RMI Multisectoral Early Childhood Development Project - II

active

The Project seeks to promote universal coverage of multisectoral ECD services by: (i) supporting the government to expand public sector delivery of essential ECD services; (ii) providing targeted support to increase coverage and intervention intensity of these services for vulnerable early years families; and (iii) strengthening the public sector systems necessary to institutionalize and sustain a multisectoral ECD program.Under the Project, essential ECD services target the period between pregnancy and the transition to kindergarten (at age 5); families with at least one member in this target group will be considered “early years families.” Essential ECD services include: (i) essential RMNCH-N services focused on the first 1,000 days of life between pregnancy and age two; and (ii) essential stimulation and early learning services to children’s cognitive and socio-economic development and facilitate children’s readiness to enter primary school. The PDO will be achieved through four main components: (1) improving the availability and coverage of an evidence-based package of essential RMNCH-N and stimulation services for the first 1,000 days (pregnant and lactating women and children up to age 2); (2) expanding access to stimulation and early learning services by extending pre-schools to children aged 3-4 years, strengthening an existing program of home visits for vulnerable families and promoting community engagement; (3) introducing a conditional cash transfers pilot for early years families as a means to increase uptake of essential ECD services and change behaviors; (4) establishing systems and functions to sustain an effective multisectoral programs and Project management. The Project will also include a fifth component with zero allocation for Contingency Emergency Response. Because the essential maternal and child nutrition and early stimulation services are largely absent from RMI’s current service package, the Project will focus on leveraging facility and community platforms across components to increase the dose and intensity of these interventions and messages.The primary beneficiaries of the Project are the pregnant women, children up to the age of 5 (0-59 months) and their caregivers facing hardship, and women of reproductive age in the RMI. The Project will finance activities in the entire RMI, including all populated atolls and islands of the RMI, although some piloting will be done in targeted locations in the early stages of the program. Secondary beneficiaries of the Project are the implementing agencies and their staff - Government, private and non-governmental organizations - receiving TA and capacity building to strengthen the provision and M&E of ECD services in the RMI.