Research consultancy
EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT SUPPORT SYSTEMS, COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION AND SUSTAINABILITY OF COMMUNITY CENTRES IN CENTRAL REGION
BoG Board of Governors
CCC Community Child Caregiver
CCCC Community Child Care Certificate
CDO Community Development Officer
CST Convenience Sampling Technique
CVI Content Validity Index
EACEA Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency
ECD Early Childhood Development
ECDFPP Early Childhood Development Focal Point Person
ECDSS Early Childhood Development Support Systems
ECDSS Early Childhood Development Support Systems
EESC European Economic and Social Committee
KNECDPF Kenya National Early Childhood Development Framework
MOES Ministry of Education and Sports
MOU Memorandum of Understanding
NGOs Non-Government Organisations
PPMCC Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient
PTA Parents’ Teachers Association
UCRNN Uganda Child Rights NGO Network
UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultral Organisation
YMCA Young Men’s Christian Association
ABSTRACT
The study set out to investigate ECD support systems, community participation and sustainability of community centres in Central Uganda. The study specifically, sought to examine the relationship between ECD support systems and sustainability of community Based centres; examine the relationship between community participation and sustainability of community based ECD centres and ascertain the influence of community roles on sustainability of ECD centres. A descriptive cross sectional survey research design was used. Data was collected from 32 ECD centers which were selected using stratified sampling. In these ECD centres, semi structured questionnaires, interviews; focus group discussion and documentary review were used for data collection. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, specifically, Pearson product moment correlation coefficient, for quantitative while content analysis was used for qualitative data. The P-Value =0.000 < 0.05 indicated that there is a strong significant correlation between ECD support systems and sustainability of Community Based Centres. The R-square Value =0.16, indicated that sustainability of community-based centers depends on ECD support systems by 16%. The findings further indicated that there are numerous factors that affect the sustainability of Community Based Centers that are worthy for stakeholders to pay attention to them. The P-Value 0.000<0.05, indicated that there is a strong correlation between community participation and sustainability of ECD. It’s evident from the results that sustainability of ECD centres is affected by community participation. Therefore, it’s important for community to be involved in the programs of ECD. The study recommended for government intervention by providing all the necessary facilities and scholastic materials in order improve on the enrollment of learners such that it is to the standard of other private schools, create awareness in communities by empowering them so that the are able to sustain the established community ECD centres or else they risk collapsing when the community is completely not involved.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
This study looked into Early Childhood Development Support Systems (ECDSS), Community Participation and Sustainability of Community Centres in the districts of Wakiso, Kampala and Mukono in central region. This chapter explains the background of the study, statement of the problem, purpose, objectives, research questions, scope, significance of the study and conceptual frame work.
BACKGROUND
The genesis of sustainable ECD programmes varies by regions of the world (Kamerman & Gatenio-Gabel, 2007). In United Kingdom (UK), the emergence of the community sector as a possible partner in solving sustainability problems relates to a series of literature linking and empowering local Community ECD programme and practice to globalization of local communities (Evans, Myers, & IIfeld, 2000)
South Africa uses by-laws to sustain Community ECD programmes. Communities set their own by-laws in collaboration with policy makers (Evans, Myers & Ilfeld, 2000). In Kenya, the cultural or religious heads together with community have embraced ECD to promote their cultural values and religious beliefs at the centres (Mwaura, Sylva, & Malmberg, 2008). Mosques, Churches and other sites are used for ECD progammes for the benefit of community (MoES, Early childhood development Training manuel for management committees of Nursery schools and community Based ECD centres., 2009) . This makes community members more involved in planning, implementing and monitoring of the ECD programmes while government provides technical support (Heckman & Masterov, 2004).
The Children’s Act, 2001 (Kenya) the Kenya National Early Childhood Development Framework (KECDPF) (2006), and the new Kenya constitution (2010), all state very well that, the parents and the community are the primary care givers for early childhood programmes, who provide basic, fundamental, and strong foundation for the child. They are supposed to provide the children with both physiological and psychological needs like food, shelter, clothing, affection and safety. Parents and the immediate community should provide the children with a conducive learning environment, equipped with a variety of stimulating, and adequate resources including physical facilities ( (Ejuu G. , Celebrating african men’s role in child care and early childhood development programs, 2016).
Early Childhood Development (ECD) programme refers to a set of actions and behaviours that support the child’s development in a holistic manner (Calman & Tarr-Whelan, 2005). Some of these actions include: feeding, clothing, shelter and supervision by adults. All these actions are important to children because ECD programmes lay a strong foundation for holistic development of the child (Hyde & Kabiru, 2003). Through ECD programmes, children are less likely to drop out of school, join school when they are ready with improved behaviour and academic performance (Elior, 2005). With these benefits in mind, ECD has to be sustained in communities in order to be competitive now and in the future.
In Uganda, Communities ECD programmes are organized in terms of homes and villages (MOES, 2010). These programmes include: Day care centres; Home based ECD Centres; Community based ECD Centre and Nursery schools (Ejuu G. , 2012). These centres provide day care services and pre-primary education to children from birth to 6 years of age (Muheirwe, 2003). ECD programmes are managed by private sector, NGOs, community or religious body (Ministry of Education and sports, 2007) Some of the home based and community based ECD programmes are supported by donor agencies, after which it is left in the hands of community to continue running it.
Although Community ECD programmes are put in place by government in partnership with NGOs, the programmes collapse as soon as the NGOs pull out (Ejuu, 2012). In the past decades, sustainability of cultural values and religious beliefs were done with the objective of promoting children’s basic knowledge and skills to enable them fit into the community (Obua-Otoa, 1996) These practices were copied and later transformed into ECD programmes with the aim of sustaining Ugandan cultural practices (Ejuu G. , The status of the implementation of the education sector early childhood education policy in uganda, 2012). In many ECD communities in Wakiso, Mukono and Kampala districts, the issue of ECD sustainability has been a challenge. Some of the challenges include poor structures with inadequate support from community, ignorance and negative attitude towards ECD programmes (Nsamenga, 2006). Studies like “ECD policy advances in Uganda (Ejuu, 2012), ECD situational analysis and needs assessment (Okuni, 2003), and parental involvement in the learning of children’s literacy at home and school have been conducted in Uganda but they have not focused on sustainability of early childhood programmes in communities (Muheirwe, 2003). Though community ECD programmes are run with greater expectation of community involvement, no specific study has yet been conducted to compare the ways of sustaining community ECD programmes in urban and rural areas. Although there are different ECD programmes this study will focus mainly Community ECD centres and Nursery schools for pre-school children aged 3 to 6 years of age that are organized in communities in collaboration with religious leaders and Non-Government Organizations.
PROBLEM STATEMENT
Much as ECD is recognized as a crucial stage for holistic development of a child, communities are still doubtful of the way they are managed by funders. Many set up ECD centres collapse as soon as funding agencies withdraw (Muheirwe, 2003; & Ejuu, 2012). Communities feel that the approach used in community ECD centres is duplication from developed countries in Western world, a culture that that needs to be adjusted to cater for the needs of developing countries in Africa. A good number of day-care centres and nursery schools are privately owned which does not inculcate cultural beliefs, values and practical skills for their children (Mwaura, Sylva, & Malmberg, 2008). This makes communities to feel that NGOs which operate as custodians and agents of Western culture are out to erode their culture
(Kabiru, 2008). They believe all activities by NGOs are meant to be free with minimal support from the community (Mujunga, 1987). This makes it difficult for community members to take full responsibility of ECD programmes since the funders are directly in charge of most of the activities hence their collapse as soon as the funding bodies withdraw their support.
PURPOSE
The purpose of the study was to establish the relationship between Early Childhood Development support system, community participation and sustainability of early childhood development programmes.
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The study was guided by the following objectives:
- To examine the relationship between ECD support systems and sustainability of community based centres.
- To examine the relationship between community participation and sustainability of community based ECD centres.
- To investigate the influence of community roles on sustainability of ECD centres.
SCOPE
The scope of the study included geographical, content and time as discussed below.
Geographical scope
The study was conducted in Kampala, Mukono and Wakiso district in the Central region. In reference to (Ejuu G. , Is this Early childhood development is ours ? Deciphering what african parents want their children to learn from early childhood development, 2015) there are many Non- Governmental Organizations in the central region because it is where the headquarters of these Organizations are located. It was important to note that the three districts have many privately owned nursery schools as well Community ECD nursery schools both offering services to children of between 3 to 6 years as per the guidelines in the (Ejuu G. , Rethinking early learning and development standards in development context, 2013); and MoES Guidelines (2010).
Content scope
The study was based on ECD support systems, community participation and sustainability of ECD programmes. The content scope basically focused on the role of NGOs in stimulating sustainable practices in ECD programmes, examining the relationship between community participation and sustainability of community based ECD centres and the role of community on sustainability of ECD centres. According to the study, Early Childhood Development support systems provide funding, conduct training of caregivers, provide support supervision and monitoring, develop policy frameworks and mentor community members. In a similar way community is expected to actively participate through cost sharing, monitoring, and supervision, participate in training, plan for the centre together and mentor other community members. Whereas for sustainability to be realized there is need for both the ECD support systems together with community members to have a collaborative network, provide adequate support to the centre, sharing information and partner as a team, community has to be empowered through continuous professional development courses, implement policies together as a team, fund raise and mobilize for funds from other stakeholders.
Time scope
A period of six years as the time when communities are expected to have acquired all the necessary skills to manage ECD centres in their communities when funders withdraw. A range of six years may be enough for communities to take on the programme and stand on their own without the programme collapsing. ECD programmes are initiated by NGOs to support the disadvantaged urban, peri-urban, and rural communities but have a time frame. They therefore support the establishment of community-owned and managed nursery schools that communities should be able to own and manage.
