The Regional ECD conference, My Key Takeaways

Are children voiceless or can we hear them? Perhaps let's try Empathy to hear their voices....

If you are reading this then you can, in one way or another, attest to the fact that investing in Early Childhood is building human capital along the life course. One can't help but ponder over the outcomes of the recently concluded Eastern Africa Regional ECD Conference that took place in #Daresalaam. It was organized by the #AfECN and saw an attendance with delegates from stakeholders in this sector drawn from across the world such as #WHO #WorldBank #The_Hilton_Foundation #UNICEF #AU #ECDAN #TECDEN #AKU #ChildFund #KMET #PATH #SmartStartInitiative #LREB among others.

How could 6 months of paid parental leave look like for you who is always away from your young ones? It was interesting to learn the amount of traction that has been made by the various key players in the sector, from life-changing policies by the public sector to advocacy and complementary efforts by partners across the board. While there was so much to learn, contribute to and engage in, a poignant reminder at the #EARC2024 was the “Children in Crisis” where three categories under this segment were discussed.

One of these categories is that of ‘Children during emergencies, response and crisis’. Drawing lessons from past and ongoing crisis experiences such as the #3Cs of #COVID_19, #Conflict and #Climate_change, how much does programming and financing during these emergencies factor the #child as the focal person?

In the same breath are the ‘Children without parental care’.? Did you know that over 35 million children in Africa are without parental care? Well, the report released by the African Union Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child reveals this. Do state institutions consider these children in service delivery and how strong are children's systems to see them overcome situations in the absence of the parent? Don’t we say ‘mtoto ni wa serikali’ (the child belongs to the government).

The final category is that of ‘Children of incarcerated parents’. What does the law say about parents to children below 4 years that have been incarcerated? Such affected children must be accorded a means to maintain their relationships and enhance secure attachments with their parents. In Kenya, the Constitution of Kenya Article 53 (2), Prisons Act (Cap 90) Section 30(4), the Children’s Act 2010 Part II (4,5,6,7,8,9,12 and 13) and Sentencing guidelines (Part III-20: 36-38) are three legal frameworks to which the policy on care of children of incarcerated mothers is drawn. According to this policy, a conducive environment is to be created for the best interest of the child to be realized. This also allows for the children 0-4 years to accompany their imprisoned mothers. But the question still rings, how much provision and capacity have our prisons have to this effect?

In a nutshell, there is a need for such high-level convocations that bring together representatives in the different sectors such as academia, government faculties and partners in the practice to share lessons, learn and explore opportunities for enhancing Child Welfare for the African Child. This will see more research from d academia to churn out evidence, more policies to provide frameworks for service delivery to children and the sharing of lessons, experiences and best practices from the partners. The multi-sectoral approach that has been largely advocated for remains the salient strategy given the multi-faceted nature of issues affecting children. In Kenya, the Lake Region Economic Bloc has been quite avant-garde in how this can be implemented, as was demonstrated in the Multi-Sectoral Team (MST) constitution in the county government of Siaya. Is this approach scalable? Quite a pregnant question to pose to practitioners in the field and academia to provide evidence-based to that effect!