Objectif de la boîte à outils
The tools currently in this toolkit are related to the first two stages – Education Sector Analysis (ESA) and Education Sector Plan (ESP) development. These are the essential foundations for all other planning and implementation. The toolkit is a “living” toolkit that will be added to over time. In the future, additional tools across the other stages of the Education Sector Planning (ESP) cycle (implementation and budget execution, annual sector reviews, etc.) will be developed. Read more about toolkit next steps here.
This toolkit aims to:
Support countries in consultatively developing and mainstreaming evidence-based, Early Childhood Education (ECE) subsector plans into the broader education sector plans and budgets; and
Build capacity in basic ECE data analysis, prioritization, planning, and costing for enhanced overall subsector development.
Conceptual guidance documents on Education Sector Analysis (ESA) and Education Sector Planning (ESP) already exist (either for the education sector as a whole or specific to ECE). This toolkit supports countries with operationalizing such existing guidance to integrate and strengthen ECE within the Education Sector Planning (ESP) cycle.
Although the framing for this toolkit is the Education Sector Planning (ESP) cycle, the tools in the toolkit may be used beyond the context of sector planning, to support other analysis and planning processes – for example, for a funding/grant opportunity; for guiding a subsector reform; for informing ECE policy or legislation; for advocacy purposes; etc.
Toolkit Features
Interactive, customizable and action-oriented tools which support the “how-to” of education sector analysis and planning, such as fit-for-purpose indicators, checklists, templates, and guiding questions that may be populated with recommendations provided in real-time
Responsive to stakeholders with a range of technical early childhood education and planning experiences and competencies and at different stages in the analysis and planning cycle – less detail to more is provided across toolkit sections and tools
Illustrative ECE-related and country case studies and examples to show how tools have been or may be applied in a variety of contexts
Cross-cutting themes and considerations such as inclusion, gender equity, crisis, and advocacy
Linkages with supplementary resources that provide foundational knowledge on certain issues such as public financing, broader early childhood development costing, and more
Why was this toolkit developed?
Children have a right to develop to their full potential over their life course. The importance of quality Early Childhood Education (ECE) is reflected in the Sustainable Development Goals, as target 4.2 calls for access to quality pre-primary education for all children.
Despite the proven benefits of ECE, at least 175 million children are not enrolled in any form of ECE. In low-income countries, 8 out of 10 children are missing out on ECE opportunities; and for those who do have access to ECE, quality is a key issue. Globally, an average of 6.6% of domestic education budgets is allocated to ECE. Moving ECE from the margins of Education Sector Plans (ESP) to their centre ensures that ECE is a part and parcel of the broader education system’s and early childhood development landscapes.
To achieve this ambition, it is important to ask a key question: How can countries effectively plan, implement, and assure quality of early childhood education at scale? To make these monumental movements and to accelerate progress, the focus on ECE must be elevated so that it is systematically integrated and/or strengthened within national budgets and cycles of education sector planning and policy implementation.
To this end, the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) and UNICEF have partnered under the Better Early Learning and Development at Scale (BELDS) Initiative to pilot an innovative and consultative approach to strengthen national capacities to plan; cost and finance; and monitor ECE programmes and ensure that they are a crucial part of the processes for education sector planning and implementation.
The global toolkit – originally conceived as part of the BELDS Initiative – seeks to support and expand this approach, leveraging the Education Sector Planning (ESP) cycle as a key entry point and a blueprint for influencing education systems. Country experiences and expertise of global partners played a key role in informing the development of this global toolkit. Read more about how the toolkit was developed here.
- Do you want to have more background information on BELDS? Please see this flyer.
- Do you want to know about the BELDS pilot countries’ experiences? Please read their blogs and listen to their webinars here.
Who is the target audience?
- Government stakeholders such as preschool directorate staff from national Ministries of Education
- Development partners, such as those who are part of preschool, ECE/ECD working groups/networks at sub-national and national levels that serve as coordinating agencies, Local Education Group members or similar development partner coordination entity; civil society organizations and private sector partners; humanitarian and refugee actors which support provision of ECE in fragile, crisis, and conflict-affected contexts
Stakeholders from Ministries of Education, Public Administration, and Finance responsible for planning and financing; education sector planning; ECE policy-setting; programming; financing and management of ECE service provision; implementation and its related monitoring/supervision
Throughout the national education sector planning and implementation cycles.
In which contexts is the toolkit applicable?
The toolkit is designed to be globally relevant and address countries’ varying needs and contexts. This first iteration of the toolkit includes key actions and tools that may be broadly applied independent of context, whether ECE is centralized or decentralized; provided by state or non-state actors; or provided in fragile or crisis contexts.
Cross-cutting issues are highlighted for each section of the toolkit and woven into tools to help countries identify initial contextual considerations.
The toolkit recognizes that countries may, in the future, need additional tools and guidance for context specific needs. For example:
- on establishing ECE budgeting criteria to support stakeholders in decentralized contexts in developing fit-for-purpose budgeting criteria to equitably allocate local tax revenue and other local or private funding for ECE purposes;
- on designing and costing strategies and activities for ensuring inclusive ECE;
- on ECE-specific crisis-sensitive planning, budgeting, and implementation to prepare governments to respond to acute crises; ensure ECE is well-reflected in transitional education plans; and engage strategically with humanitarian coordination mechanisms and actors.
Please refer to “How to Use the Global Toolkit” to identify which currently available tools may be most relevant to your current efforts.
Toolkit development process & contributing partners
The toolkit was developed in 2020 through a year-long consultative process with over 48 stakeholders including:
- Reference Group: 23 institutions represented by 30 reviewers
- 7 UNICEF CO staff
- 1 UNICEF Regional Office ECE Consultant
- 3 National ECE/ECD Technical Working Groups with multiple members
- 7 UNICEF HQ staff
- 3 independent consultants
The ECE Accelerator Toolkit was made possible with the financial support of Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, Open Society Foundations, Dubai Cares and Comic Relief, and overall leadership of Global Partnership for Education and UNICEF.
Conrad N. Hilton Foundation
Open Society Foundations
Dubai Cares
Comic Relief
Global Partnership for Education
UNICEF
Global Toolkit Next Steps
Conceived as a user-friendly and knowledge-sharing “living platform”, all content of this global toolkit is available open-source for download, translation and contextualization.
You are an essential contributor to this dynamic resource! Please Contact Us to share:
- how you are using the tools,
- ideas you have for improvements or additional tools,
- and any other feedback you wish to provide.
In 2021-2022, improvements, identified revisions, and demand-driven additional tools and resources will be added.
- This will happen gradually as the global toolkit becomes widely used and lessons learned around its use emerge in partnership with governments and development partners.
- Implementation tools will be part of the toolkit’s next expansion phase. Governments and development partners will be invited to co-create or share institutional implementation tools that may be globally relevant to add to the toolkit.
- Cross-cutting thematic areas such as advocacy, crisis, inclusion and gender equity have “considerations” in each toolkit section currently, though could have in-depth tools developed in the future.
- Currently, most tools are only available in English, but there are plans to make prioritized or high-demand tools available in other languages in the future.