation process and information on the validated content with overall ECCE policy implementation finds for past the years (2007 – 2015)

This report will include the following:

a) An inception report on the process of the policy development, operational standards, and ECCE qualification and accreditation frameworks highlighting documented findings from the review of 9.5 months 30%

qualification and accreditation frameworks

the education sector ECCE policy 2007; Review of the ECCE operational standards; Consultative meetings to guide the policy review process and reports from the consultation workshops and meetings at all levels including documentary reviews and components and process of revising the policy and operational standards and development of a costed plan of action. It should also include proposed strategic policy actions and action plan for the revised policy with clear government commitments in line with the NIECCE policy and the roles assigned to the education sector.

b) First draft of the revised Education sector ECCE policy and operational standards with complementary costed plan of action with annualized financing plan of the proposed options over a 10 year period.

c) Final validated draft of the Education sector ECCE policy and action plan; with operational standards.

d) Camera ready documents (Education sector ECCE policy, costed action plan and revised operational standards).

e) Information on situational analysis of ECCE instructor programme.

f) Information and evidence of capacity development and system strengthening in ECCE Operational Standards for at least two public universities, NCHE, MoES officials and ECCE teacher training institutions.

ECCE teacher training Accreditation System and Qualifications

Framework with clear implementation strategy and road map.

Draft ECCE Policy with a 10-year costed action plan, revised operational standards and ECCE qualification and accreditation framework

Final Draft ECD Policy with a 10-year costed action plan, revised operational standards and ECD qualification and accreditation framework

This draft policy should include the following:

a) The revised ECCE policy, operational guidelines and standards with a complementary time bound 10-year prioritized costed implementation strategy

b) ECCE qualifications and accreditation framework including a mechanism that guides periodical evaluation of ECCE performance indicators for trainees, instructors and training institutions

11 months 20%

This shall present the final costed ECD Policy, operational standards and ECD qualification and accreditation framework incorporating stakeholder’s comments, input and submission of the final documents 12 months 20%

All reports have to be submitted in both soft (unlocked MS Word, PDF) and hard copy. The hard copies will be prepared in DIN A4 format, except for plans and drawings which should be prepared in DIN A3 format. The reports should be clearly labeled i.e. title of the study indicated, for easy identification and documentation purposes. All reports shall be prepared in English language.

5.0 DATA, SERVICES AND FACILITIES TO BE PROVIDED BY THE CLIENT

To the extent possible, the Client will provide free of charge all existing information, data and reports in her custody and will assist the Consultant in obtaining other relevant information and materials from governmental institutions and state authorities as far as possible.

6.0 CAPACITY BUILDING AND KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER

The Consultant shall train designated staff at national level with the aim of developing capacity and knowledge transfer in accordance to the training approach and plan in the technical proposal.

Annex C – A review of international literature and summary of ECD models

Ministry of Education and Sport’s ECD focus and responsibility

The Ugandan GovernmentWhite Paper 1992 recommended the attainment of Universal Primary Education (UPE) in Uganda and includes pre-primary education as the basis for sustainability of UPE. Underpinning legal and policy frameworks include the Ugandan Constitution, Convention on the Rights of the Child, Education for All, the Sustainable Development Goals, and the Second National Development Plan 2015/6 - 2019/20, Uganda Vision 2040.

Ugandan policy documents follow the international definition of ECD: ECD is defined as a process through which the young children grow and thrive physically, mentally, socially and morally. It begins from conception and extends up to 8 years of age (MOES, ECD Policy, 2007, 2).

Early Childhood Development(ECD) is the period of a child’s life from 0 –8 years, a process through which children grow and thrive physically, mentally, socially, emotionally and morally. ECD includes basically four stages: conception to birth, 0 – 3 years, 3 – 6 years and 6 – 8 years (National IECD Policy of Uganda, 2016: glossary).

Within this broad definition, the MoES has specific responsibility for early childhood care and education. While this term is not specifically defined in the policy documents the objective of the Core Programme area is to increase access to equitable, quality, integrated, inclusive and developmentally appropriate early learning and stimulation opportunities and programs for all children 0 - 8 years (National Integrated ECD Policy Action Plan (2016 – 2021).1

Policy documents most frequently refer to preprimary education in the context of MoES ECCE responsibilities. The recent Ministry of Financial Planning and Economic Development (MFPED) brief defines ECCE as a critical period in children’s physical, mental and psychosocial development, which implies that all young children aged 0 – 8 years need to be nurtured in a safe and caring environment that allows them to become healthy, alert, secure and able to learn. This indicates that preprimary is a constituent part of ECCE. 2

Similarly, the ECCE programme area of the Integrated ECD Policy 3 is focused on the establishment of ECD centres, quality assurance and professional development. This builds on the responsibility of the MoES, documented in the 2007 ECD policy, to support, guide, coordinate, regulate and promote quality and relevant services for children 0 – 8 years of age. ProgrammesforprovidingECDinthepolicyinclude different categories of ECD centres, day care, community and home based care, and nursery schools/kindergarten. MoES is responsible for policy including standards, curriculum, training guidelines and registration, and quality assurance, but funding is private sector only.

A significant gap to note is that most preprimary programming is focused on children of 3 – 6 years (and 68 years as part of Primary schooling). The 0–3 year age group who are also covered by the Programme goal are not largely covered.

ECD falls under the human capital development priority area of the Second National Development Plan (NDP 11) 2015/6 -2019/20 Uganda Vision 2040. Its goals include a focus on strengthening ECD, childhood survival and full cognitive development for children below 5 years. The NDP 11 identifies introducing universal ECD and the harnessing of the Demographic Dividend as a key development strategy for

investment in developing strong human capital. 4 The responsibility allocated to the MoES for pre-primary is to:

• address the lack of ECD programmes and policy direction,

• expand community based ECD centres, and attach ECD centres to primary schools forthe provision of pre-primary education.

While parents are referred to in the 2007 ECD Policy, current programmes and documents suggest that this is in relation to their responsibility for enrolling their children in ECD centres and to local community involvement in the establishment and running of community based programmes.

Models and practice in the East Africa and the region and strategies for scale up

While access to ECCE programmes and services has growing significance in shaping life course trajectories for children,5 a very large gulf exists between the transformative promises offered by research and policy and the insufficient,often low quality andinequitablerealities of access to theseservices foryoung children and families. For the most part, these services are neither statutory nor compulsory, with limitations of finance and governance and a growing reliance in many low- and middle-income countries on NGO-led, faith-based and private-for-profit initiatives to meet the demands and fill the gaps.

As for other LAMIC countries seeking to implement an expanded ECCE programme aimed at equitable access, a key question for the Government of Uganda is therefore how to achieve quality and coverage given limited human, economic, institutional and training resources. While there is convincing evidence that well-planned quality ECCE programmes improve child outcomes, delivery at scale faces a number of challenges, including:

• Resourcing –infrastructure and programme costs

• Equity (especially in a context where provision is privatised)

• Capacity to plan, manage, deliver and monitor services

• Human resource capacity - caregivers, facilitators

• Age appropriateness – ECCE programming driven from the schooling system may be overly formal and academic when evidence shows that children up to 6 years benefit from a less formal playful pedagogy

• Ensuring coordination so that children receive other essential services

Proceeding from what we know (the well documented science of ECD) and building on what we have are key strategies for consideration in this Project. Targeting strategies for progressive realisation of universal access are commonly employed, rather than spreading resources too thinly and thus also spreading impact too thinly to matter. Investing in new services may not be the most effective route to increasing coverage. Building instead on existing services for mothers and children by incorporating parenting education into maternal and child health programming can be an effective strategy for reaching children under 3 years, while providing kindergarten or preschool classes within primary schools, using existing buildings, management structure and professionals is a common route for increasing early learning opportunities for preschool aged children of 3 to 6. Drawing on evidence of the dosage, duration and quality needed to achieve outcomes may allow for more cost effective programme delivery strategies e.g. the use of paraprofessional 6caregivers when properly supervised can be effective; the number of early learning sessions needed to support transition to early grades might be reduced.7

4 GU (2015) Second National Development Plan (NDP 11) ibid

5 Woodhead, Martin; Feathersone, Imogen; Bolton, Laura and Robertson, Penny (2014). Early Childhood Development: Delivering Intersectoral Policies, Programmes and Services in Lowresource Settings. Topic guide, November (2014). Oxford: Health & Education Advice & Resource Team (HEART).

6 Paraprofessional caregivers are community members who may have quite low levels of formal education but receive training to deliver a standardised ECD programme of activities with strong field supervision.

7 E.g. SACMEQ data from South Africa indicates that two years of pre-primary deliver better outcomes than one but gains after that are limited.

For young children, and particularly those under three, the most influential factor for early development is usually the care provided by the mother, father and other family members. Interventions targeting improvements in the quality of the home environment, including increasing stimulation and improving parenting practices, can help to improve children’s development.8 Programmes that involve parents and communities and build on contextual practices and knowledge are more likely to be successful.9 There are many interventions targetingthe mother-baby pair, notably supportfor early neo-natalcare, breastfeeding, early nutrition, attachment and learning. These are often delivered at a birthing clinic, community health facility or through home visiting. 10

In general, current evidence has found that for the 4-6 age group, where preparedness for successful transition to formal schooling becomes the priority, programmes that are delivered through quality centres/preschools offer the best results for school preparedness. Children who attended preschool have been shown to have higher scores on child development measures including vocabulary, mathematics, reasoning and teacher assessments of performance. This was stronger for formal preschools than nonformal provision,11 though other studies have shown that non-formal provision has some benefit.12

A combination of parent education and support in addition to participation in a centre programme has the best results. Well known long-term impact studies have included a parent component as well as a centre component.13 14 Mixed-approach programmes had the strongest and widest range of impacts.15 However, evidence has also shown that quality matters – if a centre-based programme isn’t of sufficient quality, including supported by a qualified teacher, effective curriculum, and supportive learning environment, initial gains may not be sustained into longer-term learning outcomes.16 Studies in the United States have shown that immediate gains upon school entry may not be sustained if the preschool programme was not implemented with sufficient quality.17 Child-focused interventions with a higher quality of stimulation translate to significantly higher levels of cognitive development for children who received it compared to children who did not. Quality was associated with qualifications and training of change agents, structured and child-appropriate curricula and instruction (Rao, 2014).18 Quality is also associated with ongoing support and mentoring.19 In many contexts, delivery of quality centre-based programming is not viable

8 Rao N, Sun J, Wong JMS, Weekes B, Ip P, Shaeffer S, Young M, Bray M, Chen E, Lee D (2014) Early childhood development and cognitive development in developing countries: a rigorous literature review. London: Department for International Development

9 Evans, J (2005) Evans, J. L. (2006). Parenting programmes: an important ECD intervention strategy. Paper commissioned for the EFA Global Monitoring Report 2007 Paris: UNESCO.

Forehand, R., & Kotchick, B. A. (1996). Cultural diversity: A wake-up call for parent training. Behavior Therapy, 27, 187-206.

Walker, S & Chang, S (2013) Effectiveness of parent support programmes in enhancing learning in the under-3 age group. Early Childhood Matters, 45 -49

Richter, L. & Naicker, S. (2012). A review of published literature on supporting and strengthening child-caregiver relationships (parenting). Washington, DC: USAID/PEPFAR AIDSTAR-One.

10 Kristjansson, E. et al. (2015) Early childhood feeding interventions to improve the physical and psychosocial health of disadvantaged children aged 3 months to 5 years. Effectiveness Review. The Campbell Collaboration Library of Systematic Reviews. Retrieved from: http://campbellcollaboration.org/lib/project/102/

11 Engle et al (2011) ibid

12 Rao, N, Sun, J, Pearson, V et al (2012) Is something better than nothing? An evaluation of early childhood programs in Cambodia. Child Development, 83 (3) 864 – 876.

13 Schweinhart, L. (2007). Outcomes of the High/Scope Perry Preschool Study and Michigan School Readiness Program. In M. Eming Young & L. M. Richardson (Eds.), (pp. 67-79). Washington DC: The World Bank.

14 Melhuish, E. (2004). A literature review of the impact of early years provision on young children with emphasis given to children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Report prepared for the UK National Audit Office London: Institute for the Study of Children and Families.

15 Isaacs, J & Roessel,E (2016) Research Brief #3: Early Head Start BY: https://www.brookings.edu/wpcontent/uploads/2016/07/09_early_programs_brief3.pdf

16 Sanchez, C, Turner, C. What Exactly Is 'High-Quality' Preschool? http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2014/04/22/304563233/what-exactlyis-high-quality-preschool

17 http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2016/07/19/486172575/a-harsh-critique-of-federally-funded-pre-k

18 Rao et al (2014) ibid

19 Fukkink, R. G. & Lont, A. (2007). Does training matter? A meta-analysis and review of caregiver training studies. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 22, 294-311.

Eurofound. (2015). Working conditions, training and quality of services: A systematic review. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union.

when faced with financial constraints, and thus other alternatives need to be explored in the interim. It is also important to emphasise that the school system into which the child transitions shapes the longer-term impacts of early interventions and that the continuum of pre-primary to primary needs attention.

CurrentECCE models in Africa and specifically Uganda vary according to their sector focus, age focus/target, system focus and delivery platform. While the ECCE component of ECD is the focus of this assignment, it is essential to bear in mind the interactive effects of children’s health, nutrition and protection needs on their learning, and to facilitate links with other stakeholders to ensure that these are met. Community based ECD centres can be successfully used as an entry point for health and nutrition services and family strengthening.20

While many ECCE services for 0-6 year old children continue to be delivered as ‘stand-alone’ through household, centre and community-based services, there are many steps towards integrated ECCE that are about greater coordination and referral of children between separate services.21 Also, rapid economic and social development is shifting the context of ECD policy and programming with inequality and social inclusion becoming a major challenge in rapidly urbanising and mobile low- and middle-income countries;22 school readiness issues now dominate in contexts where Education for All (EFA) goals for access to primary education have been achieved. 23

More comprehensive ECCE reforms recognise that macro-systemic reform is essential in order to deliver long-term and sustainable programmes and services. ECCE policy development is crucial as a starting point for identifying the most cost effective entry points within specific country systems, with account taken of the potential for municipal, community and NGO-led programmes, the role of donors, as well as potential scope for building public private partnerships. Therefore, ECCE interventions and models vary according to their sector focus, system focus and delivery platform.

ECCE programmes can be organised in a variety of forms in formal, non-formal and informal settings, for example:

• parenting education programmes;

• home-based childcare programmes;

• family literacy programmes strengthening caregivers’ literacy and childrearing knowledge as well as the child’s emergent literacy;

• community-based programmes combining health, nutrition and early stimulation;

• formal preschools and kindergartens;

• school-readiness programmes facilitating transition to early primary, etc.24

Table 1 summarises key ECCE models currently in use in Uganda and the region, which offer possibilities for an expanded ECCE system which is coordinated with other essential ECD services such as health and social services.

20 Eg. DiGirolamo A. Stansbery P and Lungaho, M (2014) Advantages and challenges of integration: opportunities for integrating early childhood development and nutrition programming. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 1308: 46 - 53

21 Lake, A. and Chan, M. (2014). Putting Science into Practice for Early Child Development. The Lancet, Comment. Retrieved from: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(14)61680-9/fulltext#arti cle_upsell

22 Pells and Woodhead (2014)

23 Britto, P. R., Engle, P. L. and Super, C. M. Eds. (2013). Handbook of Early Childhood Development Research and Its Impact on Global Policy. Oxford: Oxford University Press. http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199922994.001.0001/ac prof9780199922994

24 http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/leading-the-international-agenda/education-for-all/advocacy/global-actionweek/gaw-2012/what-is-ecce/ Accessed 6 April 2017

Table 1: Models for the Delivery and Expansion of ECCE Services

Ages 0-3 years

Positive

Parenting Education

Programmes

Parenting education programmes for mothers of children under 3 years through group or one-to-one counselling, with modules focused on basic care, stimulation, health, nutrition, parental empathy, protection and developmentally appropriate activities, child guidance, discipline, and brain development

Target: Parents/Caregivers

Turkey: The Mother-ChildEducation programme (TEEP) began as a research project in 1982. Over a two-year period, mothers of children from low-income families received weekly training in a programme to stimulate their children’s cognitive skills including language, sensory and perceptual, problem-solving, pre-literacy and pre-numeracy skills. They also participated in fortnightly group discussions designed to support mothers in their parenting and spousal roles and provide them with better coping and communication skills. Topics included nutrition, child health, child development, play activities, discipline and parent-child communication.

Ethiopia: Yekokeb Berhan’s Better Parenting training is a capacity building approach for volunteers, parents, caregivers and others who work closely with vulnerable children and their families. The programme focuses on improving parenting knowledge, attitudes and skills. 25

Rwanda: First Steps (Intera Za Mbere) This is a weekly participatory radio programme broadcasting key parenting messages on local community radio. It supplements group sessions or can be implemented as a standalone programme. 26

25 Yeokob Berkhan (2015) ECD and Education Support Strategy 2011 – 2015 (Final draft) Child Fund, FHI 360

26 Save the Children (2016) First Steps Holistic Parenting Education Program Endline Brief

Evidence Advantages / Disadvantages

Seven years after the TEEP intervention, sustained effects were found in terms of school attainment, higher primary school grades and vocabulary scores, more favourable attitudes towards school and better family and social adjustment. 30

Follow up of TEEP after 19 years demonstrated higher levels of university attendance and higher status employment for children who had participated in the programme.31

A review of 15 assessments of substantial positive effects were identified in relation to children’s cognitive and socialemotional development, parent

Advantages: These types of interventions target and introduce ECCE interventions, knowledge, and practices early in the child’s life

Parenting education activities can be layered over multiple existing programmes including child health, livelihoods, adult literacy, Reproductive health etc

Not costly and can easily be built on existing programmes including health and social protection programmes Programmes target change in knowledge, behaviour and practice therefore other children in the household

30 Kagitcibasi, C., Sunar, D. and Bekman, S. (2001). Long-Term Effects of Early Intervention: Turkish Low-Income Mothers and Children. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 22(4); 333-361.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0193397301000715

31 (Kagitcibasi et al., 2009).

Home Visiting Programmes

Home visits delivered by community health aides/social workers with parents, as well as play activities covered with mothers, homemade materials used, and new activities introduced weekly. The model targets multiple caregivers in the home. The home visiting model may include family literacy strengthening interventions

Mauritius: Parental Empowerment Programme is being practiced to train youngparents to be moreproductivelyinvolved in the care and education of their children. 27

Uganda: Mityana ECD Programme is a programme that supports four rural coffee growing communities in Mityana district with positive parenting support interventions, maintaining strong linkages to livelihoods and youth development initiatives. 28

Tanzania: Zunguza Na Mototo Mchanga (ZUMM) Talk to your Baby is a short early literacy intervention working with caregivers and babies in Tanzania. The programme has achieved promising results.29

Malawi: Mai-Mwana Programme is an intervention that provided mothers of young infants with information on child nutrition linked to an established home visiting programme in central Malawi. It was delivered at relatively low cost by local ‘peer counsellors’ with personal experience of infant nutrition.

Malawi: An Essential Package focused on teaching parents to stimulate children through play, often utilisinghomemadetoys or other readily available household items. Parent-focused interventions were often delivered through home visits, community groups, and a combination of home visits, group sessions, community activities, and primary health care and

knowledge, home stimulation, and learning activities with children. The most effective interventions were those with systematic training methods for the facilitators , a structured and evidence-based curriculum, and opportunities for parental practice with children with feedback 32

benefit too.

Potential for replication in similar contexts therefore possible to scale-up up

Disadvantages: Fewer programmes actively target fathers and young mothers. Interventions often target women.

A randomised control trial (Fitzsimons et al. 2014) 38 to investigate the impact of the Mai-Mwana programme demonstrated that a sustained intervention during the earliest years improved mothers’ knowledge, which translated into improved household nutrition and delivered improved child growth. Greater awareness of the importance of nutrition appeared to have a

Advantages: Families are reached and multiple caregivers in the household participate in the program.

Low cost if integrated and delivered through existing structures such as village health teams, social workers and caregivers. Links home and facility based

27 UNESCO IICBA (2012) Concept note for workshop to draft curriculum and design outline of Training Modules for Training Early Childhood Care and Education teachers and Caregivers in Local and Indigenous communities in Africa.

28 Prew, M (2015) Review of the Provision of Basic Education and Early Childhood Care and Education in Four Communities in Mityana District. A Report for Jacobs Foundation, Zurich, Switzerland

29 Townend J. & Townend, D. (2015) ZUMM: What is the language environment of young babies in Tanzania, and can it, if necessary be enriched. Research Report.

32 Engle et al (2011) Ibid

to facilitate child’s emergent literacy and build caregiver child rearing knowledge and parental life choices.

nutritional services. 33

Lesotho: Home-based Programme enables parents from poor homes to be trained to give care and education to their children in designated centres that give the comfort of the home to children being cared for. 34

Uganda: Child Fund ECD and Home Gardens seeks to improve child survival through early childhood care and development. It does so with both a routine visit to families whose children are enrolled in the programme and by having the children come to the early childhood care and development centre three times a week. Activities are aimed at stimulating a child’s mind through games and play. Physical development is also monitored and nutrition support and immunisations administered.35

Jamaica: In Jamaica, two longitudinal - intervention trials were conducted to combat cognitive deficits of low birth weight (Gardener et al 2003) and stunted infants/toddlers (2010) respectively. Both comprised weekly home visits for two years by community health workers who demonstrated play techniques to mothers and taught colour, shape, size and position concepts. Therewere significanteffects for intervention groups in both studies four years later and the stunted children who received home based intervention showed sustained benefits to 17 or 18 years. 36 Currently the approach is being trialled in Zimbabwe delivering

systemic impact on household functioning. services if built as an integral part of a community referral network.

Increases access for poor and disadvantaged families

Disadvantages: Quality of service is dependant on the capacity of the home visitor.

33 CARE, Save the Children, Consultative Group on Early Childhood Care and Development, (2012). The essential package: Holistically addressing the needs of young vulnerable children and their caregivers affected by HIV and AIDS

34 UNESCO IICBA (2012) Concept note for workshop to draft curriculum and design outline of Training Modules for Training Early Childhood Care and Education teachers and Caregivers in Local and Indigenous communities in Africa.

35 Mayende, P, (unpublished), Christian Children’s Fund-Uganda Early Childhood Development and Home Gardens in Uganda: https://www.childfund.org/Early-Childhood-Development-and-Home-Gardens-in-Ug

36 Gardner,J. M; , Walker, SP, Powell CA and Grantham McGregor SM (2003) A randomised controlled trial on a home visiting intervention on cognition in term low birthweight infants. Journal of Pediatrics 143 (5) 634-639

DayCareCentres Centre-based/ institutionalised care for children 0-3 years, both for profit or non-profit providing care, protection and stimulation based on positive adult-child interactions. Day care programmes for babies and infants are mainly planned around the needs of working parents. These are very widespread especially in urban centres and vary from informal ‘child-minding’ arrangements provided by other mothers or older community women through to large scale, centre-based childcare businesses, catering for large numbers.

Media/Interacti ve Radio Programmes

Digital based technologies targeting parents especially radio programmes and

messaging to groups of mothers. (Personal Community, Tina Hyder Open Society Foundation, February 2017). 37

Uganda: Private sector provision of day care services in Uganda is to primarily serve the needs of working parents both in the formal or informal sector. 39

Nigeria: The establishment of child care centres in workplaces for proximity of standard ECCE centres to working nursing mothers. The centres serve as models to private ECCE providers.40

Research evidence about the impacts of day care services is very weak for low- and middleincome countries41 (Brownetal., 2014).

Advantages: Provides opportunities for working parents in both informal and formal sectors to participate in gainful employment especially in urban communities.

Disadvantages: Quality is highly variable, depending on whether standards and regulative systems are applied.

In low quality settings, staff ratios do not allow for continuity in individualised care and attention.

Day Care services are costly and poor families may not afford the service.

Rwanda: Randomised trial of 0-3 parenting Radio programme: Parenting interventions which promote parent-child interactions to improve responsiveness in feeding infants and young children;

Interventions which involved guided interactions and practice involving both parent and child

Advantages: Quick coverage at scale is possible

37 Walker, SP, Chang SM, Younger N& Grantham-McGregor, SM (2010) The effect of psychosocial stimulation on cognition and behaviour at six years in a cohort of term low birthweight Jamaican children. Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology 52 (7) 148 – 154

39 Ejuu,G.(2012) The status of implementation of Education Sector Early childhood Policy in Uganda, Uganda National Commission for UNESCO

40 Patience O. Awopegba, Esther A. Oduolowu and A. Bame Nsamenang : Indigenous Early Childhood Care and Education (IECCE) Curriculum Framework for Africa: A Focus on Context and Contents UNESCO-IICBA

Addis Ababa, 2013 UNESCO: International Institute for Capacity Building in Africa www.iicba.unesco.org

41 Brown et ak (2014)

mobile phones with key stimulation, health and nutrition messages. Modern media is offering new opportunities to supplement more traditional programmes, notably through community/ national radio programmes.

increase attachment; and encourage learning, book reading, play activities, positive discipline and problem-solving related to children’s development, care and feeding.42

were more effective than parent-only or informationbased interventions. Those conducted at least partly in group settings had a slightly greater effect than home-based interventions alone.

Potential for addressing context specific needs.

Disadvantages: Initial investment and developmentofcontentcanbe costly.

May exclude young mothers and fathers who subscribe to other social media platforms.

Ages 3-6

Parenting Programmes

As for younger children a range of programmes target parents of 3 – 6 year olds who do not attend preschools

Rwanda: Early Literacy and Maths Initiative aimed to improve school readiness skills.

A comparison of centre and parenting groups found that both had better endline scores than a control group who had not been exposed to ECCE. The less intensive parenting treatment had almost the same gains as those children who attended the ECCE centre.43

Advantages: Low cost and potential for replication and scale up

High participation of parents and families in general

The focus on literacy and numeracy prepares children for transition to grade 1 and fills a need in low literacy settings

Disadvantages: Interventions focused on academic achievement and less on the whole child

Home-based Childcare

Programmes

This is a model of childcare and early learning provided to up to 15 children by an

42 Save the Children (2016) First Steps Annual Report

43 Save the Children (2015) ELMI Endline Assessment.

Columbia: Hogares Comunitarios de Bienestar in Colombia serves 800,000 low-income children under age 6 with a combination of care and early learning interventions including

An evaluation of Hogares Comunitarios de Beinestar included 10,173 children aged 3-

Advantages: Accessible and meets the needs of the target families.

individual in their home. It includes promotion of children’s physical growth, health, social and cognitive development, and the provision of supplemental nutrition. Home-based programmes offer an alternative model to the community centre-based services. Jamaica is one of the earliest reported intersectoral home-based interventions that is now yielding follow-up data over two decades.

early literacy and numeracy skills building.

Uganda: LABE combined home and community based programme implemented as part of adult literacy programme with the aim of improving early literacy experiences of young children. The activities include Early Stimulation through Mother’s groups thatinitially metonce aweekfor6 months, then once in two weeks and then once a month. 44

6 years. Participation for more than 16 months was associated with a trend for positive effects on receptive language, mathematical reasoning, general knowledge and verbal ability compared to control children.45

Low cost and can be replicated at the community level.

Disadvantages: Limited reach as programmes are often small and isolated. Often not registered or regulated therefore quality of services may not meet required standards.

44 Nyamugasira, W. Aanyu. D. Robinson, C.(2005), Report of the Final Evaluation, “Literacy and Continuing Education in Uganda 2000-2005” and “Family Basic Education in Uganda” 2003-2005 Programmes.

45 Bernal, R. and Fernandez, C. (2013). Subsidized Childcare and Child Development in Colombia: Effects of Hogares Comunitarios de Bienestar as a Function of Timing and Length of Exposure. Social Science and Medicine, 97; 241-249.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23312302

Communitybased programmes

Provision of communitybased childcare and learning services for children 0-6 years. The primary goals of these programmes vary, with some prioritising child development goals for children and others established mainly to serve the needs of working parents. These programmess are typically based in caregivers’ homes or small community facilities run by paraprofessionals or experienced community mothers, or established and supported by faithbased/NGOs.

These may be centre-based preschool interventions delivering services at community level through formal community managed structures or holistic interventions that integrate nutrition with support for early interactions/

Mozambique: Communities provided space, labour and some materials to build preschool classrooms. Save the Children provided materials for playgrounds, child-sized toilets and safe water for drinking and hand-washing. Classes were run by volunteer teachers, who were chosen by community committees who managed the preschools. Teachers received training on learning techniques and monthly mentoring. Monthly parenting meetings were held with the preschool teachers and community health activists, focusing on nutrition, health and literacy. Selfcare practices such as hand-washing were strongly promoted as part of the preschools’ daily routine.

Uganda/Kenya/Zanzibar: Madrasa Early Childhood Programme: The Madrasa Early Childhood Development Programme is a regional initiative in East Africa that began in the 1980s. From its beginning in the Coast Province of Kenya in 1986, the programme has resulted in the establishment of quality, affordable, culturally appropriate, and sustainable preschools among the socioeconomically disadvantaged Muslim communities in East Africa. The key interventions include the establishment, development and management of community preschools, while also offering professional development and training courses to new and practicing teachers.

Malawi: Community based Child Care Centres (CBCCs) are designed as a central point for the delivery of preschool education, care, nutrition and health services, particularly for vulnerable children. In 2006-7, the Ministry of Women and Child

A World Bank randomised study of Save the Children’s community-based preschool programme 2008-2010 found that primary school enrolment rates were 24% higher than control group. Children who had attended preschool showed a 12.1% increase in cognitive development compared to the control group. They also showed increases in communication skills, problem-solving, fine motor development, and emotional maturity compared to the control group.48

A study in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania/Zanzibarcomparedthe effects of Madrasa and nonMadrasa preschool on cognitive development. 49 This quasi experimental evaluation found that children with both types of preschoolexperience performed better than the home (comparison) group. However, children attending Madrasa

df91d2eba74a%7D/MARTINEZ_NAUDEAU_PEREIRA.MOZ_ECD_REPORT-FEB_7_2012.PDF

Journal

Advantages:

There is strong parent participation and ownership

These interventions are managed by communities and by local caregivers with understanding of cultural and local contexts Increase access to preschool services for families where no public ECCE services exist

Low cost as communities often contribute to the non technical inputs/resources of the programme

Disadvantages: Quality may be poor if not regulated and there can be high teacher/caregiver attrition levels

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09669760802357121#.VH2UePmsURo

48 Martinez, S., Naudeau, S. and Pereira, V. (2012). The promise of preschool in Africa: a randomized impact evaluation of early childhood development in rural Mozambique. Washington DC: World Bank (with Save the Children). http://www.savethechildren.org/atf/cf/%7B9def2ebe-10ae-432c-9bd0-

49 Mwaura, P., Sylva, K. and Malmberg, L-E. (2008). Evaluating the Madrasa Preschool Programme in East Africa: A Quasi-Experimental Study. International

of Early Years Education, 16; 237–55.

stimulation and early learning in the early years. These programmes vary greatly in quality and geographical context. In some cases, school readiness interventions are integrated into the community based program to facilitate transitions from preschools to formal schools.

Development (MoWCD) and UNICEF carried out a national inventory of CBCCs in Malawi, which confirmed the need to improve the quality of services in most cases. However, the inventory also highlighted the fact that a few CBCCs manage to provide above average services to children.46

Uganda: Community-Led Action for Children (CLAC) by Plan International supports target communities to establish and manage community based centres with training and technical supportfrom PlanInternational. Communities areresponsible for identifying and supporting the caregiver financially. A centre management committee is also trained to plan for and manage the centre.47

Resource Centre preschools achieved significantly higher scores

overall. Later research50 into these MadrasaResourceCentres emphasised the importance of partnering with universities to respond to the local cultural and socioeconomic realities and deliver effective ECD programmes. This review didnot find any similar studies of other faith-based ECD provision in the region.

46 Fisher, W., Kholowa, F., Chibwana, K. & Silo, L. (2009). Success against the odds: A positive deviance study of Community-based childcare centres in Malawi. UNICEF. Retrieved from: http://www.positivedeviance.org/pdf/publications_maternalchildhealth/MalawiPDFinalR eportJHJun152009.pdf

47 Gallagher, H, (2015), Country Programme Progress Synthesis Report, 2014, Plan Uganda

50 Mwaura, P.A.M. & Marfo, K. (2011). Bridging Culture, Research, and Practice in Early Childhood Development: The Madrasa Resource Centers in East Africa. Child Development Perspectives, 5 (2): 134-139. DOI: 10.1111/j.1750-8606.2011.00168.x

Nursery schools/ Kindergarten

Preschool centres providing early learning for children of 3-6 years of age. In Uganda, Nursery and Kindergarten Centres are often established by the private sector, who can be individuals, groups of people or for profit companies.

Nursery/ Kindergarten services are reported to be mostly concentrated in urban and peri-urban cities and centres.

Uganda: Structured childcare and early learning services for 6-8 hours a day, five days a week with early learning activities that are game /play based and focused on school readiness and transition interventions for children 3-6 years.

Ghana: In 2012, the government of Ghana redefined the initial nine-year Basic Education Programme to include two years of kindergarten education making it eleven years of basic school education so as to promote proper management and transition of the child. Ghana has been able to successfully mainstream the kindergarten school system with the basic school education as part of the recommendations of the Dakar World Forum for Education and the Millennium Development Goals. The provisions of the Education Strategic Plan (2010-2020) also support the prioritisation, expansion and improvement in the delivery of ECCD services. Ghana Education Service, in July 2011, embarked on a process of developing an operational plan to scale up the quality ofkindergarten education wherelearningactivities and processes were mostly participatory, collaborative and interactive with the participation of a broad spectrum of stakeholders, including foreign donors. The operational plan lays out a Ghanaian pedagogy and a new vision for kindergarten education with emphasis on activity-based learning. 51

Malawi: Early Childhood Education Initiative is a 10 year program supported by the Roger Federer Foundation and Action Aid to deliver early learning opportunities to four and five year olds.

According to an external evaluation of the Roger Federer Foundation and Action Aid

Malawi’s 10 year Early Childhood Education initiative (launched in 2011), 14,000 children across Malawi have been benefitting from a higher quality of early learning. After 2 years of preschool education, the educational development of the children participating in the initiative was measured and many of them had achieved relatively high educational development scores52

Advantages: Provides access to preschool services for 3-6 year olds in both rural and urban settings Potential for public-private participation and replication and scale up are a real possibility.

Can be regulated and quality services can be achieved.

Disadvantages: Quality may vary greatly depending on capacity - both technical and resources without sufficient training, oversight and facilities.

Grade 0 A few African Governments have sought to increase universal pre-primary access by adding a year or two of

South Africa: The Government of South Africa is phasing in a Reception Year for 5 – 6 year olds as part of public primary

The impact of Grade R in South Africa is small and there is virtually no measurable impact for schools serving poorer

Advantages: Builds on existing physical and institutional infrastructure

51 http://3news.com/how-far-with-ghanas-early-childhood-care-and-development/ Yoshikawa, H & Kabay S. (2015) The evidence base on early childhood care and education in global contexts. Background paper commissioned for the GMR EFA Report 2015 Paris UNESCO 52 Roger Federer Foundation. (2015). Early Childhood Education Initiative. Malawi. Involvement of the Roger Federer Foundation. Retrieved from: http://www.rogerfedererfoundation.org/en/initiatives/educationin-africa/malawi/early- childhood-education-initiative/

pre-primary attached to primary schools. These classes target children in the year before Primary 1 as the main strategy for achieving universal access to preprimary/ECCE services. Ghana, South Africa, Ethiopia and Kenya are all implementing the ‘Grade 0’ model with varying degrees of success.

schooling. 53

Kenya: Over the last 20 years, the government has expanded its commitment to universal pre-primary access by establishing and supporting pre-primary classes in existing primary schools. Implementation is the mandate of districts and most publicsector pre-primary services in Kenya are delivered as an extension of primary schools.54

Ethiopia: The government of Ethiopia developed a population based approach to expand ECCE services by constructing 0 classes attached to existing primary schools in a bid to increase equitable access and rapidly expand ECCE services across the country, starting with disadvantaged regions and children with special needs. The expansion plan constructs an 0 class in each school, supported by community development resources.55

Zimbabwe: ECCE was formally integrated into the education system in 2005 and all primary schools were compelled to attach at least one ECD class of 4 to 5 years old in the first year, followed in the second year by the addition of another ECD class of 3 to 4 years old. This enabled full incorporation of two ECD levels in the primary school system. The government of Zimbabwe offers two years ofECCDwhichis grouped togetherwith gradesoneand two and the four years are known as infant school. The ECCE sector has about 427,800 learners taught by 4,000 teachers, with 5,800 more qualified teachers required. 21.6% of children age 36-59

communities, while there is evidence of impact for the schools serving wealthier communities. This is attributable to the need for greater quality of provision.57

Rapid increase of access

Relieves underage enrolment in P1

Disadvantages: Quality may be poor if scaled up too quickly without sufficient training & oversight and facilities

Difficult to coordinate and integrate the services offered by multiple departments

Limited evidence of impact

53 Department of Basic Education (2016) Stellenbosch University, Research on Socio-Economic Policy (ReSEP). (2015) The impact of the introduction of grade r on learning outcomes. Evaluation commissioned for the Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation in the Presidency.

53 Munjanganja, Ed D & Machawira, M. S (2014) National EFA Review of Zimbabwe. Prepared for 2015 GMR.

54 Manji, S and Arnold, C (2015) How are we doing and how we get it right for children? Background paper commissioned for the GMR EFA Report 2015. Paris: UNESCO

55 Woodhead, M, Rossiter, J, Dawes A and Pankhurst A (2016) Scaling up early learning in Ethiopia. Exploring the potential of O Class. Oxford: Young Lives

57 Stellenbosch University, Research on Socio-Economic Policy (ReSEP). (2015) The impact of the introduction of grade r on learning outcomes. Evaluation commissioned for the Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation in the Presidency.

Child-to-Child

Accelerated School Readiness Course

months are attending an ECD programme.

56 Bridging within Primary Schooling System

Ethiopia: Facilitators trained to deliver a two month bridging course for children at the beginning of first grade.58

Advantage: Improves age appropriate teaching

Parenting/ caregiver media support and training

In African societies, child-tochild practices involve older siblings helping in the upbringing of the younger ones and contributing in raising the younger ones within the culture in childto-child play activities, helpfulness and stimulation. For example, the older children assist in providing custodial care for younger ones while the parents are away at the farm or in the market.

Interactive Radio Instruction (IRI)

Sesame Street and community radio initiatives

Ethiopia: The UNICEF supported Child-to-Child initiative is already operating in six countries, including Ethiopia. The pilot project aims to prepare young children for their first year in primary school by utilising social alliances between older and younger children – blending learning with playtime.59

Advantages: Very low cost and implementation replicable in many low resource setting communities

Disadvantages: Quality and experiences may vary greatly across multiple ages and contexts.

Zanzibar/Tanzania: Since 2006, the government of Tanzania has implemented an ECCE radio programme called Radio Instruction to Strengthen Education (RISE). Supported by Education Development Centre (EDC) and led by the government, the programme targets children 4-6 years of age and delivers Kiswahili, mathematics, English and life skills programmes through interactive radio instruction delivered through nonformal community-led preschools. The programme also trained teachers and mentors to deliver locally produced Interactive

56

(2014)

An Impact Study conducted in 2015 highlights key successes in expanding reach to quality ECCE services, improved teacher capacity and practices and overall improvements of child level learning outcomes.61

Advantages: Scale-up possible where communities speak the same language Increases impact of programmes when combined with centre based or home visiting programmes

58

59

61 RISE

Munjanganja, Ed D & Machawira, M. S

National EFA Review of Zimbabwe. Prepared for 2015 GMR.

Rossiter, J (2016) Scaling up access to quality early education in Ethiopia. Young Lives

Rossiter (2016) Ibid

(2009) Radio Instruction to Strengthen Education in Zanzibar Executive Summary USAID/EDC.

Radio Instruction (IRI) programmes. The programme targets children and families who would have otherwise not accessed early education services.

The IRI approach has also been piloted in Zambia.

60

Disadvantages: Likely to exclude the poorest households without radios

Limited to specific geographic contexts or language groups

60 Matafwali, B (2014) Evaluation of the IRI pilot programm in early childhood education in the Eastern Province of Zambia. Lusaka Ministry of Education.

Annex D – The Study Design

Introduction

The study will develop 5 case studies for the main modes of ECCE delivery, as defined in the NIECD Policy. Each of these case studies will be informed by up to 30 sites in 10 purposively sampled districts across the country which a team of researchers will visit during June 2017. The researchers will spend a day at each site. Using a mixed method approach the researchers will gather both quantitative data (using a questionnaire and observation schedule) and qualitative data (from interviews and learning process observations) to gain a triangulated and deep understanding of how each model of ECCE service provision delivers its programme. Overall about 150 sites will be studied catering for 0-3 year olds, 4-6 year olds and 6-8 year olds.Thebreadth ofdeliverypossibilities will be studied, including positiveparenting programmes, home base care and education, nurseries and school based sites, both private and public. The target population are the owner/delivers, practitioner and users of the ECCE sites, including parents, community members, management committee members, teachers and caregivers.

Methodological Assumptions

This section presents the research study methodology that will be used to provide the data that responds to the information requirements of the three Project objectives, namely:

• Objective1. Generate informed evidence based ECCE policy review process and stakeholder consensusonthepolicyrecommendationsforconsiderationbyGovernment.

• Objective2. Develop a revised ECCE policy providing for Government cost effectivemodalities of expanding accessto ECE services, operational guidelinesand standardsguidedby the evidence base and recommendations from (1) above; with complementary timebound(annualisedfora10 yearperiod)andprioritisedcostedimplementationstrategy.

• Objective3. Develop an ECCE Qualification Framework and Accreditation System including a mechanism thatguidesperiodical evaluation oftheECCEperformanceindicators forECCEtrainees, instructorsandtraininginstitutions.

Creating a baseline on ECCE Models

The Cambridge Education Consultancy Team will undertake a study of ECCE centres, to provide a baseline on the existing ECCE models and practices, to enable the development of Policy recommendations and the Qualification Framework and Assessment System (QF & AS). The study will map existing ECCE programme models for children up to the age of 8, according to type 1 , provisions and geographical location. Furthermore, the study will provide information on cost, provider, and delivery mode with the aim of assessing the relevance, effectiveness, sustainability andefficiency of these types. Therefore, the Team will create a picture for the MoES of:

i) the current status of ECCE;

ii) processes and practices in ECCE centres;

iii) skills, abilities and qualifications present among care-givers;

iv) nature and capacity of key training and support institutions;

v) networks and associations available;

vi) compliance with government requirements; and

vii) challenges the ECCE centres face.

1 Types would include: Public referring to Government-run UPE schools with income-generating ECCE classes attached; Not-for-Profit provision by NGOs, FBOs and CBOs; Private referring to for-profit provision by individuals and companies; Community and Informal referring to voluntary contributions within the community, including positive parenting initiatives

Interpreting these requirements:

1. ‘The current status’ of ECCE is taken to mean the intensity of ECCE provision in different geographical locations, the type of providers, the nature and ownership of ECCE services.

2. ‘Processes and practices’ are taken to mean the ECCE programme models and administration and management systems of the institutions.

3. ‘Skills, abilities and qualifications’ refers to the caregiver human resource capacity in the form of staffing (by gender), qualification, and incentive structure.

4. ‘Capacity building institutions’ relates to the availability of formal institutions to support and supervise the ECCE centres within the district, including the District Education Office, Centre governing structures, and civil society organisations, as well as the learning institutions such universities and Primary Teachers’ Colleges which train caregivers and may support ECCE centres.

5. ‘Networksand associationsavailable’ relates to the social and professional networks among ECCE service providers.

6. ‘Compliance with government requirements’ means compliance with the existing MoES guidelines, for instance the Guidelines for Early Childhood Development Centres, the Learning Framework, and on community mobilisation.

7. ‘Challenges’ relates to constraints and conditions that affect the operation, expansion and sustainability of ECCE services.

The baseline study questionnaire and interview tools have been developed to be consistent with these operational definitions, in order to allow the collection of relevant information.

We are using a design for the study process that is a non-experimental descriptive design in which we will observe, describe and document ECCE delivery types in Uganda.

The Quantitative Sampling Strategy

Rationale for Stratified Sampling

One of the most significant issues that we have to consider in designing the quantitative aspects of the study is the type and number of respondents who will be surveyed. There are two options to approach the sampling design. One is to use a complete coverage of the population (saturation survey), whereby all units of the target population, that is the ECCE sites, are included for study. The more common option is sampling, whereby the target population is investigated by studying a small part of it, known as a sample. Selection between the two options is informed both by the study objectives and logistical factors (such as distance to the site, costs, and availability of contacts that can facilitate entry into the community).

In this policy evaluation, we have selected a sampling approach and to maximise the inclusion of a broad sample by district, service provision, and models we will use stratified purposive sampling.

A recent UNICEF mapping of ECD sites, using a team of 52 research assistants deployed across the country visiting all 112gazetted districts overa month,documented organisations deliveringECD, limiting thestudy to core-programmatic areas, the mode of delivery and target beneficiaries. However, the available results suggest that the listing was far from exhaustive. For instance, in the central region only 8 districts were studied with many districts missing.

2 While the UNICEF Uganda National Early Childhood Development Service Provider Inventory (June 2016) is the first to document 544 ECCE sites in 73 districts, the recent Financial Services Deepening (FSD) survey, which included education sites across Uganda, identifies some 10,000 UPE primary schools which indicate that they offer ‘pre-primary education’ (which is taken to mean

2 The missing Central Region districts are: Kiboga, Mubende, Gomba, Butambaa, Bukomansimbi, Lwengo, Masaka, Kalungu, Mityana, Mpigi, Kayunga, Buikwe, Kyankwanzi, Kibaale.

ECCE classes). Collectively these two surveys are useful sources of information, but neither of them include registered or unregistered privately owned nurseries, creches and home based childcare centres, which have burgeoned in rural as well as urban areas over the last decade.3 As Prew (2015a) indicates in some –if notall – rural areas these types of provision are likely tobe in the majority. Unlike schools and civil society provision though, these sites are only discovered by undertaking localised mapping processes. Furthermore, little is known about community and positive parenting initiatives catering for children under the age of 6. Collectively, these realities underpin the need for a deep-dive analysis of different types through stratified purposive sampling. In addition, this approach allows for the identification and study of other modes of ECCE delivery which may not be included in the present national typology.

The need for data on ECCE sites is to inform the policy, the QA & SA and the costing exercise. For these processes we need a thorough understanding of the different types of ECCE provision that have emerged in Uganda, including:

• their infrastructure and pedagogical ecology,

• their provision of services and delivery capacity,

• the identification of costs and their qualification and training needs, and

• the challenges these various types of centres face.

Using this methodology will allow for best practices to be identified for potential scale-up.

Sampling Strategy

We will include 10 districts (a sample size of about 8% of all districts) in the study. The following process will be followed to select these districts:

Step 1: A sample of 10 districts will be drawn. The selected districts, which represent a cross-section of Ugandan districts, have been selected purposively. The process of selecting the 10 district was conducted based on the following. All districts included in the Uganda National Early Childhood Development Service Provider Inventory (2016) were stratified by region (based on the traditional four regions) and then by intensity of ECCE service provision extrapolated from the data (including districts with high, medium and low intensity of provision). To ensure that these districts were broadly representative of the country, they were then checked and the list modified based on providing a cross-section of wealth, including urban and rural districts, intensity of interventions and educational performance. The variables that were used are listed below in the table.

Criteriausedtodeterminethedistrictsample

No. Criteria

1. Ineachregion,

• A district with high numbers of ECCE services

• AdistrictwithfewECCEservices

2. GPE/QEI/MoES priority districtsand other CSOsupporteddistricts

3. Districtswithminoritypopulationssuchas refugees, pastoralist and fishing community

4. Ruralversusurbandistricts

Reasoning

To understand the drivers and barriers to access and qualityECCEservices.Regionaldifferencesareknownto beimportantdeterminantsofaccesstoECCE4

Draw lessons from ongoing interventions in terms of what is working and not working such as GPE CCCP interventions,soastoinformECCEmodels

Documentandconsideruniqueneedsspecifictothese subpopulations

Documentcontextualenablers,inhibitorsandresources thatimpactECCEprovision

3 Prew, M (2015a) Review of the Provision of Basic Education and Early Childhood Care and Education in Uganda, with special reference to Mityana District. Jacobs Foundation Zurich. Prew, M (2015b) Review of the Provision of Basic Education and Early Childhood Care and Education in Four Communities in Mityana District. Jacobs Foundation, Zurich.

4 See Education Statistical Abstract 2011 for regionally varied spread of ECD sites.

Step 2: At the start of the district visits, and with the assistance of the District Education Officer (DEO) (as well as local leaders), the Research Team will identify three communities in each selected district which will include both rural and urban environments.

Step 3: The researcher assigned to that district will visit each of the 3 communities for a week each, and within each community, through a mapping process, select the sites to be researched based on the modes of service delivery and ownership as outlined in the Policy. In each community one example of each of the following will be studied:

i) day care centre

ii) home-based centre

iii) community-based centre

iv) nursery school/kindergarten

v) lower primary class

If the community does not present all of the five modes, the researcher will limit their study to those that are found in that community. In addition, if the researcher comes across a provision which does not fit into these five categories, the researcher will contact the research manager, with a description of the provision. If it is decided that it is representative of a new mode of delivery, it will be included as sixth mode and studied as a separate model.

Therefore a minimum of 15 and maximum of 18 sites will be profiled in each district, making a total of up to 1805 profiles, with 30 profiles of each mode of service delivery.

Stratification Criteria

The table below presents the purposive stratification criteria. The team will use these characteristics of ownership and service provision as part of the stratification criteria and also to assist us in interpreting the results.

5 Thesearemaximumnumbersastheyassumethat‘otherinitiatives’willbeidentifiedineachcommunity. Thisisunlikely;itismorelikelythatintotal15sitesareprofiledineachdistrictmaking150profilesintotal.

Day Care centre (age <3) Urban Rural

Home-based centre (ages 0-3 & 3-6)

Community-based (ages 3-6)

Nursery School/kindergarten (ages 3-6)

Lower Primary Classes (ages 6-8)

Other initiatives (ages 0-6)

Implementation of the Study

The Pre-test

• Private Sector

• Faith-based organisations (FBOs)/religious centres

• NGO/CBO

• Household

• Community

• School

• Early learning and stimulation

• Parenting education

After the approval of the Inception Report, which encompasses approval of the research methodology by the MoES, the Research Team will carry out a pre-test in Kampala. We will use the pretesting of the questionnaire, interview tools and observation schedule in Kampala to assess the relevance of the questions, adequacy of variables, skip patterns, as well as to estimate the duration of interview sessions and the use ofthetablets. We willanalysetheresults of the pilotstudy to understandwhetherrespondents who speak different languages and work in different types of ECCE centres understand the scope and intention of the questions in a similar fashion. We will then modify the questionnaire, where necessary.

The Data Collection: Quantitative

The team is developing a structured questionnaire for the survey of ECCE head-teachers/owners. The questionnaire allows the same types of information to be collected from the different ECCE sites in the same way and for data to be analysed quantitatively. Most of the questions are based on the ToR and on the MoES’s Guidelines for Early Childhood Development Centres in order to measure compliance and performance in terms of ECCE goals, services provided, compliance to procedures and requirements, roles of the caregivers, and caregiver competences. In addition the researchers will fill in an observation sheet, which provides information on the site, the infrastructure, and the stimulation, support and food provided for the children.

The questionnaire and observation sheet will be exported to Samsung tablets that will be used by the research assistants to collect the information. We will be using licensed software, which requires individual passwords of each Researcher to access only their tablet and their questionnaires. The researchers will upload their data whenever they have access to internet in the field, and we will put in place a protocol for a minimum time period which researchers cannot exceed in terms of sharing their data with the data analysts. Project managers will monitor the regularity of upload and the quality of the data uploaded. In cases where a tablet was stolen, project management will block access to the data to maintain confidentiality. Itis notpossible fortheresearchersto copy data to another source asthis requires licensing to the software. Researchers will not be permitted to keep the tablets – these will be returned to the project at the close of the data collection phase.

The Data Collection: Qualitative

In addition to the quantitative data collection in each site, the researchers will interview focus groups of caregivers (where there is more than one, if not, the interview will be a one to one interview), members of

the Centre Management Committee and the parents. These interviews will be informed by the various standards documents and the policy, and will seek to triangulate the data from the questionnaire and the observation process. The resulting interview answers will be analysed using analytical induction. This process identifies trends and levels of repetition of responses as well as outlying or exceptional responses.

In each site which caters for 5 and 6 year old learners (the nursery schools/kindergartens, lower primary pre-primary classes and community and home based care centres with older children), the reseachers will observe a 30 minute learning period. assess two children in those sites which include 5 and 6 year olds. These observations will be recorded on a highly structured observation tool, developed specifically for the project by the technical team based on assessment levels for 5 year olds, as outlined in the Early Learning Development Standards for 3 and 5 Year Olds. The focus will be on play based learning which has the capacity to develop motor and cognitive skills. These observations will help understand the learning outcomes of the pre-schools and the school readiness of the children in different modes of ECD delivery. The results will be analysed by the early learning specialists in the team using an analytical framework that they will develop for the purpose.

Management of the Research

We will employ 10 Research Assistants who will be trained in the week of 22 May and then supervised in administering the questionnaire and interviews in their respective districts. Two Research Assistants will be deployed in each of the 4 regions, with Kampala metropolitan and Moroto North added.

As above, during the 20 days of data collection in the field, between 150 and 180 questionnaires will be collected from 180 ECCE service centres across Uganda in over 8% of districts.

Ethics

This is a social-behavioural study involving interaction with or observation of people. This research is supposed to protect the rights and welfare of the human research participants, thus will be conducted in accordance with basic research ethics principles, namely respect for persons (respect for autonomy), maximisation of benefits and minimisation of harm (beneficence), ensuring no deliberate harm on the participants (non-maleficence), and assuring morally right and proper treatment (justice).

Mott MacDonald has a very strict ethics policy which all of its employees, sub-consultants and partners must adhere to. However, in addition, the Project will generate an ‘Ethics and Confidentiality in Research Protocol’ which all researchers will sign, to cover the specific element of research ethics principles outlined above. Specifically, this will include:

• No children being interviewed;

• Permission for photography to be sought from Owner/Manager of ECCE site;

• Second-level quality assurance process of all photos to ensure protection for children’s identity and removal of any negative imagery;

• At the outset of any engagement with a particular ECCE site, the respondents will be informed of their right to refuse interview and for their institution not to be included in the survey. Although the names of sites will be collected, not least to ensure the researchers are compliant, this information will not be published in any of our reports. All data that is specific to a particular site will be consolidated in all final reports to ensure that no individual site can be identified from the public reports;

• Respondents will also be assured that this survey exercise is not about collecting tax or to penalise un-registered ECCE centres.

Underpinning the development of this ‘Ethics and Confidentiality in Research Protocol’ are the following considerations:

Risks: The consultant is aware that this research involves minors (between the ages of 0 to 8 years). However, this research is not a clinical investigation nor a study of biology, organs and specimens, nor will it involve the systematic collection, storage and analysis of data on humans. Instead, it is social-behavioural

study which is restricted to interaction with or observation of people. Therefore, there are no risks associated with participating in this research, where for the most part ECCE centre managers will be answering questions on management and impact.

Possible Benefits: There is no tangible personal benefit to research participants. However, researchers, policymakers and the general public will learn from the knowledge gained in this study which will contribute to improving the ECCE Policy.

Compensation/Reimbursement: There will be no cash paid as compensation for participants' involvement in this study. Nonetheless, research participants shall receive refreshments during Focus Group Discussion, and the local leaders and ManagementCommittee memberswill be compensatedfor their transport(using GPE guidelines) when invited to attend Focus Group Discussions.

Ethical Clearance: This research is commissioned by the Government of Uganda which reserves the right to study the institutions and agencies under its own jurisdiction. The consultant will get authorisation from the MoES byway of introduction to the providers thatareapproached.This will be presented to thevarious people, agencies, institutions and partners that are respondents to the research.

Informed Consent: The research team will seek consent from the respondents. Consent involves the procedure by which an individual may choose whether or not to participate in a study, and he or she has the right to withdraw from the study at any time. Seeking consent will be achieved by ensuring that the participants have a complete understanding of the purpose and methods to be used in the study, the risks involved, and the demands placed upon them as a participant. A separate informed consent form, translated in local language, will be signed by the participants and counter-signed by the researcher.

Confidentiality Assurances: The Research Team will protect information about research participants’ responses and views to the best of their ability. All tools, recordings and materials will not be disclosed to third parties. The main responsibility for custody will be the Project Management. The data (excluding institutional identity) will be passed on to the MoES that will also ensure safety and confidentiality.

The Data Analysis

After the data has been entered onto the tablet, it will be exported to Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20. The data generated will be analysed in terms of frequencies, percentages, and central tendencies (mean, mode, median), as well as grouping the data into class intervals. The sampling procedure and the questionnaire format allows derivation of inferential statistics, where necessary. In this case,abivariateanalysiswillbedoneusingPearson’sChi-Squareteststomeasuretherelationshipbetween key independent variables and dependent variables, of explanatory variables (independent variables) cross-tabulated by region, physical settings (rural and urban), and mode of service delivery, or type of ECCE provider. The preliminary data analysis will inform the second level data analysis.

In the second level the 30 ECCE type profiles will be analysed using inferential statistical tests (i.e. ANOVA and ANCOVA) to isolate and relate key variables. So, for example, ECCE centres within a type with at least one qualified ECCE caregiver effectively delivers quality teaching. By performing such analysis and measuring how variables correlate and function in existing modes of service delivery, this will determine the most effective modes for use in the national scale up of ECCE programmes.

We will also use the survey results to inform determination, made with the MoES and the TRC, of the preferred delivery modes, based on effectiveness and efficiency. These preferred modes will then be costed, as well as the unit cost per child in both rural and urban environments.

The multi-level stratification procedure will provide information regarding provision by cost, provider, and delivery mode, with the aim of assessing the relevance, effectiveness, sustainability and efficiency of these models, and to identify best practices.

• Relevance(orappropriateness) relatesto whetherECCEstrategies, methods andactivities are effective in meeting the needs and priorities of beneficiaries (infants/children, caregivers, parents).

• Effectiveness relates to the ability of the various ECCE interventions to produce expected outputs, contributing to expected outcomes of early childhood development, and identify gaps. Expected outcomes are in the areas of cognitive-language development, socioemotional development, child health etc.

• Efficiency of these models refers to how well the centres allocate and use all their available resources (finance, staff, infrastructure, space, social networks, governance structure) to achieve desired outcomes.

• Sustainability talks to the availability of resources to maintain and/or improve the quality of services, scale up services, or sustain services.

• Best-practice refers to the development of cost effective delivery which is of a high quality and achieves the desired outcomes in terms of child development in a holistic way. Best practice is also likely to refer to partnering with other agencies, equity of access in terms of gender, orphans and vulnerable children (OVCs), and marginalisation, quality and capacity building of care-givers, promotion of child rights, and implementation of culturally adapted models of ECCE.

Annex E – Suggestions by the Economist for factors to be taken into account during the survey exercise

Administrative Data

The costing exercise is likely to require the following data:

• MOES salary scales for teachers and officials;

• Demographic projections of the under-6 population by age and region.

Since the Objective 2 identifies “equitable access” to ECCE as an important component of policy, it seems likely that some targeting of limited resources might be required. In this case, it would also be useful to have information on the under-6 population by socio-economic group.

Baseline Survey

It would be useful if the national survey could obtain detailed information on the following issues:

Costs

• Total costs - broken down by category (personnel, premises, equipment, etc) if possible;

• Staffing: numbers (by each type if possible) and number of hours worked per week;

• Staff costs: salaries per hour/week/month as appropriate;

• Opening hours

Intensity of provision

• Session length (eg is each child present for the entire time the provision is open or does he/she come for a given number of hours?)

• Number of sessions per child per week

Demographics

• Number of children by age in each session

• No of children enrolled by age Finance

• Charge to parents/carers:

• What is the charge per child?

• Is it charged per session, week, month, year?

• When is it payable?

• Are there special arrangements for some families – eg subsidy for poorer or larger families?

• Do these user charges cover total costs? If not, how is the shortfall covered?

It is also proposed that the sample should include provision covering the following:

• Urban/rural

• A variety of socio-economic contexts (rich, comfortable, poor)

• Regions with high, medium and low participation1

1 The Demographic and Health Survey, 2011, shows participation in pre-primary education ranging from 62% in Kampala to less than 5% in West-Nile. However, the overall participation rate of over 23% is much higher than MOES figures reporting 9.5% for 2014 (ESSAPR, 2015/16). Since the DHS is a household survey, it is possible that the disparity comes from attendance at pre-school institutions not counted by MOES. Since so many children seem to attend these institutions, it would seem important to take this factor into account in sample selection.

Training Costs

Development and expansion of training capacity will be essential both for improvements in the quality of existing staff in current provision and for the expansion of this workforce. There are likely to be three components to training required to implement the policy:

• In-service training to upskill the existing workforce

• Initial training for an increased number of caregivers

• Ongoing in-service training to support career progression

The costs will depend on the training model selected, so it would be useful to have data on the cost per caregiver trained if such data exist.

Annex F: The Consultancy Team

Our personnel and their roles in delivering the project

The table below summarises the members of Cambridge Education’s Consultancy Team.

Position

Team Leader

Deputy Team Leader

ECD Policy Development Expert

ECD Qualification Framework Expert

Name

Dr Martin Prew

Kate Martin

Linda Biersteker

Dr Maria Da Costa

ECD Training and Instruction Expert Bonita Birungi

ECD Training and Instruction Expert

Hadijah Nandyose

Economist Dr Ivy Papps

Social Research Expert

Team Leader

Dr Achilles Ssewaya

Dr. Martin Prew brings twenty-five years of experience of leadership and management in government, academic and programme roles. He has worked within the Government of South Africa where he was responsible for turning policy into action and he has extensive experience of delivery of large-scale education programmes in many other countries, including South Sudan, Zimbabwe. Over the years he has gained a reputation as an innovative thinker and advocate for progressive change in education institutions, curricula and education management.

In recent years Dr Prew has developed an intimate knowledge of education in Uganda in his work on the following assignments:

• a scoping exercise and primary research to provide advice on a proposed intervention in Mityana District of Uganda to promote early childhood education,

• an evaluation of the impact of the national Ministry of Education and Sports and UNICEF Basic Requirements and Minimum Standards (BRMS) Mentorship Project on teacher education colleges, schools and districts and development of an evaluation methodology and process for measuring the impact of BRMS Phase 2.

• leading a team to evaluate the GEMS model of teacher development in Uganda and determining the elements of the model that could be used to improve schools in African countries.

Deputy Team Leader

Kate Martin is an experienced education adviser and manager at Cambridge Education. For the past five years she has worked in India, Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of Congo for Cambridge Education. In close collaboration with the Government of each country, with funding from the European Union (EUR 6.3 million), Asian Development Bank (circa USD 3 million) and UK Department for International Development (GBP 15 million) respectively, her role has involved complex project management, recruitment and performance management of teams of consultants and local operations staff, client and contract management, and quality assurance and reporting. Coordinating the technical work plans and budgets in these projects, Kate was also responsible for technical support in the delivery of a National qualifications and assessment framework in India, evaluation of Head Teacher training as well as a National Assessment review in Indonesia, and technical assistance for improved governance of the education sector in DRC.

ECD Policy Development Expert

Linda Biersteker brings over 30 years of experience in the ECD sector, working at a range of levels (from early learning centres up to policy design and advice). She has extensive experience in policy planning, course development, assessment of trainers, community engagement and ECD service delivery.

ECD Qualification Framework Expert

Dr. Maria Da Costa brings over 30 years of experience in the ECD sector both in the UK and developing country contexts with special reference to Southern Africa. Maria holds a Masters degree in Early Childhood Development and Education and a Doctoral Degree in Sociology of Education. She has experience of policy development for ECD, working alongside Ministries of Education, as well as experience in ECD teacher training programming, including on the development of ECD qualification frameworks.

ECD Training and Instruction Expert

Bonita Birungi holds an MA in Early Childhood Care and Development from Walsh University, USA. She has extensive experience in ECD across Eastern and Southern Africa and most recently she supported the technical committee in charge of developing and finalising Uganda’s National Integrated Early Childhood Policy and implementation framework, giving her unique insight into the agenda for holistic alignment between sectors.

ECD Training and Instruction Expert

Hadijah Nandyose holds an MA in Education from Walsh University, USA. She has extensive ECD experience across Africa with international NGOs including Plan International and Save the Children as well as consultancies with the Ministry of Education. Most recently she is technical expert for the National Mapping and Capacity Assessment of Early Childhood Programs in Uganda with the National Council for Children of Uganda.

Economist

Dr. Ivy Papps holds a DPhil in Economics and has over 25 years’ experience working in development economics, conducting feasibility studies, providing financial support for policy planning, and economic evaluation. She has a further 17 years of experience as a Lecturer and Researcher in Economics.

Social Researcher

Dr. Achilles Ssewaya holds a PhD in Social Sciences, is a lecturer at Makerere University, and has over 20 years’ experience as a social researcher. His experience includes reviewing strategic plans, conducting rapid assessment and training research teams.

All the technical specialists will report to the Team Leader, as well as to their respective counterparts. They are expected to ensure that their inputs achieve not only their own mandated objectives but contribute to the overall success of the assignment.