The future of Southern Africa like anywhere in the world depends upon its young generation and children. But it is also a fact that the majority of them in the region are growing up in conditions of dire poverty with large numbers denied the nutrition, health care, quality interactions, play and learning opportunities that will enable them to develop to their full potential. Few parents know what is at stake, and there is little demand for services. Government responses are variable, poorly financed and in many cases inconsistent. While many initiatives have succeeded in achieving specific actions in a single country, for example, by developing a national policy or supporting a new service, there have not been significant efforts to address the sector as a whole in the region.
The Early Childhood Development and Education Programme (ECDE) programme of Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA) with the aim to put into place an initiative that seeks to make significant improvements in the early childhood sector in Southern Africa by engaging in multi-levelled interventions in countries in the SADC region. Activities will be developed initially in Mozambique, Swaziland and Zambia.
The OSISA ECDE Programme is a joint collaboration with the Open Society Foundation Early Childhood Programme (ECP) in London and OSISA’s Education Programme. The goal of the newly formed ECDE programme is to promote access to quality, comprehensive early childhood development and education for all children, from birth to the first years of compulsory education, in a manner that places a premium on eliminating inequalities in current access for the most marginalised and vulnerable children.
The current call for concept notes now aims to realise the objectives of the ECDE programme primarily through focus on the civil society strengthening component of the broader ECDE strategy. OSISA is therefore announcing a call for proposals, in two separate categories, anchor (of up to $150,000) and catalytic grants (of up to $50,000), for projects that support the development and education of young children from birth through age eight in Mozambique, Swaziland and Zambia.
ECDE Programme Objectives:
- To support the implementation of effective ECDE policies and high quality programmes through ensuring better collaboration between different ministries and departments within the state, different tiers of government and the state and civil society;
- To increase the awareness of the importance of ECDE amongst the general public in addition to building the capacity of civil society actors to engage with policy, law and practice related to ECDE at the local and national levels;
- To increase the overall capacity of the ECDE sector (including professional and community based groups) to develop, implement and evaluate quality early childhood services;
- To improve the research capacity within the ECDE sector in order to produce and disseminate strategic information to inform policy and practice related to ECDE; and,
- To improve the levels of collaboration and coordination between state and non-‐state actors, through fostering regional networks and linkages for civil society and state actors, researchers and community actors, etc.
Eligibility
Grant applications will be considered from organisations that meet the following criteria.
- Registered non-‐profit charitable or advocacy organisation or a government department working in this sector;
- Working on education, health and social welfare programmes in particular on ECDE;
- Working at national level on advocacy related work and at community level on ECDE services.
Deadline for submitting the concept notes is July 29, 2011
For more information and details, please visit this link.
