PARTNERSHIPS TO EFFICIENTLY SCALE UP EARLY CHILDHOOD INNOVATIONS IN

BHUTANInnovations in financing and partnerships to increase investment in ECCE and improve the efficient use of resources

J U L Y 2 0 1 6

S a r a D a n g E C C D S e n i o r S p e c i a l i s t , S a v e t h e C h i l d r e n

We work in over 75 countries around the globe

We reach directly close to 2 million children per year and we indirectly touch

the lives of over 10 million children

We support a wide range of programs - Home based, Community-based,

School-based, Parent Education, Intensive Summer Programs, among others

Save the Children’s Global ECCD Portfolio

Crossing the Pass

OBJECTIVE: To improve literacy, math and developmental

outcomes among preschool-age children in Bhutan and

ensure they have the foundational skills to succeed in school.

ECCD in Bhutan

Total population:

• 785,000

ECCD program:

• Started in 2008

• Over 200 ECCD centers

Save the Children Bhutan’s Programmatic

Contributions:

• Basic ECCD facilitators’ training

• ECCD curriculum implementation guide

• Parenting education manual

• Quality Learning Environment tool nationally (Quality

Monitoring Tool for ECCD Centers)

Crossing the pass overview

What is early literacy?

What is early math?

Emergent literacy in Bhutan

16% 15%24%

12% 9% 14%

24% 21%

26%

26%

11%14%

0%

25%

50%

75%

100%

Community Corporate Private CSO NFE Parenting No ECCD

Baseline Gain

Emergent literacy gains during the 2015 school year (by type of service)

Emergent math in Bhutan

Emergent math gains during the 2015 school year (by type of service)

28% 23%35%

21% 21% 24%

20%17%

20%

23%14% 12%

0%

25%

50%

75%

100%

Community Corporate Private CSO NFE Parenting No ECCD

Baseline Gain

Using existing systems to scale up ELM

Partnership with the Government

• National level

• District level

Partnership with the ECCD

Facilitators

• Peer sharing meetings

• Creation of ECCD center materials

Online Partnership

• Includes all ECCD stakeholders

• Connecting ECCD facilitators

Partnership with Families

• Engagement of families in children’s

home learning

• Volunteering in ECCD centers

Partnership with the National Government

Process to integrate ELM in the national

curriculum

• Workshop for key stakeholders from the

Government, schools and ECCD centers

to integrate ELM in the ECCD curriculum

• Creation of a working group with the

Government to review the modifications

Partnership with the District-Level Government

Partnership between ECCD Facilitators

Partnership between ECCD facilitators

Establishing MoE-supported ECCD resource

centers to model the ELM pedagogy and support

children’s holistic development.

• Coach other ECCD facilitators by identifying

strengths and weaknesses, demonstrating

improved practices

• Run meeting between ECCD facilitators in their

network to share new ideas, challenges, and

resolve issues, and make new materials.

Partnership between ECCD Facilitators

Online Partnership

Use of Facebook to allow ECCD facilitators

to share ideas, questions and progress

Partnership with Families

Ripples

How do you scale up

ELM to those without

access to ECCD

centers?

BANGLADESH: Summer Learning Program

Six week course

• Facilitated by adolescent

volunteers on vacation during

the months prior to school

start up.

Parenting sessions once a week

• Very engaged with high

attendance! Many would come

to drop off kids but stay to see

what the kids were doing.

Very affordable model of

alternative preschool education

• Can work with low numbers of

children in remote areas

MONGOLIA: Partnership with Families

Beneficiaries

• Children of nomadic herders moving 3-4 times a year

• Not able to go to kindergarten

Design

• Parents enroll children in a home-based school preparation

• Children take home a “mobile” kit of books and toys

• Parents trained on how to use the kit to assist their child with

learning, becoming the teachers at home.

• After the child finishes one kit, the family returns to the library

to get a new kit.

• Total of 10 kits

• Runs over a period of 4-6 months

Cost

• Roughly $15 per child

• Very low cost versus standard kindergarten (food provision

alone is more than $75 per child).

ETHIOPIA: Partnership with Families

Children’s gains in learning and development scores were stronger with parenting alone than

with the ELM center program alone

IDE

LA

Sco

re

THE WAY FORWARD

• By July 2017, ELM will be fully integrated in the

ECCD center curriculum and all 200 ECCD

centers

• The project will generate evidence on the gains in

children’s learning and development when ELM is

added to the ECCD center curriculum.

• The project is currently exploring the possibility of a

non-center based innovative approach to reach

children in areas where ECCD centers are not

available.

THANK YOU