Wherever we work in Early Childhood Development (ECD), Save the Children promotes a culture of caring and support, with an emphasis on developing happy, healthy children ready to learn. Strategies are owned by the community and adapted to the local context to ensure the well-being of young children. We highlight several successful solutions here.

Egypt: Realizing synergies

In Egypt, a 4-year-old ECD student paints as a Save the Children staff member looks on.

Minya, one of Upper Egypt's poorest areas, is the site of a comprehensive Save the Children ECD program. Child-friendly approaches are used to develop language, math, science, and social skills. Children learn positive values and behaviors, including cleanliness, discipline, and respect for others. By teaching parents and caregivers how to protect children's health and providing families an array of health services, ECD builds a solid foundation on which young children can grow into productive adults.

Traditional center-based settings are complemented by home-based ones, where mothers are often the caregivers. Home-based centers build trust and ensure that ECD services reach the most remote villages. At the same time, caregiver mothers build new skills and confidence as community leaders.

The first 520 ECD students enrolled in 2001 are now in the fourth grade, and none of these students has repeated or dropped out of school. Parents, caregivers, and teachers all agree — ECD children are better prepared than non-ECD children to enter primary school.

Nepal: Benefiting children, parents, and society

Sixteen children between ages of 3 to 5 attend this Community-Based Child Development Center in the Nepali village of Khoriya.

In Nepal's eastern Terai, poor villagers in Siraha District have benefited dramatically from Save the Children's ECD program. In Siraha, about 20 percent more ECD than non-ECD children start school. Starting rates are dramatically higher for girls and other socially excluded groups. Although girls' enrollment lags behind that of boys nationwide, girls and boys attend ECD centers and transition to primary school in equal numbers.

Convinced by child-centered teaching methods, parents of ECD children are making their voices heard. They work in partnership with teachers, assume key positions on management committess, and engage with — sometimes challenge — the formal system on behalf of their children's rights.

By July 2004, 80 percent of 2000 ECD graduates were moving through primary school with no failure or grade repetition; ECD children were more than twice as likely as the average Nepali student to complete primary school within five years. For Dalit children — outsiders in the traditional caste system — results were even more striking. Today, the number of ECD centers has grown from 236 to 633; of the 15,147 children welcomed through their doors, 3,291 are Dalit children.

Guatemala: Learning through culture

Children performing a traditional Mayan dance at a Save the Children supported pre-primary education program in El Quiche, Guatemala.

In rural Guatemala, young children have little chance at an education. Thirty-six years of civil war have left half the country's residents in chronic poverty. Some 67 percent of indigenous children are chronically malnourished.

Working in the western highlands of Santa Cruz del Quiché and more recently in Huehuetenango and Sololá, Save the Children's ECD program is dramatically changing how young children learn. This year, the program has expanded to include 35 schools, 2,400 students, and 100 teachers. As a result, children will be better prepared for primary school and more likely to stay in school.

Building on Guatamala's rich Mayan traditions, one innovative, bilingual approach builds learning skills through Mayan legends that also impart cultural heritage. Any one of 40 traditional Mayan stories offers a springboard for building an entire curriculum unit. A range of story-related activities develops children's cognitive, psychosocial, and communication, and problem-solving skills, while teaching them respect for nature, family and elders, and other Mayan values.