
ARNEC together with UNICEF Regional Office for South Asia (ROSA) are pleased to host the webinar entitled, 'Building Futures: Applying the Early Childhood Development Service Quality Standards for South Asia.'
This webinar aims to:
(1) Introduce and provide an overview of the ECD Service Quality Standards and Guidelines, including the planning, implementation, mentoring, and monitoring and regulation of these services.
(2) Encourage countries, especially in South Asia to think about how they can apply these ECD service quality standards given their own contextualized specifications for quality.
(3) Reinforce how these standards can develop a common understanding of the holistic, integrated and developmentally appropriate nature of quality in ECD among all stakeholders by serving as a common point of reference, which to date has not existed in the South Asian context.
Click here to access the presentation slides deck. Click here to read the webinar highlights. The recording of the webinar can be accessed from ARNEC's YouTube Channel.
You can download a copy of the ECD Service Quality Standards for South Asia or visit https://www.unicef.org/rosa/documents/building-futures.
Building Futures: Early childhood development (ECD) service quality standards for South Asia has been developed by the UNICEF Regional Office for South Asia to promote a shared vision for the provision of holistic and comprehensive quality ECD services in the region. These standards are designed with the principles of child rights, equity and inclusion at its core and are intended to assist countries in developing their own standards in cases where they do not already exist; and in countries where standards already exist, it may serve as a key reference when these standards are reviewed and updated.
The guidance was developed with the recognition that good quality ECD services have the potential to break the vicious cycle of intergenerational poverty and deprivation and to promote social equity, economic growth and prosperity. While the critical role of parents and families as primary caregivers is acknowledged, ECD services should be valued as a public good for which the government must take primary responsibility and accountability.
We hope that Building Futures will serve as a useful guiding document for all stakeholders who may be working across related sectors involved in policymaking, planning, implementing and overseeing ECD provisions and services for children to ensure they meet quality standards.

In this video, learn more about how play can foster children’s resilience to hardship, and how the complex interactions involved when children play help build their brains.
Please visit: https://developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/play-in-early-childhood-the-role-of-play-in-any-setting/
