From 15 to 21 July 2024, I attended the 76th World Assembly and International Conference of the World Organisation for Early Childhood Education (OMEP) held in Bangkok, Thailand on the theme ‘Right from the Start for ECCE: Step Beyond All Together’, which opened an avenue for the ECCE practitioners to reinforce their mission, exchange experiences and to build greater network among the various ECCE actors.
OMEP is a non-governmental organisation (NGO), founded in 1948, operating in more than 60 countries and defending the rights of children in early childhood. As a close collaborator, the Right to Education Initiative (RTE), was invited as one of the guests along with other global and regional partners including UNESCO, UNICEF, Asia Pacific Regional Network for Early Childhood (ARNEC), Global Campaign for Education (GCE) and ECDAN. While the Assembly and Conference offered a platform for OMEP members to review, renew and rejuvenate their strategic goals, it also opened up a space for collectively reflecting on the emerging challenges on ECCE, urgency for the states and civil society actors to fulfil the commitment and exchange best practices. My key takeaways include the following:
1. Envisioning the future of ECCE in the context of emerging challenges
One of the conference's main focuses was to look at the ECCE rights in the context of emerging challenges. Especially, the experts who delivered the keynote addresses highlighted this dimension. Mathias Urban, Director of the Early Childhood Research Centre at Dublin City University has drawn attention to how the changing scenario of ‘Climate catastrophe, loss of biodiversity, pandemics, displacement and forced migration, war and violence, poverty, erosion of democracy, and the general disastrous consequences of global capitalism and neoliberalism’ affects young children. Responding to these challenges, he emphasised that the purpose of ECCE needs to be reclaimed from a radical position of concrete hope and capability. Further, he underlined the importance of working collectively in solidarity, rather than just reacting to the changing world. In connection to this, Sheldon Shaeffer, Chair, Board of Directors, ARNEC, who called this situation a ‘polycrisis’ emphasised that ‘ECCE systems and educators must clearly understand this difference and help provide young children with the skills and knowledge not only to mitigate the impacts of this polycrisis but also to survive and thrive within it.’ Supplementing these views, Asiya Foster. OMEP VP for North America and the Caribbean drew attention to ‘exploring the intersection of environmental advocacy, social equity, and economic resilience’. Further, she reiterated that policymakers, educators, families and communities must collectively work to ‘cultivate a generation of environmentally aware, socially responsible, and resilient individuals who will, in turn, be equipped to address the complex challenges’.
2. Fulfilling Tashkent commitments and addressing the gaps in ECCE is a need of the hour
OMEP had allotted dedicated time to discuss the existing challenges in ECCE and the Tashkent follow-up actions. UNESCO and other partners presented at the forum shared some of their initiatives that align with the Tashkent commitments. Rokhaya Fall Dawara, ECCE Lead, UNESCO headquarters reiterated the significance of the Tashkent Declaration, as an ‘essential document which consolidates a series of commitments aimed at ensuring that every child has access to inclusive, quality, and equitable ECCE services.’ Presenting the key findings of the first Global report on ECCE, titled ‘The right to a strong foundation. Global report on early childhood care and education’, she highlighted the global and regional challenges, especially regarding equal access, quality and financing. She shared recent data:
- Inequaliy starts early particularly affecting development outcomes for the most disadvantaged. In countries with data available, 30% of children are not developmentally on track.
- The enrolment rate for one year of organised learning before the start of primary school decreased to 72% in 2023 from 75% in 2020.
- The financial gap for one year of pre-primary is much more serious than in other levels of education. At least 10% of the national education budget should be allocated for pre-primary education.
- Trained teachers’ ratio is just 57% in low-income countries. At least 6 million more teachers need to be recruited to reach universal enrolment for one year of pre-primary education by 2030.
In this context, she emphasised that transitioning the Tashkent commitments into action requires adequate funding, international collaboration, and a localised approach tailored to the needs of each community.
Tashkent declaration recommended that states focus on strengthening the legal framework of ECCE and further called upon UNESCO and civil society organisations to explore and contribute to this process. In response to this recommendation and similar recommendations made by the UN Special Rapporteurs in their 2022 and 2023 reports, the development of the Guiding Principles on ECCE Rights has been initiated by a Global Advocacy Group on ECCE Rights, the Right to Education Initiative is part of. I presented the background, content and process of developing these Guiding Principles, a multistakeholder initiative that intended to strengthen the normative framework of ECCE in international human rights law. I indicated that the Guiding Principles aim to unpack and consolidate the existing legal obligations of States scattered across multiple human rights instruments to guide the national implementation of ECCE and inform other initiatives aiming at strengthening international law.
3. Assuring a violence-free world and imparting peace in young minds
As Mathias Urban said, ‘The world we live in today is characterised by complexities, contradictions, and uncertainties of unprecedented scale.’ Young children who get into this turmoil endure trauma, neglect and violence. Myo-Zin Nyunt, Deputy Regional Director, UNICEF East Asia, and the Pacific Regional Office, while highlighting 4 key issues that to be addressed, he indicated the violence and physical punishment children experience today as one of 4 major issues.
In such a situation, one of the aspects that sets the hope is the integration of peace education into the ECCE curriculum and pedagogy. A symposium organised under the title ‘OMEP World Projects: Play, peace, colour your rights’ highlighted some of the best practices from countries including Japan, Cyprus, Kenya, Ghana and France. The colourful cranes (origami art of crane birds) folded by young children from the Nagasaki region of Japan and poignant paintings of migrant children in Cyprus on the theme ‘colour your rights with the rainbow of peace’ were just appealing. Some best practices of peace education in Thailand too highlighted the importance of nurturing young peacemakers in a world that faces violent and conflict situations.
4. Focussing on holistic approach and decentralisation
A holistic approach to ECCE is an important focus area as early childhood is a crucial age for the social, emotional, physical, mental and intellectual growth of a person. Presentations made by the ECCE practitioners, researchers and experts further emphasised them. In particular, the need for a collaborative approach between different sectors has been reinstated. For instance, Betzabe’ Butron, Former WHO Advisor on Child’s Health called on the policymakers and civil society to ‘accelerate actions for effective collaboration between education and health sectors’. She further emphasised that both sectors are interdependent and enhancing the cross-sector collaboration will create opportunities for relevant institutions to address the root causes of poor education and health outcomes. Asiya Foster, OMEP VP for North America and the Caribbean, emphasised the other dimension that holistic approaches to ECCE should prioritise environmental consciousness, and promote social justice and economic empowerment. Rokhaya too emphasised the importance of the multisectoral approach to ECCE.
Similarly, a lot of best practices that were presented at the conference demonstrated the effectiveness of planning and execution of ECCE at the local level. For example, a symposium organised by UNICEF Thailand and Equitable Education Fund (EEF) on the theme
‘Multi-Sector Collaboration: Enhancing Area-based Early Childhood Development in Thailand’ highlighted how area-based approaches and catalysing local resources strengthen ECCE programs. ECCE educators from Samut Songkhram and Sukhothai Province highlighted that establishing operational mechanisms at multiple administrative levels -provincial, district, and sub-district ensure prompt and appropriate support. Further, they confirmed both formal and informal provincial mechanisms foster effective collaboration. They have identified some challenges that affect the implementation including the lack of support for training ECCE personnel, discrepancies between system data and local area findings, and other factors such as family context.
5. Integrating the human rights dimension into ECCE research and practice
The conference saw nearly 400 participants from across the world. ECCE educators and practitioners shared research findings conducted on a wide range of themes including issues related to the digitalisation and integration of Artificial Intelligence in ECCE systems and pedagogy. However, there is a lacuna in terms of researching ECCE and analysing issues through the lens of human rights. The analysis of the conference presentations done by Sheldon indicates that the vast majority of the presentations dealt with micro-level ‘best practices’. Out of the 399 presentations, only around 35 focussed on themes related to human rights. Sadly, there was none on the impact of climate change, despite it being identified as one of the major issues affecting children.
In conclusion
Overall, the Assembly and the Conference were rejuvenating the ECCE actors. OMEP world which is led by the ardent advocate for ECCE rights, Mercedes Mayol Lassalle, along with the executive team, reaffirmed their commitment to continuing their advocacy for a United Nations Decade for Early Childhood Care and Education. Together with OMEP members, the partners, experts and other conference participants, they echoed their demand that ‘the human rights of children must be placed at the centre of the political agendas of all countries to assume, face and overcome the risks, suffering and injustices that the youngest are living at the founding stage of their lives.’ As Mercedes said, the transformation of ECCE is multidimensional and does not just end with the provision of more services and infrastructure. It involves cultivating a culture that recognizes the vital importance of the early years.
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For further information:
Read OMEP 2024 World Declaration
Watch:
- Mercedes Mayol Lassalle (OMEP)’s keynote address
- Rokhaya Fall Diawara (UNESCO)’s keynote address
- Myo-Zint Nyunt (UNICEF)’s keynote address
More videos will be uploaded soon on OMEP YouTube channel: @omepworldTV.
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