1

EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT WHAT WE MEASURE WE TREASURE

Oliver Petrovic

ECD Unit, UNICEF NY, September 2011

Outline

2

• New Monitoring Framework

• ECD Conceptual

Framework

• Sample Indicators

• Conclusion

(New) Conceptual Framework for M&E

Level 1:

Equity-focused Situation Analysis + Analysis of Bottlenecks

Level 2:

Monitoring Programme Inputs/Outputs

Level 3:

Tracking the results / removal of bottlenecks identified at level one

Level 4:

Impact Assessment

Guide

programmatic

adjustments

&

management

decisions

Supportive policy

environment

Access to services

Community support

Supportive home

environment

Child development

What to measure at level 1 & 4?

5

Level 1 (and 4): Core Indicators

Home Environment

Supportive factors:

• Caregiver’s

Support for

Learning

• Availability of

Learning Materials:

Children’s Books &

Playthings

Risk factors:

• Children left home

alone

• Violent Discipline

• …

Access to Services

Supportive factors:

• Attendance to

Early Childhood

Education

• Access to Health

Services

• Birth Registration

• …

6

Overview of

the situation

in Low and

Middle

Income

countries

‹Nº›

‹Nº›

‹Nº›

‹Nº›

‹Nº›

‹Nº›

Access to Early Childhood Education,

36 to 59 months, by wealth quintiles

4% 12%

18%

34%

55%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

poorest second middle fourth richest

"Gradual inequity" in Cameroon

35%

51% 57%

61%

81%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

poorest second middle fourth richest

"Gradual inequity" in Vietnam

4% 3% 6%

20%

42%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

poorest second middle fourth richest

"Top Inequity" in Togo

68%

85% 93%

89% 92%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

poorest second middle fourth richest

"Bottom Inequity" in Belarus

Source: Preliminary MICS 3 Data Analysis

14

Early Childhood Development Index

(ECDI)

• A tool to assess several areas of child development:

physical, social/emotional, literacy/numeracy (cognitive),

learning

• Provides a snapshot of (or a window into) the child’s

developmental status at the time of measurement

• Can be used to measure outcomes of ECD, nutrition or

health interventions

• ECDI needs to be put in context of other variables

available from MICS and other sources

15

ECDI, sample

Table CD.5: Early child development index

Percentage of children age 36-59 months who are developmentally on track in literacy-numeracy, physical, social-emotional, and

learning domains, and the early child development index score, Country, Year

Percentage of children age 36-59 months who are developmentally on

track for indicated domains Early child

development

index score [1]

Number of

children age 36-

59 months Literacy-numeracy Physical Social-Emotional Learning

Sex Male 30.6 99.8 92.9 98.8 93.9 655

Female 31.8 99.8 95.3 98.8 94.7 751

Area Urban 37.7 99.9 95.1 98.9 94.8 763

Rural 23.5 99.7 93.2 98.7 93.7 644

Age 36-47 months 14.9 99.7 94.3 98.8 93.7 663

48-59 months 45.8 99.9 94.1 98.9 94.9 743

Preschool

attendance

Attending

preschool

39.9 99.9 96.3 98.9 96.5 617

Not attending

preschool 24.4 99.8 92.5 98.8 92.6 790

Mother's

education

None 8.1 100.0 87.2 100.0 87.2 10

Primary 10.8 99.0 85.1 97.6 83.7 185

Secondary 34.4 99.9 95.1 99.4 96.0 866

Higher/High 34.9 100.0 97.0 98.0 96.0 346

Wealth index

quintiles

Poorest 19.5 99.7 89.4 98.4 88.3 240

Second 24.8 99.8 94.8 98.5 94.8 333

Middle 33.4 100.0 95.2 99.7 97.1 297

Fourth 37.4 99.8 93.4 99.5 95.0 256

Richest 41.0 99.8 97.2 98.1 95.3 80

Total 31.2 99.8 94.2 98.8 94.3 1406

[1] MICS indicator 6.5

16

ECDI Further Analysis (1)

• Hypothesis: in the families where it is reported that

primary caregivers are reading books to a child, the child

literacy/numeracy skills will be higher

Early child development index Percentage of children age 36-59 months who are developmentally on track in literacy-numeracy, physical, social-emotional,

and learning domains, and the early child development index score, Country, Year

Percentage of children age 36-59 months who are

developmentally on track for indicated domains Early child

development

index score [1]

Number of

children age

36-59 months

Literacy-

numeracy Physical

Social-

Emotional Learning

Reading books to a child No 20.9 99.2 88.2 92.9 82.9 145

Yes 32.4 99.9 94.9 99.5 95.6 1261

ECDI Total 31.2 99.8 94.2 98.8 94.3 1406

compute books = 0.

if (EC7AA = "A" or EC7AB ="B" or EC7AX = "X") books = 1.

variable label books "Reading books to a child".

value label books 0 "No" 1 "Yes".

……

/table hl4 [c] + nuts2 [c] + hh6 [c] + age2 [c] + preschool [c] +melevel [c] + windex5 [c] + ethnicity [c] + books

[c] + tot1 [c]

17

ECDI Further Analysis (3)

• Hypothesis: lower ECDI in the stunted children

Early child development index Percentage of children age 36-59 months who are developmentally on track in literacy-numeracy, physical,

social-emotional, and learning domains, and the early child development index score, Country, Year

Percentage of children age 36-59 months who

are developmentally on track for indicated

domains Early child

developme

nt index

score [1]

Number of

children

age 36-59

months

Literacy-

numeracy Physical

Social-

Emotional Learning

Height for age: Not stunted (-2sd) 33.0 99.8 93.7 99.0 94.0 1122

Stunted (-2sd) 12.5 100.0 94.6 93.5 89.7 50

Height for age: Not stunted (-3sd) 32.5 99.8 93.6 99.0 94.0 1154

Stunted (-3sd) 9.2 100.0 100.0 82.2 82.2 18

ECDI Total 31.2 99.8 94.2 98.8 94.3 1406

18

Level 3 Monitoring

Designed to identify barriers in the systems preventing

disadvantaged children to access the services & to monitor

removal of the bottlenecks

Core Indicators:

1. Enabling Environment (social norms, policy, legislation,

governance, budget allocation)

2. “Supply” (availability of commodities; availability of

qualified ECD professionals)

3. “Demand” (utilization of services; main barriers in using

the services)

4. Quality of services provided

Sample bottleneck analysis

0 20 40 60 80 100

availability of children's books

availability of qualified teachers

geographical access

initial utiization

continuous utilization

quality (school readiness)

nother region

national average

19

20

Level 4 Monitoring

Use of the same (core) indicators as in Level 1 and validate

achievements by:

• Household Survey (Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey; or

similar)

• Analysis of administrative data

• Qualitative research (a causality analysis; role-pattern

analysis; capacity gap analysis)

• Operational research (controlled trial)

The findings will guide programmatic adjustments &

management decisions

Conclusion

21

• A common M&E

framework and a common

set of core indicators:

• a very effective tool to

monitor young child’s

development

• essential for setting

SMART targets

• critical to monitor

programme

implementation

• needed to put ECD

higher on political

agenda

22

Your turn

Questions?