ISSA and UNICEF Partner to Map ECD Resources in CEE/CIS

Building upon their close cooperation in the CEE/CIS region, both at the regional and at the national level, UNICEF and ISSA have embarked on a new partnership project, which aims to develop a Directory of Human, Technical, Institutional Resources in the CEE/CIS Region.   The Directory will include information on whether these resources are involved in/prepared for emergency response and disaster risk reduction, as well as a limited number of country profiles on emergency preparedness.

This emergencies slant is in line with recent thinking on the prevention, mitigation, and response to the negative effects of emergencies on children, especially young children.  The Directory will support and inform the future work of the two agencies, support the work of their respective professional networks, and enable other agencies to access information about resources available in CEE/CIS.

UNICEF and ISSA recognize that a significant number of young children face critical risks in the Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CEE/CIS) region – a region with a unique social and political context. The period of transition, which began for most countries in the early 1990s, was accompanied by economic decline and the emergence of new political economies which sometimes led to dramatic decreases in the provision of basic services. Recent economic development in the region has not been matched by social development. Children and especially young children are increasingly left behind, and deepening disparities are resulting in the increasing marginalization of vulnerable populations. Reduced public investment in young children, together with poor capacity and the decentralization of accountabilities, present long-term implications for child development, school completion, social stability, poverty reduction and national development.  Reverberations of the ongoing global financial downturn, as well as gloomy forecasts of an imminent “social recession,” have already begun to pose a real threat to the most disadvantaged young children and their families.

Across the region, a great deal needs to be done both in terms of designing effective early childhood strategies and of ensuring their effective implementation, monitoring and evaluation. While the Open Society Institute has played a key role in focusing attention on the early years, it is only of late that development partners and governments are beginning to pay attention to young children. Greater attention is being directed to child poverty and its implications for the very young, as well as the uniquely intertwined health, development and protection needs in the early years, including, particularly, the 0-3 years age group.  While a great deal of pertinent information and evidence has been generated, the information base is scattered, efforts to address young children are fragmentary and isolated and do not result in cross-fertilization or sustainable change. Key regional ECD players have limited information about available resources that can be invoked to reach the goals of ECD and Education.

In the last two decades the region has known a number of emergencies, with several countries of the region remaining prone to new emergencies. “Children between the ages of 0 and 8 represent the highest percentage of those affected by today’s global emergencies” 1. Early childhood is the most sensitive developmental phase and emergencies pose particular challenges for young children; their needs and rights are often violated and/or neglected, with serious consequences for their survival, growth, development and protection. In order to ensure that there is adequate preparedness for emergency situations, it is critical to know what human and institutional resources can be mobilized as well as what coordination mechanisms are in place or need to be established in the ECD and education sectors. 

Better understanding of the situation at the national level and clear data on the resources available in the region is needed to assist efforts of coordination and cooperation among key players in ECD, education and emergencies.  It is in this context that the Directory will represent a critical data base.

Objectives of the Directory

• Identify and document the existence (or lack of) human, technical and institutional resources in ECD and education in CEE/CIS and make this available to a wide range of stakeholders in easy to use form/s;
• Facilitate exchange of best practices, shared learning, increased coordination and cooperation among the key players in ECD in the region.
• Promote the use of ECD and Education expertise from and within the region, and concomitantly reducing dependence on external resources.
• Contribute to building capacity in the region;
• Strengthen the emergency coordination capacities in the region and further develop capacity for cluster implementation, by providing local actors relevant information and resources.
• Develop stronger linkages between regular and emergency programmatic work and contribute to the efforts to mainstream emergency issues into regular programs in order to ensure adequate preparedness and response to emergencies.

Target Audiences for the Directory

The Directory is aimed at international agencies, multi-lateral organizations, donor agencies, international NGOs, national civil society organizations, academics and researchers, early childhood practitioners, teacher training institutions as well as government decision makers from the education, social protection and finance sectors. The findings will be shared widely with a range of relevant stakeholders and will also be made available on ISSA’s website (and linked to UNICEF CEE/CIS website).

Content

The Directory will include information about all countries in CEE/CIS where either UNICEF or ISSA or both have members 2, including those that have joined the EU. Such a variety of experiences will provide wider options for all stakeholders, especially in the CIS region to access relevant expertise and expand opportunities to consult with peers from countries that are undergoing similar social and political changes.

Information in the Directory will be gathered and presented in four different categories:

1. Human Resources: the Directory will list experts, consultants, trainers on relevant topics, mentioning their area of expertise and available working languages. The contact information and a brief description of the profile of the individual will be included in the Directory.  Capacity with respect to emergencies and support to cluster implementation will also be recorded.
2. Technical Resources: the Directory will list training resources, publications, research studies and other material developed locally or for the needs of the region. For all technical resources including those available only in the local language a brief summary in English and a contact person/organization will be provided. The focus will be on resources related to: pre- and in-service professional development of those working in the area of ECD (educators, health and social workers etc.), standards for measuring and promoting quality services in ECD and education, existing experiences of community-based services, parent education and examples of engagement of civil society in ECD.  Entries will include information about resources from the NGO sector as well as from the public and private sector.  Resources available for emergency response (e.g. important publications, kits, manuals) will also be listed.
3. Institutional Resources: the Directory will include information about NGOs, governmental and academic agencies and institutions working in the countries of CEE/CIS, that are responsible for the early years and basic education (birth through primary school). In the area of ECD the scope will stretch beyond the education sector and organizations and agencies working in healthcare, social protection and welfare will also be included. The capacity of institutions to respond to emergencies will also be documented.  The Directory will also include information on major policy and legislation connected with ECD, initiatives and agencies in the area of protection of human rights and child rights in particular and links to other useful websites.
4. The Directory will include a regional overview document on the Education and ECD sectors within the emergency context. A special section on country profiles on emergency preparedness will include relevant information on the general context and characteristics of the education and ECD sectors within five countries: Bosnia-Herzegovina, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova and Tajikistan. The existing coordination mechanisms in the sectors of Education and ECD for emergency preparedness and response will also be documented.

ISSA and UNICEF anticipate that the Directory and five Country Profiles will be published and available on the ISSA and UNICEF websites in early 2010.  For more information, please contact Eva Izsák.