Raising the Standards – Quality childcare provision in East and Central Africa

This publication presents a set of standards and indicators to guide staff and agencies in the provision of a minimum standard of care for children. The standards apply across a range of care settings and cover the delivery and administration of child care services, staff and caregiver competence, and the quality of care children should expect to receive. These standards are based on work carried out in East and Central Africa, and have been piloted across a range of agencies in the region. These standards are basic enough to be applied also in emergency and conflict settings. Each standard is helpfully accompanied by indicators, the legal basis for the standard, and the practice implications.
The document is specifically directed at those involved in policy making, social and community work, and the provision of child care services. This document presents the results of work carried out by Save the Children UK in East and Central Africa, although it has global relevance. For adaptation into national standards, the indicators would need to be further contextualised, baselines established, and additional sections added, e.g. on implementation activities and verification.