In support of the Nurturing Care Framework and related guidelines, the Africa ECD Network (AfECN) has developed a regional advocacy capacity building programme targeting government, civil society organizations, academia and communities. The online sessions run from 1 June to 1 August 2020.
The programme provides a sustained platform for supporting countries in the development of SMART advocacy strategies that address the challenges they face in the design and implementation of early childhood programmes. Participants consider 10 steps (see below) which will help them identify the scale, scope and nature of gaps and weaknesses, and provide a process for developing responsive strategies for a strengthened system.
The key tools to support the capacity-building programme include:
- A situation analysis which identifies common strategic nurturing care priorities and systemic weaknesses across Africa;
- A scorecard to assess the status of nurturing care and supporting systems in each country as measured against the identified priorities;
- A tool box to support the analysis of the scorecard and use of collected data to develop an evidence-based, legally grounded advocacy strategy to strengthen the system and improve the nurturing care deficits in each of the countries.
Each of the participating countries will select a team of advocacy champions to lead and coordinate the co-development of a national advocacy strategy.
