About the Conference
From 14 to 16 November 2022, the World Conference on Early Childhood Care and Education (WCECCE) will be held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. The world conference will reaffirm the right of every young child to quality care and education from birth and urge Member States to renew and expand their commitment to and investment in ensuring that access of all girls and boys to quality early childhood development, care and pre-primary education so that they are ready for primary education.
The conference is hosted by the Republic of Uzbekistan and organized by UNESCO.
Early childhood fundamental rights and services are the foundation for achieving positive child development, family well-being, lifelong learning, and sustainable development; therefore, all nations should give their highest priority to providing quality early childhood care and education by 2030.
Implementation of effective early childhood care and education policies and services enables countries to protect and guarantee the rights of every child. It also allows for maximum return on investment into child and family development, to transform society and build better communities.
Call for Expression of Interest
UNESCO invites Members State, key partners, academia, civil society and private sector to participate in our calls for expression of interest to the different modalities of participation such as the elaboration of background documents, the presentation of a country case, the organization of a side event and participation in the exhibition area.
Side Events
UNESCO invites Member States, key partners, academia, civil society and private sector to participate in our calls for expression of interest to organize side events.
This call is already closed.
Promising practices
UNESCO invites Members States to showcase promising practices on ECCE during the world conference, where is a great opportunity and space to present countries’ development and implementation to a wider range of international audiences of ECCE specialists, representatives from governments, civil society, and the private sector during the WCECCE.
Call for Promising practices closed.
Youth Forum
Under the theme ‘Early investment for better learning and brighter future’, the World Conference on Early Childhood Care and Education will take place from 14 to 16 November 2022, organized by UNESCO in cooperation with the Government of Uzbekistan.
As a critical side event in advance of the World Conference, the Youth Forum will take place virtually on Sunday 13 November 2022 from 10:30 AM to 12:30 PM (UTC+5). The Forum will provide a platform to recognize young people for their efforts to transform ECCE through leading initiatives, advocating for the right to education, and supporting projects that ensure foundational learning for children and youth.
Link to the concept note and the agenda: Download .
Link to register: https://unesco-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_sWGfkhUeSkCrJDorEAlO8Q
Civil Society Organizations Forum
Civil society organizations (CSOs) are key stakeholders in all four themes of the WCECCE; they are indeed crucial partners to governments and, in some contexts the main drivers of ECCE provision and service delivery. The WCECCE provides a unique opportunity to bring together actors working in the ECCE sector to collectively reflect, learn, and share the progress on the SDG 4.2.
The WCECCE provides a unique opportunity to bring together Civil Society Actors working in the ECCE sector to collectively reflect, learn, and share the progress on SDG 4.2 on the pre-conference day forum on 13th of November 2022.
The forum will be held in a hybrid format; interested online and in-person participants are invited to register to the event by completing the registration form via the link. After completing the registration form, the shortlisted participants by the organization committee will receive the hybrid launch event link to follow the CSO forum.
Promising practices
UNESCO invites Civil Society Organizations to showcase and present promising practices on ECCE during the world conference, to a wider range of international audiences of ECCE specialists, representatives from governments, civil society, and the private sector during the WCECCE. The call for promising practices is closed.
Call to submit your proposal for parallel sessions
The conference is organized around 20 parallel sessions during which government representatives, policymakers, donors, researchers, civil society organizations, educators, and development partners will have the opportunity to exchange knowledge about challenges, priorities, emerging research, and innovative practices for financing and scaling-up quality ECCE policies, programmes, and services for accelerating achievement of SDG 4.2.
We invite interested partners to propose a session for consideration in the conference programme. Each session should address one of the major themes and sub-themes of the conference. Session organizers should structure sessions to address a key challenge or priority around early childhood care and education, beginning from before birth to 8 years of age. The goal of parallel sessions will be to debate the possible solutions, strategies, partnerships, and concrete actions that can be implemented by governments for expanding access, improving quality, and financing ECCE polices, programmes, and services. The debates and outcomes of the parallel sessions will be submitted for consideration for inclusion in the Tashkent Framework for Action.
Submission of an expression of interest does not guarantee that it will be retained. The WCECCE Programme Committee has responsibility for reviewing and deciding on the selected proposals.
This call is already closed.
The Goal of The Conference
The overarching goal of the WCECCE is to renew and expand Member States’ political commitment and engagement to
Develop ambitious, relevant, and culturally appropriate ECCE policies
Put in place effective and accountable ECCE systems, multi-stakeholder partnerships and services
Increase and improve investment in ECCE as an essential and integral part of their strategies for attaining lifelong learning societies and sustainable development.
Four areas
The WCECCE aims to bridge this early childhood education gap, positioning investment in ECCE as sustainable and cross-cutting investment in wellbeing, gender equality, and social cohesion. The conference will highlight four areas that are integral to strengthening ECCE worldwide:
Inclusion, quality and well-being
ECCE workforce and caregivers
Programme innovations
Policy, governance and finance
Specific Objectives
- Take stock of the progress of Member States towards achieving the SDG 4.2 target and other early childhood related SDGs targets.
- Exchange knowledge about key enablers, emerging research results, good practices, and innovations to put in place and scale up quality ECCE policies and programmes.
- Reaffirm quality ECCE as a right of all children and as the essential foundation for lifelong learning and socio-cognitive development.
- Identify opportunities, develop, and agree upon on a set of priorities and strategies to accelerate SDG4.2 progress and increase investment in ECCE on the part of governments and their partners.
- Further strengthen global partnership and solidarity for the cause of early childhood to expand and improve ECCE services in all Member States to help all children attain their full potential.
Early childhood care and education
The period from birth to eight years old is one of remarkable brain development for children and represents a crucial window of opportunity for education. UNESCO believes Early childhood care and education (ECCE) that is truly inclusive is much more than just preparation for primary school. It can be the foundation for emotional wellbeing and learning throughout life and one of the best investments a country can make as it promotes holistic development, gender equality and social cohesion.
Evidence shows that a child’s early years are critical for shaping their ability to learn and build a foundation for their future. Yet more than 200 million children worldwide are left behind and unable to reach their full learning potential. UNESCO, in collaboration with the Republic of Uzbekistan, is organizing the World Conference on Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) to fill in that gap and reaffirm the right of the child to quality ECCE from birth.
So far in Uzbekistan, the enrollment rate has increased from 27.7% to reach 67.2% making children benefit from the early childhood programmes.