Financing

To advance the pre-primary subsector, it is important that there is adequate public investment. However, public financing for the pre-primary subsector is historically the smallest percentage of education sector spending. There needs to be stronger advocacy within the education sector to push for greater allocations to ECE. Further, there is often a need to coordinate with other available private and international funding sources, including looking at innovative financing models for alternative routes of funding.

Developing investment cases for ECE may also help with advocacy work to demonstrate the cost and value of investing in ECE and identify financial gaps and the necessary resources and commitment required. 

For a more detailed guide to considerations around financing, including public financing for ECE and innovative financing, please see Tool 5.1 (Financing resource guide). 

 

Resources

Key reference documents

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4 tools to protect and enhance investment in early childhood development and education

(Brookings, 2021). This blog post summarizes a panel presentation from the 2021 CIES annual conference on how to support...
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A better start? A progress check on donor funding for pre-primary education and early childhood development

(Theirworld, 2022). This report focuses on aid trends to pre-primary education using data reported by donors to the OECD as...
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Report

Add Today Multiply Tomorrow : Building an Investment Case for Early Childhood Education

The financing for Early Childhood Education (ECE) is quite low. While countries are investing in early years’ education, the...
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Key reference documents

Better jobs and brighter futures: Investing in childcare to build human capital

(World Bank, 2022). This paper presents the evidence on why childcare matters for building human capital, looks at the...
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Key reference documents

Early childhood care and education landscape overview

Improving outcomes for children, women, families and societies through catalytic investment (USAID, 2023) This landscape...
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Key reference documents

Financing early childhood development - An analysis of international and domestic sources

This background paper analyzes the role of international, national, and private actors in financing ECD, the principal...
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Key reference documents

Global Education Monitoring Report, 2021/2: Non-state actors in education: Who chooses? Who loses?

This report looks at the role of non-state actors in education, , including the financing aspects of non-state activity in...
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Key reference documents

Key principles for financing a quality early childhood workforce

Early Childhood Matters, 2019. This article highlights three principles to improve the sufficience and effectiveness of...
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Protecting & elevating early years programming during & after COVID-19: Tools to support investments

webinar - ECDAN, Brookings, UNICEF, 2019. This webinar explored how to generate rich and impactful evidence on the costs and...
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Transforming education with equitable financing

UNICEF, 2023 This brief presents findings on equitable education financing, highlighting the urgent need to gartget resources...
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Key reference documents

Financing for early childhood care and education: Investing in the foundation for lifelong learning and sustainable development

UNESCO Office Bangkok and Regional Bureau for Education in Asia and the Pacific, 2016. This regional study on financing for...

Tools

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Tool

Guidelines: Regional guidelines on innovative financing mechanisms and partnerships for early childhood care and education (ECCE)

(UNESCO Bangkok and SEAMO, 2019). These regional guidelines are meant to provide major early childhood care and education...
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Education and Early Childhood Development Costing

The education and early childhood development (ECD) costing project at Brookings aims to build global momentum to generate...
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Early Childhood Accelerator Simulation Model

This simulation modeling and costing tool will support countries in estimating needs to ensure universal access to pre...
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Social Media Content: Early Investments and Return on Investment for ECE/Childcare

(Heckman Equation). These social media posts about the return on investment for ECE/childcare can be used in websites...
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Developing investment cases for transformative results

(UNFPA, 2021). This toolkit describes how to develop investment cases, including a step-by-step guide on how to prepare for...

Examples

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How to fund the growing need for early childhood education in Kyrgyzstan

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Investment case of early childhood education (ECE) in Nigeria

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Development of an investment case for early childhood development in South Africa: Prioritizing investments in early childhood development

This report makes a case for the Government of South Africa to invest in Early Childhood Development (ECD) by presenting...
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Early childhood development investment case, costing and financing strategy for children from 0 to age 8 in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip

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Funding equitable and high-quality early childhood education

This policy brief discusses funding, providing analysis of the inefficiencies, inequities, nad sustainability issues with...
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Kidogo

Kenya - Kidogo is a social franchising model that partners with entrepreneurial women to help them start or improve their own...
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Advocate for ECD investments

Pacific Region - In the Pacific Region, the Pacific Regional Council for Early Childhood Development (PRC4ECD) has been...