The Early Childhood Workforce Initiative, co-hosted by the International Step by Step Association and Results for Development, recently launched a compendium of six country briefs. The briefs — focused on Ecuador, Ghana, Georgia, Kenya, Philippines and Singapore — illustrate the challenges faced by the early childhood workforce and offer insights into potential responses to them.
The compendium is informed by desk reviews and information collected through key informant interviews with country experts from implementing NGOs, multilaterals and research institutions, as well as program managers and government officials from 15 countries. After identifying six promising country approaches to highlight, researchers conducted further desk research and interviews to identify key enablers and barriers to implementation.
In addition to highlighting efforts to support the workforce across a variety of geographies and services the briefs share lessons about how policymakers and practitioners can strengthen the early childhood workforce.
“The challenges facing the early childhood workforce — limited access to professional development, difficult working conditions, lack of career pathways — are remarkably similar across countries. Yet, we don’t know very much about how to address them. That’s why we’re excited to share how six countries are tackling common workforce development issues. We hope that the practical examples and potential lessons in each brief will help policymakers and practitioners overcome related obstacles in their own countries,” says Michelle Neuman, a senior fellow at Results for Development and author of Developing Career Pathways for Early Childhood Care and Education Workers.
These briefs are part of a body of work produced by the Early Childhood Workforce Initiative — offering insights into country priorities around the early childhood workforce and spotlighting approaches used to support this workforce. Find more research contributing to the understanding of the early childhood workforce across the globe here.
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About the Early Childhood Workforce Initiative
The Early Childhood Workforce Initiative focuses on the country system and policy level to support and empower those who work with families and children under age 8 (e.g. home visitors, preschool staff, community health workers), as well as those who supervise and mentor practitioners (e.g. supervisors, mentors and coaches, trainers). This initiative takes a holistic, multi-sectoral approach to bridge gaps in policy and practice and promote high quality, equitable services. This initiative is co-hosted by the International Step by Step Association (ISSA) and Results for Development.
About Results for Development
Results for Development (R4D) is a leading non-profit global development partner. We collaborate with change agents around the world — government officials, civil society leaders and social innovators — to create strong systems that support healthy, educated people. We help our partners move from knowing their goal to knowing how to reach it. We combine global expertise in health, education and nutrition with analytic rigor, practical support for decision-making and implementation and access to peer problem-solving networks. Together with our partners, we build self-sustaining systems that serve everyone and deliver lasting results. Then we share what we learn so others can achieve results for development, too. For more information, visit our website at: www.r4d.org.
