AKDN | Early Childhood Development

Our health services and community health programmes are designed to reach vulnerable groups in society, including families with young children. We aim to provide high-quality, accessible and utilised antenatal, delivery and postnatal care services; newborn and low birth weight care; and care for childhood illnesses. We try to ensure that caregivers are mentally and physically healthy, and that mothers and children are fully immunised.

We provide ECD resources and training for health workers, help to create child- and family-friendly spaces in health facilities, and work to identify and help children in need of supplemental nutrition.

• Read about the Central Asia Stunting Initiative

Our ECD centres and programmes provide access to quality ECD services in remote rural areas. The 40,000 preschools that we support or run use a child-centred active learning approach that encourages teamwork and a pluralist ethos. They operate to international best practice standards, using locally sensitive curricula and languages.

Our ECD programmes provide training and support for teachers. They help them to:

• offer safe, stimulating and nurturing early learning environments for young children;


• establish childcare, pre-primary and early childhood centres;


• equip new and existing preschools with quality age-appropriate and contextually relevant resources;


• establish community and school libraries; and


• provide access to learning opportunities through education technology such as mobile applications and television.

For example:

• The Madrasa Early Childhood Programme (MECP) began as a pilot project at the request of the Muslim community in Mombasa, Kenya. It has helped establish over 200 community pre-schools, and provides support to government and other ECD providers in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.
  
  Over the last 40 years, MECP has delivered professional development to 8,000 teachers, and improved care and services for more than a million children. Research findings demonstrate that the Madrasa approach makes a real difference in children’s cognitive development and later success in school.


• Rural communities in Kyrgyzstan often migrate to high pastures, or jailoos, each year, causing children to miss kindergarten for four to five months. In 2006, AKF, in partnership with the government, started 21 jailoo kindergartens in yurts during the summer pasturage. These brought structured, active, and enjoyable learning opportunities to more than 1,000 children.
  
  The concept has since expanded to other villages and summer pastures. For example, the international public foundation Roza Otunbayeva Initiative has supported the establishment of jailoo kindergartens in more than 100 communities. Watch the BBC documentary.


• The Aga Khan preschools in Gujarat, India, operate in rural/semi-urban areas. Supported by 140 volunteers, they are affordable for those from a difficult socio-economic background. They take a child-initiated learning approach and have a strong focus on inclusivity. Two of the preschools won Education World Preschool Grand Jury Awards in 2020.

We create and strengthen the capacity of institutions and invest in human resources for ECD. AKDN agencies also strengthen the capacity of government health and education facilities and institutions that offer services to young children and their families.

The Aga Khan University (AKU) offers certificates through its Human Development Programme and Institute for Human Development, as well as undergraduate and postgraduate programmes for health and education workers. AKF has established three Madrasa Early Childhood Resource Centres in East Africa, which are now recognised by governments as credible training institutes for ECD. In Portugal, AKF contributes to the education of ECD professionals through a Master’s degree in Lisbon and postgraduate training in Porto. Find out more

AKDN has created Science of Early Child Development (SECD) resources in partnership with Red River College. Over 6,000 ECD practitioners and policy makers have benefitted from these resources. Take the free online course for policymakers.

The Institute for Human Development at AKU hosts an ECD Workforce Hub. This provides:

• evidence-based professional development courses to caregivers, frontline workers, policy makers, and practitioners in delivering effective ECD care and services;


• technical advisory services to meso- and senior-level government officials, policymakers, and practitioners working in the ECD sector; and


• knowledge into action services, by translating scientific research from the region and global levels into accessible resources for specific target audiences.

We establish quality, affordable childcare and preschools. They offer mothers the freedom to work and create jobs for young women in remote areas who lack the opportunity to continue their education. Across many of our geographies, AKF is working with stakeholders to increase economic opportunities for women while enabling families to support their youngest children.

In East Africa, AKF has created job opportunities for over 2,000 young women through the Madrasa Early Childhood Programme. In Kyrgyzstan, we are developing an ECD Startup Kit, building ECD and business skills for female entrepreneurs, and facilitating community support. Read more

Meet Favziya from Tajikistan, who established her own ECD centre after taking a business planning course at the University of Central Asia’s School of Professional and Continuing Education.

AKDN’s institutions and agencies are keen to develop and share best practice through research and learning. AKU's departments and institutions conduct high-quality research in health and social sciences, including the ECD Workforce Hub.

AKF manages an ECD Centre in Lisbon, Portugal, which is a living laboratory for learning and knowledge sharing. Its research has led to national spinoff programmes and the widespread use of a child-centred learning methodology. AKF contributes to the education of ECD professionals through a Master’s degree in Lisbon and postgraduate training in Porto. Find out more