New Publication: Early Childhood Development and Education in Emergencies: Country Profiles from the CEE/CIS Region

ISSA is pleased to announce the publication of five country profiles on early childhood development and education in emergencies in the CEE/CIS region (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, and Tajikistan). The profiles are part of a partnership project between UNICEF and ISSA focused on mapping early childhood development (ECD) and education resources for emergency preparedness in the region. The profiles provide an overview of the emergency context in the five countries, especially with regard to the needs and rights of young children and their families. Making children an immediate priority in emergency planning and management in the CEE/CIS region is the main lesson from this exercise.

The focus on young children in emergency preparedness in the CEE/CIS region is in line with recent thinking at a global level on the prevention, mitigation, and response to the negative effects of emergencies on children, especially young children. International analysis and research on poverty alleviation and on disaster reduction shows that in the case of emergencies, (i.e., disasters induced by natural events and human factors1), young children and the elderly are among the first victims and most vulnerable groups. Young children in emergency situations are more likely to experience life-threatening and other physically, emotionally, and socially extreme situations. Young children, when the protective family mechanism weakens or breaks down, become more vulnerable to violence, abuse, and exploitation. It has been demonstrated that prolonged "toxic stress" resulting from intense adverse experiences in early childhood can result in permanent changes in the development of the brain.

The negative impacts of emergencies on young children are multiple, affecting all dimensions of their development. Physical injury, loss of parents, caregivers, or other family members, friends, and neighbors; neglect because parents or caregivers are also distressed and physically or emotionally unable to provide effective care, food, and support; loss of house and other possessions; disruption of daily routines - these all have a negative impact on child psychology. Lack of basic hygiene makes young children vulnerable to infectious diseases. The breakdown of infrastructures can result in a lack of access to clean/safe water, sanitation, shelter, and food. The collapse of social structures can result in exposure to violence, crime, abuse, and exploitation. The disruption of daily life leads to the lack of opportunity to play and interact with peers and caregivers. These can undermine the young child's physical, emotional, cognitive, and social development.

To what extent are the needs of young children and their families taken into account in emergency preparedness, response, and recovery in the CEE/CIS region? Before any answer to that question can be provided, one should have a picture of young children's status in the region. According to the latest UNICEF analysis, children in CEE/CIS countries, following two decades of transition, remain vulnerable. While the last decade of economic growth helped improve all indicators of child well-being, they also made inequalities more visible within countries. Furthermore, with the global economic crisis, there is a risk of diversion of resources from social expenditure and support of families and children. Reduced public investment in the needs of young children, together with poor public capacity of delivering services and decentralization of accountabilities, will likely present long-term implications for child development, school completion, social stability, and poverty reduction. Thus, the challenge for CEE/CIS countries continues to be to develop policies to reduce inequalities in terms of access to basic services for children and their families, as well as to identify and integrate children at risk of marginalization.

During the last decade, governments in the region, together with international organizations and initiatives (International Strategy for Disaster Reduction ISDR, EU initiatives and programs), have partnered to reduce disaster risks and to provide recovery as part of a global agenda (Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery, GFDRR). Still, the role of school systems and education, as well as the needs of children, are not generally fully integrated in the regional or country-level emergency preparedness, response, and recovery efforts, despite a thematic cluster "Platform on Knowledge and Education" established within the ISDR Interagency Task force (2005) and some promising country-based programs.

Taking all of this into account, the purpose of preparing the five country profiles on ECD in emergency preparedness are a first attempt: (i) to provide valuable basic information on ECD/Education in emergencies in the selected countries; (ii) to outline key issues on further boosting the agenda of young children's needs and ECD within the emergency strategies; (iii) to identify emergency related risks and vulnerabilities that could arise in ECD/Education; and (iv) to document the present capacities and eventual gaps of key players in the ECD subsector. The five profiles represent a starting point for additional systematic work to assess and document the presence and capacity of ECD and education structures and actors with respect to emergency knowledge, emergency training programs, and emergency materials, as well as the availability for national and regional players of emergency technical documents, including strategies and action plans.

What Issues Do The Five Country Profiles in CEE/CIS Region Reveal?

Young children's needs and ECD are generally absent from the emergency preparedness and response strategies in the region. Each of the five country profiles identifies a general omission of young children from emergency preparedness and response strategies. While CEE/CIS countries with international support are developing or reviewing the country strategies and plans and mechanisms for emergency preparedness response and recovery, little has been done at the level of education preparedness and response to emergencies, and a great deal remains to be done in order to include the needs of young children and the ECD subsector in this work. The issue of integrating children's needs far more prominently in national emergency strategies and action plans is critically important. A consistent, continuous, advocacy action initiated by international organizations promoting the rights and needs of young children in partnership with all ECD stakeholders at the country level is crucial in order to address this issue. Limited coverage of preschoolers is an obstacle to address the needs of young children in emergency planning and management; it is crucial to also address those outside existing ECD services. In four out of five countries, the coverage of ECD services is below 50% for 3- to 5-year-olds, going down to 10% in some countries (Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan) and as low as 3% in rural areas. This situation is rather similar to other countries in the CEE/CIS region. In this respect, it is crucial to support countries in developing strategies addressing the needs of young children in case of emergencies not only within the existing system of ECD services and institutions, but also outside, in order to reach young children through families and communities. The second area of intervention fits well with the priority of most country emergency plans to support emergency preparedness and response at the community level. The profiles underline the consequences of the multi-sector dimension of early childhood. The profiles show how, in each country, the children's needs are addressed by various institutions and expertise, which are all also supposed to play their role in emergency situations. The profiles underline that in order to make an ECD in emergencies strategy successful and effective, it is critical to take an integrated, multi-sector approach in each country, including health, social protection, community organization, and schools, among others, as well as working through the national, sub-national, as well as community levels. Beyond common characteristics, the profiles stress that such multi-sector approaches will have particularities in each country, as well as the importance of integrating and taking full advantage of available in country and regional experience, expertise and field presence. The five profiles suggest building on existing experiences in the region in order to achieve the integration of children's needs into existing and new emergency strategies and action plans. This should include sharing information in terms of initiatives, training, material, and measures about lessons learned across the region regarding addressing the needs of young children within national agendas on emergency preparedness response and recovery.

To download the reports, please visit www.issa.nl/resources.html. For more information about the project, please contact Eva Izsak at eizsak@issa.hu.

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