Early Childhood Development (ECD) Project

Strengthening Egyptian NGO’s in Early Childhood Development

Description

The overall developmental objective of the project was to provide a healthy environment for the Egyptian children through the evolvement of sound early childhood development (ECD) practices among NGOs, parents, educators, community and in larger extend, policy makers and concerned institutions. The long-term objectives were to develop the capacity of the Egyptian NGOs and concerned institutions to identify, implement and improve ECD programmes through the creation and operation of an ECD network.

The immediate objectives were to:

  • To strengthen the capacity of the Technical Secretariat (TS) to become an advisory, guiding, facilitator and disseminator of ECD practices and techniques to provide assistance and support to the NGOs at community level, and focal point organizations at governorate level.
  • To strengthen the outreach capacity of the current network of 10 NGOs to design and operate sustainable low-cost ECD services and practices at community and governorate level.
  • The network of NGOs in the field of ECD has been extended through the development of the capacity of 20 NGOs to design and operate ECD services and practices.

The first phase was implemented from 1993 to 2000 and the second phase from 2000 to 2003.

Services

  • Arrangement for the program institutional set-up
  • Coordination among the various participants
  • Assisting the participant organizations in the formulation of their workplan
  • Running the technical secretariat of the program
  • Coordination and preparation of workshops, training programs and project activities
  • Identification, planning and support to implementation of the training program
  • Follow-up and manage the technical and financial matters of the program evaluations and regular monitoring and reporting.
  • Provide technical and financial support through training and subgrant to a network of 30 NGOs to introduce sound early child development practices in 8 governorates (inc. Giza, Beni Suef, Dakahliya, Sohag, Qena and El- Arish) and improve the learning environment.
  • Develop a network to improve communication flow between departments of mothers and children of the Ministry of Social Affairs in 8 governorates.
  • Introduced local NGOs to participatory approaches and governance methodology as a tool to strengthen the organizational and institutional capacity.