In Sub-Saharan Africa, just 0.3% of public education expenditure budgets are spent on pre-primary education, compared with 8.8% in North America and Europe. As of 2012, just 23 of 47 countries had developed and adopted national ECD policies, with 13 countries having developed drafts yet to be approved. Much more needs to be done to draw attention to implementing policies aimed at increasing access to quality services, especially for poor and vulnerable children. The African Early Childhood Network (AfECN) focuses on advocacy efforts directed at increased prioritization of ECD in national and regional agendas, as well as increased resource allocation to ECD. AfECN works to strengthen these advocacy efforts through the support and development of regional and national advocacy strategies.

Strategic Activities

1. IMPLEMENT REGIONAL ADVOCACY STRATEGY

Develop regional advocacy strategies to guide efforts towards enhanced engagement with regional and continental communities and support national policy implementation.

2. SUPPORT NATIONAL ADVOCACY

Facilitate the development of national advocacy and communication strategies to guide network advocacy efforts. Identify critical national issues requiring legislative support and develop relevant policy briefs to be disseminated in a timely manner. Strengthen advocacy capacity through the development of an advocacy building toolkit.