EVALUATION OF EARLY CHILDHOOD CARE AND DEVELOPMENT AND BASIC EDUCATION PROGRAMME

Background:
Plan Zambia is implementing a Child Survival and Development Project with support of Plan Norway and funded by NORAD as part of the Framework Agreement (2008-2010): GLO 0742 – GLO 07/385. The core elements of this program include Safe Motherhood, Child Health including support for interventions that contribute to effective survival and development of children in their early childhood years from age zero to 5 years. The Plan Zambia Country Program on Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) and Basic Education, constituted part of the Plan Zambia Country Programs implemented within Plan Zambia Country Strategy - 2004-2009. The relevant early childhood development objectives of this program were to increase the number of boys and girls under 6, enrolling in Early Childhood Care and Development Programs.

Plan Zambia observed in its strategic analysis that there was limited (facility based) early childhood care that accorded parents and caregivers with knowledge and skills on infant stimulation and access to Early Childhood Care and Development. The provision of early education was limited to Pre-school and to mainly to children whose parents had the capacity to pay the fees, as most of such institutions were privately managed and accessible mainly to urban based parents with adequate income to afford such services for their children. The ECCD program is also used as an entry point for supporting children’s development and parenting skills in the early years which further provides opportunities for better preparing children to succeed in school as well as positively influence parents’ attitudes about the value of formal education. ECCD centers are also used as connections to other interventions e.g. access to safe water, nutrition, growth monitoring and immunization for children.

This evaluation summary will therefore, focus on only the findings and recommendations of the program components that directly relate to supporting the specific objectives /intentions for Child Survival and Development. Since this evaluation was completed, Plan Zambia has drafted new Country Programs within which will be the programs that will continue to carry through the aspirations of the NORAD funded Child Survival Program. A separate evaluation will be carried out specifically for the Child Survival Program in its final year of implementation (2010). That evaluation will be more focussed on the goals, objectives and interventions of the NORAD support.

Purpose/objective:
The purpose of the evaluation was to provide Plan, its partners and stakeholders an assessment of the extent to which the objectives of the program have been achieved. Specifically, the evaluation would be used as basis for planning the next cycle of country programs relevant to the area under review, as part of the broader country strategy for Plan Zambia. The evaluation reviewed the program and its activities that were implemented from July 2004 for their relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability and impact in relation to the issues that were identified and set objectives. It must be noted that this evaluation therefore was conducted towards the end of the first year of the Plan Zambia NORAD supported Child Survival and Development Program (2008 – 2010).

Methodology:
The evaluation used document review / desk study which among other things included review of program documents and field work which involved conducting of interviews with key informants at national, district, program unit, and community level and focus group discussions with beneficiaries at community level. The evaluation was predominantly qualitative employing participatory methods which  for the Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) elements, included conducting semi structured interviews and group discussions with the following: In home based (targeting children 0-3 years) and centre based ECCD (targeting children 3-6 years): parents, care givers, ECCD committee members and mothers in charge of the feeding program, Area Development Committees (ADC) and traditional leaders were targeted in these interviews.

Key findings:

1. The evaluation observes that Plan is not only using the ECCD Centres as vehicles for preparing young / preschool children for formal education but also as centres for providing nutritious food and growth monitoring services for those children. The integration of feeding programs in the ECCD program is appreciated by the communities who also claim that this has contributed to reduction in malnutrition incidents in under 6 children.
2.  The ECCD centres are also reported to have increased children’s socialization and readiness for formal schooling, noting that children who attended pre school (ECCD) were more likely to have improved personal skills e.g. for personal hygiene like how to use the toilet and socialization.
3. The evaluation observes that the support provided to the volunteer care givers at ECCD centres and overall resource mobilization for running of those centres to be inadequate. Some community representatives suggested integration of Income Generating Activities as a way of strengthening resource mobilization capacities of the ECCD Centres. In general available ECCD structures and volunteer teachers working in ECCD centres were also considered inadequate to an extent that most centres mix younger children under 3 with the older ones.
4. The evaluation observes that the ECCD program is not effectively incorporating children with disabilities. However, the team noted that considerable number of opharned children is participating in the ECCD programs. Caregiver capacity and resources e.g. toys for supporting goals for integrating children with disabilities were also found to be lacking.

Recommendations:
The evaluation recommends that

1. There is need to advocate for government involvement in ECCDE care-giver motivation.
2. There is need to increase the number of caregivers at ECCDE centers. This will not only reduce the strain on a few care-givers but also reduce demand on care-givers’ daily presence at the center.
3. Increase linkages/partnerships at community level for provision of motivation incentives.
4. Training for care givers and community members should be on-going.
5. Work on standardizing ECCDE training content and making training material readily available in the communities.