Technical Meeting to Enhance Nurturing Care for Early Childhood Development in the Health SectorNairobi, Kenya, 25 – 28 February 2025
The meeting was co-organized by the United Nations Children’s Fund Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office (UNICEF ESARO) and the World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa (WHO AFRO).
The hybrid meeting brought together 90 participants (in-person and online) from 8 countries: Botswana, Burundi, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, and Zambia. Participants included government delegates from the Ministry of Health; Ministry of Gender; Office of the President of First Lady; and sub-national government; as well as WHO and UNICEF staff and partners.
The meeting concluded with the development of country-specific action plans to enhance actions contributing to nurturing care for early childhood development with and through the health sector in each of the participating countries.
Background materials
Agenda
Concept note
List of participants
Meeting report (forthcoming)
Presentations
Day 1
- Nurturing care for early childhood development (NCfECD) key concepts
- Global progress in implementing the Nurturing Care Framework
Strengthening Multisectoral Policies for ECD
- Overview – Eastern and Southern Africa
- Botswana: A policy framework for holistic ECD
- Burundi: ECD Strategy (2021-2027)
- Kenya: Integrated ECD Policy
- Tanzania: National Multisectoral ECD Programme (2021/2022 – 2025/2026)
Day 2
- Overview of ECD-specific interventions
- Well-care approach
- Regional analysis of nutrition and ECD counselling services
Country examples
- Botswana: Integration within PHC
- Malawi: Mapping of the well childcare visits
- Uganda: Integrating interventions for disabilities in early childhood into PHC
- Burundi: Play to heal
- Zambia: Integrating nurturing care interventions into the health system
- Mozambique: Health workers’ competencies
Day 3
- How do we know if we are promoting nurturing care in health facilities?
- Experiences from Europe and Central Asia
- Experiences from South-East Asia
- Interventions for Community Health
- Kenya: Nurturing care at sub-national level
- Ending Violence against Children (slides, video)
Resources
- Update on resources (slide deck)
- Responsive care and early learning addendum
- Responsive care and early learning video series
- PATH ECD Knowledge Hub
Additional reference materials
