Introduction
Section 2 includes resources to support your work during the Education Sector Analysis (ESA) phase. The tools in this section build on and help operationalize the guidance provided in Education Sector Analysis Methodological Guidelines Volume 2, Chapter 7 (methods for carrying out analysis of early childhood development more broadly) and MOOC Module 3 (key considerations for addressing ECE in Education Sector Analysis (ESA)). Like tools in other sections, these are practical and user-friendly.
Conducting an Education Sector Analysis (ESA) is the first stage of the sector planning process (see Figure 1). Outside of sector planning, mapping and analyzing available subsector data is critical to developing and revising policies, conducting a situation analysis to inform proposals and response plans in development and crisis settings, and identifying strategies for operational plans.
It is an evidence-based examination (usually based on existing data) of the entire education system, from pre-primary to higher education (including technical and vocational education and training and non-formal education). The Education Sector Plan (ESP) builds on the findings of the Education Sector Analysis (ESA). As such, it is critical that the Education Sector Analysis (ESA) provides a comprehensive picture of the ECE subsector. However, in the past, this ECE-specific focus has often been weak or absent from the Education Sector Analysis (ESA) process.
The tools in Section 2 support a comprehensive and robust evidence-based analysis (both quantitative and qualitative) of the ECE subsector. This section also includes resources that will help you examine the core indicators of cost and financing variables. This is intended to support your understanding of the costing/financing variables necessary for conducting an ECE financial analysis for the purposes of the Education Sector Analysis (ESA). The goal is to arrive at a synthesis of the strengths and challenges of the ECE subsector, to be included in the Education Sector Analysis (ESA) report or to inform other subsector analytical efforts. Importantly, this synthesis will be used to identify policy priorities and strategies to develop the Education Sector Planning (ESP)’s ECE components (please see Section 3).

Reminders
It is recommended to refer back to tool “1.2 Build to Last: A framework in support of universal quality pre-primary education” (in Section 1) as a starting point for understanding what an effective ECE subsector looks like and what key elements/aspects should be analyzed in the context of the Education Sector Analysis (ESA). The tools in Section 2 are guided by this framework.
Although the focus is on using the ECE analyses within the larger Education Sector Analysis (ESA) process, the tools in Section 2 may be used beyond the Education Sector Analysis (ESA) and to meet the analysis needs across levels (national, sub-national, local). They are relevant and applicable to various analysis situations – for example, they may be used to support the analysis of the ECE subsector:
- for a funding/grant opportunity,
- for guiding a subsector reform,
- for informing ECE policy or legislation,
- or for advocacy purposes, etc.
Objectives
The overall objective of using the tools in Section 2 is to arrive at an evidence-based synthesis of the ECE subsector to inform the ECE section(s) (or ECE chapter) of the Education Sector Analysis (ESA) report. The overall objective includes:
- Identifying, consolidating and assessing available ECE data;
- Filling requisite short-term ECE data gaps as necessary, and identifying longer-term ECE evidence generation plans as relevant;
- Conducting a comprehensive analysis of the ECE subsector to identify strengths and priority challenges;
- Formulating the ECE sections or chapter of the Education Sector Analysis (ESA) report.
To achieve these objectives, the following actions should take place:
This action is needed so that available ECE data sources are identified, consolidated, and assessed (in particularly in terms of the data’s reliability). Through the process of identifying and assessing data, consensus will be built on which data sources should be used to inform the ECE section(s) of the Education Sector Analysis (ESA) report, and serve as the evidence base for later identification of policy priorities, targets, baseline data sources for selected indicators, etc.
This action supports “taking stock” of what data need to be collected and how. It also helps countries to be proactive in identifying a plan to fill data gaps (with options ranging from low-cost, less time-intensive to higher-cost, more time-intensive).
This action focuses on analyzing the ECE subsector in a comprehensive manner (from both quantitative and qualitative perspectives) in order to prioritize issues that should be highlighted in the ECE portions of the Education Sector Analysis (ESA), Education Sector Planning (ESP), and ongoing ECE planning and implementation.
This action will help establish or enhance basic costing capacity across ECE TWG members, at the outset of Education Sector Analysis (ESA) and Education Sector Planning (ESP) processes. This will enable TWG members to engage in ongoing intra- and inter-sectoral dialogue and costing exercises, thereby informing broader financing decisions for improved ECE access, quality and equity. More immediately, enhanced basic costing capacity within ECE TWG members will make it more likely that ECE costing will be integrated into the Education Sector Planning (ESP) and into annual ECE planning and budgeting processes.
Section 2 Tools
The tools featured in this section will support ECE TWG stakeholders in arriving at an evidence-based synthesis of the ECE subsector to inform the ECE section(s) (or ECE chapter) of the Education Sector Analysis (ESA) report.