Early Childhood Development in Emergencies: Integrated programme guide

Emergencies are situations that threaten the lives and wellbeing of a large portion of a population and that require extraordinary action to ensure care, protection and survival, as every basic living standard, condition and context is disrupted. The goal of the integrated programme guide for Early Childhood Development (ECD) in emergencies is to guide the humanitarian community in designing a response that takes into account the needs of young children (birth to 8 years of age). The objectives of the guide are:

• To provide guidelines for supporting and enabling young children’s development in all phases of emergencies;
• To advocate for prioritizing ECD on the humanitarian preparedness, response and early recovery agenda and for ensuring that all of its components are adequately addressed;
• To facilitate the integration of ECD into individual sectoral responses and the coordination of a comprehensive response among the health; nutrition; water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH); education; child protection; HIV and AIDS; and social policy sectors, when providing quality ECD services.

This programme guide can be used in times of emergency preparedness, response, and early recovery, and for building resilience. It is designed for use by UNICEF Programme Officers as well as for representatives from other UN agencies, NGOs and government divisions responsible for designing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating ECD interventions.