Home or community-based ECCE programmes refers to one of the recommended modes of service delivery options for ECCE programmes, aimed to increase quality access to ECCE, reach out the most marginalised community and offer early learning experiences in a familiar, localised environment. These programmes are provided either directly in a child's home by a caregiver or within the community setting like a local centre or neighbourhood facility. It may differ from a traditional school or childcare setting, designed and implemented in collaboration with the parents and community. Some of the examples of such programmes include home visits by early childhood educators, playgroup or parent-child group or community-based ECCE centres/pre-schools. This indicator examines the provision of home or community-based programmes.
Convention on the Rights of the Child, Articles 18.2, 18.3, General Comment No. 7 (para.31); Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, Article 11.2 (c), General Comment No. 34 (para. 41.b).
Specific references :
The Committee on the Rights of the Child (General Comment No. 7, para. 31) calls upon States to ‘support early childhood development programmes, including home- and community-based preschool programmes, in which the empowerment and education of parents (and other caregivers) are main features.’ The Committee emphasises that such programmes should be tailored to the circumstances of particular groups and individuals and to the developmental priorities of particular age groups, from infancy through to transition into school. Further it also encourages states ‘to construct high-quality, developmentally appropriate and culturally relevant programmes and to achieve this by working with local communities rather than imposing a standardized approach to early childhood care and education.’
Tashkent Declaration and Commitments to Action for Transforming Early Childhood Care and Education (Guiding principles and strategies for transformational ECCE, para. 3.iv) recommends States to ‘enhance support to parents, families and other caregivers’, through ‘Public family-friendly policies and community-based services should be available, especially for parents facing difficulties, including awareness-raising for parents and families on the importance of ensuring quality ECCE for later schooling and lifelong learning’.