How to use the WCAR ECD Profiles Package
How to use the ECD Country Profiles and the
Regional Profile
The country profiles are composed of main indicators
which are useful to understand the situation of young
children and families in the WCA countries. In each country
profile:
• BLACK INDICATORS refer to demographics (e.g. total population;
total under 5 population etc.)
• RED INDICATORS refer to major socio-economic barriers and
constraints (e.g. child mortality, maternal mortality etc.);
• BLUE INDICATORS, which are ranged in a chronological in
order to illustrate the life cycle, refer to the home and family
environment as well as learning opportunities available.
• ORANGE, PINK and GREEN indicators are context related
indicators from formal (health and education) to informal
(family, social norms) systems.
These indicators are interconnected and they need to be
analysed with a life cycle perspective to understand risks and
opportunities faced by future parents, parents and young
children in each country.
Here are some example to understand the linkages between
some indicators and ECD:
• Women aged 20-24 years old married before the age of
18. Early marriage may have a negative impact on girl’s
education and domestic violence. This may also subject the
girl to an early pregnancy and possible health/labour
complications. And most probably poor parenting.
• Birth rates among adolescents: early pregnancy expose
both future mothers and children to high risks during the
pregnancy period, before and after birth. Preventing early
pregnancies while providing adequate age-sensitive services
to pregnant adolescents and adolescent fathers could reduce
serious potential consequences on the child’s physical and
mental wellbeing.
• Births attended by skilled health personal, as well as
pre-natal and post natal care coverage may have an impact
on child and maternal mortality rates. Home visiting
programs and sensitization activities targeting pregnant
mothers and future parents represent a good entry point for
parental education provision, including messages on child
development through breastfeeding, early stimulation and
bonding with significant caregivers.
• Female literacy rate & girl’s access to secondary education.
Literate girls and women are more likely to provide adequate
care to their children and promote a responsive, nurturing
and safe environment.
• In many countries, children 0-5 are left under the care of
another child younger than 10 years old. It might be
interesting to explore the broader meaning of the caregiver’s
role: who -within the extended family- has a strong
hierarchical decision-making power on the child, in terms of
breastfeeding, nutrition, health, discipline and others.
• Children aged 2-14 exposed to violent disciplinary methods
and environments of domestic violence might be seriously
affected, with lifelong consequences -in terms of brain
development- because of the constant exposure to stress.
Promoting positive parenting and providing adequate support
to vulnerable families could greatly reduce violence against
children.
• Gross enrolment ratio in pre-primary education. Children
with quality early learning opportunities may have more
chances to succeed in their educational pathways. Impacting
not only the child but also the education system by
facilitating right-age admission reducing repeater’s rates and
improving completion rates and overall learning.
Various entry points for ECD can be found, also leaving room
for innovation and improvements to existing policies and
programmes.
How to use the Regional Institutional Mapping
Early Childhood Development: ministries in charge,
policies and the regional prototype
This regional map provides us a snapshot of ECD institutional
environments and the advancements of the regional prototype
in West and Central Africa. It contains various types of
information:
1. Ministry(s) in charge of ECD in each country: for most
countries ECD depends of various Ministries. In some
countries the Ministry of Education responds for the preschool
sector and Ministries such as Social Welfare or Health, are
eventually responsible of day cares and other structures for
the 0-3 age group. There are cases on which the Ministry of
Education is accountable for ECD in its integrity;
2. ECD National Policy: Almost all countries have an ECD
National Policy, for some countries it is still on draft and not
yet adopted. Other countries, such as Gabon and Ivory Coast
don’t count with a national ECD policy, but it doesn’t mean
that they don’t have any ECD activities.
The existence of a national policy could indeed promote ECD
outcomes, but it has to be structured around multiple actors
held accountable, concrete objectives based on evidence
generated at the country level, a monitoring and evaluation
plan and budgets.
3. The ECD Regional Prototype: as WCARO supported
already ten countries since 2012 with the ECD regional
prototype: i) early learning assessment, ii) parental behavior
survey and iii) costing model, these three tools have evolved
thanks to its implementation in different countries. The main
purpose of the prototype is evidence generation on quality of
existing preschool services, interactions within the family
and costing of ECD interventions. The prototype has
revealed promising results and it has the potential to provide
clear action points. But it remains a work in progress.
Note for the user
o Not all indicators are represented. Aspects such as health and nutrition status of the mother, access to water and sanitation, the number of children sleeping under mosquito nets -which are highly
relevant- couldn’t fit.
o Data constraints: this has been a challenging point, since the country profiles were different from one country to another depending on the availability of the data. This is why we decided to keep
the N/A indicators to encourage filling the gap, with similar indicators related to the home and family environments particularly.