Early Childhood Development

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The development objective of the Early Childhood Development (ECD) Project is to improve quality and educability of children in poor Kenyan households. The project seeks to: (1) improve child cognitive and psycho-social development; (2) improve child health and nutrition; (3) increase school enrollment at the appropriate age; and (4) reduce dropout and repetition rates in lower primary school. An important collaborative objective is to improve the human capital potential specifically of poor and otherwise disadvantaged pre-schoolers. The project consists of two core components: (1) improving ECD worker training, performance, and supervision; and (2) community capacity building, mobilization, and parenting education. Three pilot interventions will test options to develop cost-effective, replicable models for: (1) improving the financing of ECD services in poor communities by way of community grants; (2) raising nutrition and health standards of pre-schoolers, including those in the particularly vulnerable first three years of life; and (3) smoothing the transition from pre-school to primary school.