Early childhood care and education in emergency situations

Background paper prepared for the Education for All Global Monitoring Report 2007, Strong foundations: early childhood care and education. This paper will seek to review progress made to date in meeting the rights of children 3-6 years old in emergency situations. It will examine whether the world has met its commitments to ensuring the rights of children to early care and education when their lives have been disrupted by devastation and displacement as a result of natural or man-made calamities. It will analyse policy and practice from around the world in order to reveal what has been achieved so far and the challenges which still remain ahead to ensure the rights of the world’s youngest children to adequate care and education in times of crisis. The paper concludes with a set of recommendations for further efforts necessary to ensure the care and education of young children in situations of emergency.