by: Nanditha Hettitantri

September 2, 2009 — In Sri Lankan Context, the ‘Early Childhood’ is defined as the period of the child’s life from the conception to age five. All children are born with capabilities and competencies, which need support and care of the adults to develop to its full potential specifically during the Early Childhood. In Sri Lanka, this support and care are currently provided by the government, civil society and the private sector at different levels and in different capacities.

The National Committee on Children provides policy guidelines on the ECCD, while the Children’s Secretariat- under the Ministry of Child Development and Women’s Empowerment- implements the programmes under the approved policies. The National Policy on ECCD provides guidelines on ECCD interventions and defines coordination mechanisms for ECCD activities at national, provincial, district, divisional and village levels in order to improve systems, approaches and service delivery.  Still, the preliminary review of the ECCD related organizations, academia and experts in Sri Lanka revealed the necessity in implementing ECCD programmes in much coordination.  Need for improving coordination in ECCD has been highlighted and discussed in the media and in public forums. The programme specific evaluations in ECCD also provide evidence for lack of coordination among stakeholders in ECCD.

The Children’s Secretariat, as an extension of the previous important steps they have taken in improving the coordination, proposes to establish an ECCD Network that can be functioned under the guidance of the National Committee on ECCD.  The  establishment of the Network and identified activities will be implemented by the Children’s Secretariat in collaboration with the Programme Learning Group/Care and Protection of Children Network and the Institute for Participatory Interaction in  Development.

The establishment of the Network and identified activities will be implemented by the Children’s Secretariat in collaboration with the Programme Learning Group/Care and Protection of Children Network of the Institute for Participatory Interaction in Development.

The Children’s Secretariat and the CPC Learning Network/PLG of the IPID look to:

· Improve coordination, collaboration and accountability within the ECCD related organizations and stakeholders;

· Gather data, information and resources on ECCD and communicate with the public;

· Facilitate sharing of experiences, research findings, evaluations and lessons learned of the government, bi-lateral agencies, international/ local non government organizations, private sector and academia in the ECCD;

· Encourage the use of widely accepted and practiced ECCD definitions, operational frameworks and methodologies in both emergency and normal situations;

· Build capacities, skills and competencies of the personnel working in ECCD.

A result-based activity plan and monitoring and evaluation framework for the ECCD Network will be developed with the participation of relevant ECCD Network stakeholders at the inception of the project.

A number of ECCD thematic forums and an international conference are planned for the first three years. Furthermore, a database of ECCD programmes and experts and a Network website will be developed, and a resource center will be established at the Children’s Secretariat.