This presentation was made at the AfECN International Conference on Early Childhood Development which took place in Nairobi in October 2018.

1. AfECN 2018
The Africa We Want - A Better Future Now
Building the Foundations of
Equity: Guidance note on
policy analysis & review
Sheila Parvyn Wamahiu, PhD
Director, Jaslika Consulting

2. Nurturing Care Framework Vision &
Guiding Principles
A world in which every child is able to develop their full potential
and no child is left behind.
• Equity, including gender equity, is at the core of realizing human
rights.
• Governments must ensure interventions cover population
groups equitably, particularly groups that are excluded,
marginalized or vulnerable in other ways.

3. Background
• Based on a Guidance Note Commissioned by AfECN in 2016
• Intended to provide strategic direction to AfECN, partners,
collaborators on how to strengthen the equity agenda for early
childhood development interventions in sub-Saharan Africa.
• Provides 4 tools for review and equity analysis of policies,
materials, policy advocacy and mainstreaming equity
perspective
• Presentation: Highlights of the Guidance Note --- selected
findings, emerging issues and recommendations

4. Methodology
Desk
Review
ECD
materials
Policy
review
and
analysis
Literature
review
&
analysis
• Age focus: 0-8 years
• Sub-Saharan Africa
• Developed checklists customised for each
of 3 components
• Guided by an equity approach that builds
on understanding that
• Children are not a homogenous group
(differentiated by intersections of age,
gender, ethnicity, religion, residence, socio-
economic status, sometimes caste & race,
and abilities
• Opportunities and life chances for all
children not same due to discrimination,
availability, affordability
• There is need to identify children most at
risk and why (structural inequities)

5. Scope, methodology & sample size
u Literature review – reconstructed
landscape, “Triple Heritage”
u Policies and action plans
v ECD, Gender and OVC
v 10 SSA countries
v Majority from 2006 – 2016; few pre-2006
v Sourced from Internet and AfECN
u ECD Materials
v Kenya, pre-primary focus
v Quantitative and qualitative assessment
Policy
and
Ac;on
Plans:
26
ECDmaterials:7+1
LiteratureReview:Publicly
available(Web,libraries)

6. Emerging Issues – Landscape
Positive
• African indigenous
education effective
teaching-learning methods
• Values of generosity,
interdependence guiding
intragroup social cohesion
• Positive attitudes towards
CWD in specific groups
• Relationship with
caregivers (mothers,
grandparents, community)
Negative
• Pedagogy of
difference
• Exclusion at multiple
levels (gender, ethnicity,
disability)
• Reinforced through
traditional/
contemporary media,
rituals, social norms
Drivers of Inequity
• Inequity closely linked to
social exclusion
• Systematic
discrimination has effects
on individual child &
group
• Interplay of contextual
factors lead to social
exclusion, inequity
• Social
• Economic
• Political
• Cultural

7. Emerging Issues – Policy
• Inadequate focus on early years in Gender and OVC policies despite clear equity rationale.
Neither the situation analysis nor the objectives of Gender Policies target young children
• Inadequate targeting of equity in early year policies though different categories of marginalised
and vulnerable children identified, and to some extent specific policy actions/strategies
targeting poor households, children in remote/hard-to-reach areas and children with disabilities
suggested. But achievement of gender equity and equality in and through ECD curriculum and
learning processes absent
• Equity and age sensitive data largely missing. E.g. the health situation analysis backed up by
data (under-5 mortality); birth registration data from Kenya differentiated by geographical
location. But these were not gender disaggregated. Data on ethnicity, religious groups absent.
• Budget targets for ECD not missing at multiple levels
• Policies incorporate multi-sectoral perspectives but little to demonstrate how each sector can
support the other practically
• Decentralisation of services from national to the community level and forging of varied
partnerships in support of early years positive but need for working with each other seamlessly

8. Emerging Issues – Teaching-Learning Materials
• Equity issues are not adequately addressed in the teaching-learning
materials.
• With exception of ECD syllabus handbook on how to effectively reach out
to children with special needs/CWDs, no guidance provided on how to
level the playing field for other marginalised groups (ethnic, religious,
locational, socio-economic).
• Invisibility of CWDs in books despite guidance to teachers on their
inclusion in teaching and learning processes in handbook
• Girls/women and boys/men are considered and visible in the books, but
quantitative and qualitative analyses reveal significant gender bias in most
of the materials

9. Emerging Issues – Teaching-Learning
Materials

10. Recommendations
Perspectives on
corporal punishment
Advocacy, Knowledge
Generation, Dissemination
● Identify and use entry points in on-going
govt. processes/commitments to influence
EC curriculum framework/syllabus towards
equity
● Country level equity analysis of policies/
early learning materials
● Advocate for selection, analysis of equity
sensitive indicators
Capacity Development
● Equity perspectives, concepts and skills
building on equity based programming.
● Equity analysis skills
● Special needs modules and training on
early detection of developmental difficulties
and disabilities.
● Collection and utilisation of age, gender
and vulnerability disaggregated data.

11. Thank You