Advancing Early Childhood Education in Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States

Across Central and Eastern Europe and Commonwealth of Independent States governments have gradually started to rebuild national and decentralised systems for early childhood education and care but coverage in many cases... [ view full abstract ]

Across Central and Eastern Europe and Commonwealth of Independent States governments have gradually started to rebuild national and decentralised systems for early childhood education and care but coverage in many cases remains low with significant equity gaps in access. UNICEF has been working in the region at a national systems level to support transition to sustainable, quality preschool education, particularly approaches that prioritise early learning and school readiness (ELSR). In 2013 the UNICEF CEE/CIS Regional Office commissioned EfC to undertake an evaluation of its ELSR work, with specific objectives to assess: i) whether changes in national ELSR systems have led to increased access and reduced equity gaps; and ii) the contribution of UNICEF to these system changes and the validity of UNICEF’s generic theory of change, reflecting four areas of system changes and UNICEF’s seven core roles, to UNICEF’s ELSR work.
Based on the results of the evaluation UNICEF CEE/CIS has embarked on follow-up activities to promote a harmonised approach, across Country Offices, for access, quality and equity in early childhood education provision, including developing consensus around common objectives and programming approaches, and identifying M&E tools. Activities include development of a strategy for UNICEF’s Regional Knowledge and Leadership Agenda in ELSR; identifying effective ways to provide guidance to governments, policy-makers, education practitioners, teachers, and NGOs working in early childhood education, and disseminating the results of the evaluation.
In this presentation evaluation results are summarized, progress in following up recommendations is discussed, with lessons learned and continuing challenges.