Early childhood care and development

Thousands of preschool children benefit from Plan's early childhood care and development (ECCD) work supporting their physical and emotional development.

Initiatives include stimulating children's learning through play, pre-school feeding programs, and adult literacy courses that develop participants' parenting skills (as well as their academic ability). ECCD has a significant impact on children's health and readiness to learn and can bring important economic returns later in life.

Boosting performance at school

For example, in Uganda, primary school authorities have reported that children who enroll for the first class at primary-level after having attended a Plan ECCD program perform better academically, socially and emotionally than their classmates.

Plan's ECCD programs have been most successful where strong relationships have been formed at national level.

In Bangladesh, for example, the Ministry of Women and Child Affairs and the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education identify Plan as a key organization to be consulted for any policy issues on ECCD. Plan Bangladesh's ECCD programs are now being implemented in 2,700 centers across the country, reaching 36,000 children. The target is to reach 1,000,000 children by 2012.