From 25 to 27 November 2019, IICBA attended a Project Advisory Committee Meeting in Kigali, Rwanda, organized by the Danish Union of Early Childhood and Youth Educators (BUPL), Education International (EI) African Regional Bureau, and the Teacher Unions of Rwanda. The meeting was organized as part of the “Learning through Play” project initiative and close to 25 participants attended it. Dr. Yumiko Yokozeki, Director of IICBA, and Dr. Binyam Sisay, IICBA Program Officer, represented IICBA at the meeting. Additionally, the project meeting was attended by senior representatives of the Federation of East Africa Teachers Union (FEATU) and national teachers’ unions from Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Zambia.

Dr. Yokozeki gave the opening speech as well as made a presentation on IICBA’s work on early childhood care and education (ECCE). Dr. Sisay also gave a presentation on Reflections of the “Learning through Play” workshop, an IICBA perspective. There were also discussions on the sidelines of the workshop to identify potential areas of collaboration in the future on building the capacity of early childhood teachers. Accordingly, Dr. Yumiko and Dr. Sisay were included to serve on the ECCE Advisory Committee of the project initiative. IICBA also reiterated its commitment to continue collaborating with BUPL and national teacher unions to strengthen the capacity of preschool teachers on ‘learning through play’ strategies.

Check out IICBA’s latest publication in ECCE, a toolkit for teachers, caregivers and other stakeholders on play and resilience here https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000370734