Early Childhood Development: Our experience

International development | Early childhood development

Joined-up thinking on ECD The barriers to early childhood development are usually connected.

Poor water and sanitation lead to health problems, while malnutrition stunts growth, affecting education and hampering future economic development. Insecurity can undermine and compound them all. Often, the response to these challenges is to separate them by sector, rather than integrate them into a practical ‘bundle’ of nurturing care.

We’re championing a multisectoral approach that identifies collaborative ways to strengthen ECD programmes. As an organisation with a track record of technical expertise, combined with a local presence, we encourage our teams to connect their thinking and improve the standard of living for mothers and children during this critical stage of development.

Our cross-sectoral approach in action Leading the way on ECD

Fluid approach to security

We are proud to join global efforts in the search for more integrated ECD solutions. Our colleagues in Cambridge Education, part of Mott MacDonald, were involved in the start-up of the African Early Childhood Network, which is connecting diverse partners through its research, partnerships, advocacy and a specialist ECD conference in Nairobi.

Our involvement in the Water for Lakes programme in South Sudan draws on the wider importance of water across diet, health, agriculture and peace building in a post-conflict context. For example, when siting new boreholes, the programme has helped locals to build and tend gardens for vegetables, in addition to providing WASH services.

Looking beyond education

Policy of collaboration

Our innovative school readiness programme in Tanzania achieved exceptional results in preparing 200,000 rural children for primary education. We recognised the opportunity to use pre-schools as informal centres for child vaccinations. The students also read storybooks about nutrition that empowered them to become change agents at home.

Our team is helping the Ugandan government to review its policy on ECD to ensure private kindergartens offer a safe and productive environment for children to thrive. By raising awareness of how a lack of nutrition and stimulation in the first thousand days damages cognitive growth, the new policy will guide fee-paying parents on the standards they should expect.

Targeting hidden hunger By adding iron, folic acid and other minerals to wheat flour, as well as Vitamins A and D to edible oils, the Food Fortification Programme in Pakistan aims to strengthen the immune systems and improve cognitive development of the 37.5 million people in the country who don’t receive proper nourishment. The programme also educates school children about nutrition.

Raising hens and profiles Our flagship Blue Gold project in Bangladesh combines water management infrastructure, such as canals and sluice gates, with social empowerment. We’ve taught rural mothers new skills to boost household income, elevating their standing in the community.

By rearing poultry, for example, they can harvest eggs to improve their children’s nutrition levels or sell them to help to pay school fees. We helped women by supporting local technologies, such as the use of ‘hajols’ (hatching bowls made of baked mud), which allow more chicks to hatch successfully.

“You need to see the solution through the eyes of the recipients. Think of a time-poor mum in a rural African village. She will prioritise her children’s education over her own health. Why not provide vaccinations and hygiene guidance at the local school? And why not teach the children to tend a flock of schoolyard hens that will improve nutrition in the whole community?

When you make interventions more targeted and convenient, they become more effective too.”

Lucy Palmer Health specialist and nutrition portfolio lead

Opening opportunities with connected thinking. ecd@mottmac.com mottmac.com/international-development