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Early childhood care and development (ECCD)
The first six years of a child’s life is a time of great promise and rapid change, when their developing brain is most open to the influence of relationships and experiences. However, millions of children across the world are at risk of not reaching their full potential because they do not get the care and stimulation they need in the early stages of life.
To achieve the SDGs and ensure that all girls and boys, especially the most deprived, are developmentally on-track we need to start early. Save the Children works with families and communities to help children to develop foundational learning skills in the years leading up to school. Save the Children also works with communities and partners to advocate for policies and practices that recognise the value of starting early and investing in cost-effective, inclusive quality approaches to ECCD.
Our goal is that all children will access quality inclusive early childhood care and demonstrate improved child development outcomes.
Save the Children’s experience shows that to reach the most vulnerable children, we need to go beyond preschools. High quality caregiving must be supported both in homes and in early learning centres to build strong foundations for young girls and boys. Moreover, rural, linguistic minority and refugee children need urgent support as they are falling behind. Save the Children works to address these gaps through targeted interventions, such as early learning programmes that support children’s learning at home in emergency and post-disaster settings, among remote and nomadic communities, and in areas where preschools are not available or accessible.
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Child Rights Education Toolkit: Rooting Child Rights in Early Childhood Education, Primary and Secondary Schools
This toolkit, developed by UNICEF, defines what is meant by child rights education and the child rights approach. It explains the relevance of child rights education to UNICEF’s mission and the ways in which education can take place in a range of conte
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Small Children, Big Cities: Impact through design intervention
Organised by the Bernard van Leer Froundation with support from the National Institute of Urban Affairs and the Ministry of Urban Development (Government of India), the conference Small Children, Big Cities: Building Smart Cities for Child-friendly 21 st-
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First Read: Supporting families with young children to learn together
In Cambodia, only 18 percent of pre-primary school aged children are enrolled and participate in Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) services while children aged 3 to 5 years old represent 33%. Less than half of all children enrolled in primary sc
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Saving Lives Protecting Futures: Progress Report on the Global Strategy for Women's and Children's Health 2010-2015
In 2010, the United Nations Secretary-General launched the Global Strategy for Women's and Children's Health to accelerate progress towards achievement of Millennium Development Goals 4, 5, and 6. These goals addressed reducing child mortality, improving
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Transforming young lives through education: The 2014 review
Education is the means by which we equip our children with the skills and knowledge they need to thrive in the world. It’s a powerful tool in developing the full potential of everyone and in promoting individual and collective wellbeing. Read about how Sa
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Zambia Lufwanyama Sponsorship Baseline Progress Report
This report examines the results of the International Development and Early Learning Assessment (IDELA) implemented in Lufwanyama district in Zambia in October 2015. The assessment covered 318 children at the age of six, 168 of which who had received an E
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MELQO-IDELA Bangladesh Baseline Report: June 2015
Aligned with the government’s vision for universal pre-primary education in Bangladesh, Save the Children has been implementing one-year pre-primary education programs for children aged 5 years through different projects in multiple districts in Banglades
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Afghanistan ECCD Study, November 2015
This study provides a cross-sectional summary of young children’s skills and development and is the first of its kind in Faryab, Saripol, Kandahar and Kabul provinces. Save the Children’s International Development and Early Learning Assessment (IDELA) was
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The Lottery of Birth: Giving all children an equal chance to survive
In many countries across the world, the odds of children surviving to celebrate their fifth birthday have improved considerably in recent years. Today, 17,000 fewer children die every day than was the case in 1990 and the global under-five child mortality
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Literacy Boost Afghanistan Year 1 October 2014
This report examines the results of a learner background survey and reading assessment conducted in Faryab and Saripul, Afghanistan, prior to beginning the Literacy Boost intervention and again after a year of implementation. This report explores: the com
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Tsunami Ten Years On: Stories of Change 2004-2014
The objective of this study is to analyze the strengths, weaknesses, sustainability, and impact of the tsunami response in Sri Lanka and Indonesia 10 years later. A cross cutting theme of this study is the assessment of whether communities are now better
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Supporting Emergent Literacy and Math Skills (ELM) in Early Childhood Programs in Ethiopia
One of Save the Children’s programmatic priorities is supporting 3 to 5 year old children around the world with quality early childhood care and development (ECCD) programs. The focus is on strengthening school readiness skills so that children are ready