High-Level Policy Forum to Target Innovative, Inclusive Early Childhood Care and Education in Asia-Pacific

BANGKOK, 5 JULY, 2016

WHAT: Asia-Pacific Regional Policy Forum on Early Childhood Care and Education: The Transformative Power of Early Childhood: Innovations for Inclusivity and Quality

In 2015 at the UN General Assembly, the international community committed to Sustainable Development Goal 4.2, which calls for all children to have access to quality early childhood development, care and pre-primary education. Developing countries in Asia-Pacific stand to benefit the most from achieving this target; however, in many, ECCE remains an emerging sector fraught with resource and capacity challenges. This high-level ministerial forum aims to spotlight and scale up innovative approaches to such challenges and form a consensus on how this crucial facet of the Education 2030 Agenda can be achieved.

WHEN: 19-21 July, 2016

Opening Ceremony: 19 July: 2pm-3pm.
Declaration and Closing Ceremony: 21 July: 10.30am-12.30pm

WHERE: Putrajaya Marriott (Putrajaya, Malaysia)

WHO: Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and Education Minister Mahdzir Khalid will join UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Education Qian Tang to launch three-day event organized by UNESCO, UNICEF, Asia Pacific Regional Network for Early Education and the Government of Malaysia. The forum will bring together ministers and deputy ministers responsible for early childhood care and education in 21 Asia-Pacific countries, as well as representatives from UN agencies, NGOs, bilateral cooperation agencies, intergovernmental organizations and donors engaged in ECCE.

MAIN THEMES:

• Innovations in policy, planning, service delivery, monitoring and evaluation to reach the most marginalized children;

• Innovations in financing and partnerships to increase investment in ECCE and improve the efficient use of resources;

• Innovations in coordination mechanisms to promote holistic development and enhanced learning outcomes;

• Innovations in teaching approaches and human resource development to improve the quality of ECCE in various settings.

EXPECTED OUTCOME: Policy-makers will be informed about the latest research and innovative approaches to improving equity and quality of ECCE and will commit to a regional declaration outlining a strategy to achieve SDG 4.2.

CONTACT:

UNESCO: Noel Boivin, UNESCO Media and Communications Officer, n.boivin@unesco.org

ARNEC: Silke Friesendorf, Communications Manager, ARNEC (www.arnec.net)
email: silke.f@arnec.net

For more, visit: www.unescobkk.org/education/ecce/what-we-do/policy-research-advocacy/2nd-the-asia-pacific-regional-policy-forum-on-ecce/ or follow the conversation using the hashtag #APFEC2016