Promoting Holistic Child Development : Opportunities for Synergistic Investments in Early Years in Nepal
The global development community has recognized holistic investments in early years as a sound foundation to achieve at least seven Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on poverty, hunger, health, education, gender, water and sanitation, and inequa...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Report |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2020
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/661871591122613764/Promoting-Holistic-Child-Development-Opportunities-for-Synergistic-Investments-in-Early-Years-in-Nepal http://hdl.handle.net/10986/33897 |
| Summary: | The global development community has
recognized holistic investments in early years as a sound
foundation to achieve at least seven Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs) on poverty, hunger, health, education, gender,
water and sanitation, and inequality. In Nepal, the
2005–2015 Early Childhood Development (ECD) Strategy, a
Thematic Working Group on ECD in the National Planning
Commission (NPC), and a Parliamentary ECD Caucus—all
indicate a strong political will to prioritize the ECD
agenda. Recent programming from development partners has
also provided a substantive push toward a holistic,
integrated approach to ECD in the country. However, ECD is
still understood by stakeholders mainly as an
'education' agenda, and programs that comprise the
various ECD dimensions, including nutrition, stimulation,
and social protection, are not coordinated. A transition to
federalism offers unprecedented opportunities for
integrating and packaging ECD interventions at the local
level. As such, this review aims to (a) build a common
definition and framework to guide the integrated approach in
investing in early years (b) identify current successes and
gaps in current programming, and (c) explore actionable
opportunities to integrate services in early childhood to
ensure that every child gets a healthy start in life. The
study consisted of four phases, starting with a desk study,
followed by national-level discussions and field-level
discussions and then evidence synthesis to design a
framework for synergizing investments in early years. An
analytical framework (AF) was formulated based on the
findings of desk reviews to guide the consequent discussions
and selection of respondents for national-level
consultations from relevant government agencies, donor
partners, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). The team
conducted field visits to further deep dive into specific
cases, challenges, and potential opportunities in scoping
for work in ECD. Field visit sites were chosen through
purposive sampling aimed at iteratively filling the
information gaps in the AF and improving the accuracy of
data already collected. To this end, about 18 key informant
interviews (KIIs) and nine focus group discussions (FGDs)
were conducted in Mahottari, Mugu, Lalitpur, and Kathmandu
Districts. The consultations at both the national and field
level generated critical lessons, considerations, and
potential entry points for increasing delivery efficiency of
ECD services offered across the three thematic pillars of
health and nutrition, learning and stimulation (L&S),
and social protection. The study offered critical insights
into the current policies, priorities, and programming,
including a spectrum of interventions in ECD and care. It
also provided the necessary background to explore current
definitions and scope of 'integration'. For
consistency purposes, hereafter, the report defines the
concept as a synergy of (a) goals (objectives that can be
met only through multisectoral approaches); (b) processes
(implementation modalities, client-engagement models,
communication activities, and information systems); and (c)
resources (financial, human, and technical) to enable
holistic development of the individual child over the life course. |
|---|