14 October 2008CG Annual Consultation Budapest, Hungary

Overview of Presentation

• Overview of ARNEC• Key activities 2008• Intro to EFA Info

ARNEC Mission

The Asia-Pacific Regional Network for Early Childhood (ARNEC) is a professional network established to build strong partnerships in early childhood across sectors and different disciplines in the Asia-Pacific Region.

ARNEC aims to strengthen advocacy, policy reviews and development, research and innovative practices in early childhood at national and regional levels with the goals of aligning these to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and achieving the objectives of optimal holistic development for all children.

ARNEC Objectives• Expand the knowledge base on innovative practices

in early childhood in the region;

• Analyze, synthesize and disseminate information in ways accessible and useful to a wide range of actors and stakeholders from different disciplines;

• Create capacity building opportunities; and

• Leverage human, institutional and financial resources in support of early childhood development.

Key Guiding Documents• Preliminary Drafts of Key

Documents▫ ARNEC Bylaws▫ ARNEC Internal Rules▫ ARNEC Work Plan▫ Criteria for ARNEC Secretariat

Base

• Ongoing Revision Since Then…

Core Donors

• Expansion of Core Donors ▫ UNESCO Asia Pacific Regional Bureau for Education▫ Plan International, Regional Office for Asia▫ UNICEF (EAPRO, ROSA, HQ)

▫ Open Society Foundation (OSF) – A new Core Donor▫ Save the Children Alliance – Core Donor status in

discussion

Steering CommitteeMahmuda Akhter

HeadECDRC, BRAC University Institute of Educational Development BANGLADESH

Nirmala RaoProfessor

Faculty of Education, The University of Hong KongHK, SAR,

CHINA

Zhou XinProfessor of Early Childhood Education

Department of Early Childhood Education, East China Normal University CHINA

Divya LataSenior Program Officer

Network Early Childhood Program, Open Society Foundation GLOBAL

Adarsh SharmaConsultant

Food and Nutrition Technical Assistance, Academy for Educational Development INDIA

Ng Soo BoonHead

Preschool Unit, Curriculum Development Centre, Ministry of Education MALAYSIA

Kishor ShresthaAssociate Professor

Research Center for Educational Innovation and Development, Tribhuvan University NEPAL

Karen HaiveFirst Assistant Secretary

Policy & Regulatory Services, Department of Community DevelopmentPAPUA NEW

GUINEA

Marilyn F. ManuelDeputy Director for ECCD Concerns

Council for the Welfare of Children PHILIPPINES

Mohammad MohsinRegional ECD Advisor,

Plan Asia REGIONAL

Maki HayashikawaProgramme Specialist in Gender and Quality Basic Education

APPEAL Unit, UNESCO/Bangkok REGIONAL

Cliff MeyersRegional Education Adviser

UNICEF EAPRO REGIONAL

Kok Siat YeowAssistant Director,

RTRC ASIA Pte. Ltd. SINGAPORE

Jenny JamesNational Preschool Coordinator

Ministry of Education VANUATU

Membership:

• Individual Members▫ Membership is free and open to any individual in the

field of early childhood who is concerned with young children and families of Asia and Pacific, and who supports, follows and draws from the work of the Network.▪ Have contributed to and worked

in support of EC through related fields

▪ Have potential to contribute to and support the work of the network at the local, national, or regional level

Membership:

• Individual Membership▫ Free of charge. Registration last for 1 year (w. re-

registration required)▫ No limit on membership by employer, nation, religion, or

by any other grouping/characteristic. Does not represent any affiliation with member’s employer or institution

▫ Receives regular newsflashes and newsletters, access to member-only data, opportunities to join Task Forces/Committees, and more!

▫ Currently over 250 members from 30 countries

Membership:

• Institutional Members

▫ Core Group/Donors▫ Friends of ARNEC

▪ Membership criteria/requirements under development

A Growing Network & Partnerships

• Formal Linkages with the Consultative Group on ECCD▫ ARNEC is the “official” Asia-Pacific network linked to the

CG

• Expressions of Interest from Potential Members/Partners▫ Global, regional and national networks ▫ Organizations interested in joining as partners or

institutional members

• Informal Linkages with Regional Networks▫ Informal linkages with networks in other regions

2008 Activities

Communication TF

• The Communication TF works to build effective communication for networking, knowledge building and advocacy within the ARNEC network and with stakeholders and broader audiences in Asia Pacific and beyond.

Key Activities • ARNEC Logo• ARNEC monthly Newsflash & Newsletter (The first

issue will be published by the end of December)

• Policy & Advocacy TF promotes effective policy development and implementation to support optimal holistic development of all children through policy review, communication and advocacy activities.

Key activities• Regional EC Advocacy materials development based

on the 4 cornerstones• Support EC Advocacy and Awareness Campaign at

country level

Policy & Advocacy TF

Regional EC Advocacy materials development based on the 4 cornerstones

• There will be 4-5 materials, including one for each of the 4 Cornerstones, and potentially a supplement providing more general background on Early Childhood Development.

• Each material may potentially include the following four components:

1.1)    Description and explanation of the key messages in the relevant Cornerstone

2.2)    Available data and situational analysis from the region3.3)    Available research in support of key messages, with a

preference for research from the region4.4) Examples of innovative practices from the region to

demonstrate the possibilities for supporting ECD in Asia-Pacific contexts

Regional Early Childhood Advocacy Materials

• The Research TF works to strengthen research on early childhood within the region, expand the knowledge-base on innovative practices and disseminate analysis and information for a variety of audiences.

Key Activities• Early Childhood Mapping

• Compilation of key EC research and research resources (researchers, institutes, databases, journals, etc.) in the region

• Compilation of Innovative Early Childhood Practices

Research TF

• Our goal is to obtain a national picture of activities and efforts related to Early Childhood in each country

• Country coordinators identified in 21 countries; data collections underway

• Some of these data, along with information from already available sources uploaded on the ARNEC website by the end of December

EC mapping survey content1. Policy and advocacy2. Parenting3. Research4. Innovative practices5. Standards 6. Child protection7. Emergency preparedness

Early Childhood Mapping Initiative

Overview• EFAInfo 1.0 was developed to support countries in Asia

Pacific to better monitor Education for All – particularly on the occasion of the EFA Mid-Decade Assessment. EFAInfo is based on DevInfo software – and can be easily linked/adapted to existing EMIS

•  • EFAInfo incorporates indicators on the following EFA

Goals and reflects in its structure the set of MDA indicators – both core and policy/system indicators

• Based on DevInfo, a free software developed to monitor the MDGs and implemented in many countries across the world

•  Release scheduled for late 2008 / early 2009 – by CDROM and on the web.

A Common Database System features

Contains EFA MDA indicators, ready for customization, data entry and use

Compiles all relevant data in one system, allowing for multiple sources of data

Facilitates easy retrieval of data

Provides for analysis of trends over time

Integrates powerful presentation tools (table, graph, map)

Indicator Metadata

2119 September 2008

Partnerships Adaptations

Customized DatabasesMore than 40 national statistics organizations and other agencies have adapted DevInfo database technology to user-specified requirements

Objectives at 2 levels

• Provide a tool and template for national implementation and the develop of systems to better compile, monitor, present and analyze education data

• To develop a regional database as record of the Asia and Pacific EFA MDA integrated with education-related, national and sub-national data, including:

Objective 1:Tool for national implementation

• Very versatile tool. EFA Info can be adapted so that indicators match existing data sets and studies

• Countries can upload data easily from Excel files, revising the template to accept data on new indicators

• Map files exist for countries, regions, provinces and in some cases, districts.

Objective 2:Database Contents

• National EFA Mid-Decade Assessment Data• EFA GMR (latest)• SOWC (latest)• MICS3 – now seeking results from MICS3 in S.Asia and CARK• MICS 2 – though this data not as complete as MICS3• GenderInfo• LLSMS• DHS• EMIS from selected countries• Special Surveys on disabilities, literacy, learning achievement

National ActivitiesCambodia: CamInfo very developed already• Excellent disaggregated data prepared for EFA MDA Report• EMIS is well advanced, and linked to EFAInfo• MICS and other surveys uploaded • Capacity in MOE and in National Statistics Bureau to use CamInfo and EFAInfo exists

Mongolia: MongolInfo exists• EMIS and MICS data already uploaded• M&E position is newly create and staff lack general knowledge of education indicators• EFAInfo training conducted for Education M&E staff from 22 provinces to develop provincial

databases and to compile EFA data. Piloting Provincial database to monitor EFA

Takijstan: TajikInfo exists• MICS data in process of being uploaded

Nepal: NepalInfo exists• Excellent disaggregated data already uploaded• Capacity with counterparts to use DevInfo already built

Sri Lanka: Just don’t know

Objectives at 2 levelsRegional• Develop a regional database as record of the Asia and Pacific

EFA MDA integrated with education-related, national and sub-national data. Coverage includes: ▫ Central Asia▫ South Asia▫ East Asia▫ South-East Asia ▫ Pacific

• Complementing regional initiatives underway: ASPBAE Info

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Database Contents• National Education data

▫ National EFA Mid-Decade Assessment Data ▫ Education Statistics reports

• International data▫ EFA Global Monitoring Report (UNESCO)▫ State of the World’s Children Report (UNICEF)▫ GenderInfo (UNSD)▫ Millennium Development Goals (UNDP)

• Household survey data▫ Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) – South, East and Central Asia▫ Living standards survey (LLSMS)▫ Demographic and Health Survey (DHS)

• Special studies▫ Literacy, Disabilities, Caste and Ethnicity, Economic surveys

440,000 data points from 210 sources

2819 September 2008

Source: Mongolia, Ministry of Education, Culture and Science

Central region 88.5

Khangai region 49.1

West region 59.5

Ulaanbaatar 74.3

East region 54.9

Percent

49.1 - 55.0

55.1 - 65.0

65.1 - 75.0

75.1 - 88.5

Missing Value

Note: The boundaries and the names shown and the designations used on these maps do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations.

Source: Mongolia, Ministry of Education, Culture and Science

S tunting and E C C E experienc eT hailand, 2006

R 2 = 0.80630

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0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18

P reva lenc e of stunting in c hildren under the a g e of 5 (modera te a nd severe)

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Source Thailand MICS 2006

Source: EFA GMR 2008, Mongolia, Ministry of Education, Culture and Science

Source: Mongolia, Statistical yearbooks, Ministry of Education, Culture and Science

Source: Mongolia MICS, 2005

• Timeline

New Secretariat Base for ARNEC

ARNEC Website

http://www2.unescobkk.org/ARNEC

ARNEC website will have a new outlook by end October 2008!

Thank you very much!