Mapping of Early Childhood Care Development and Education (ECCDE) Centres in Eswatini

Detailed description of project Back

Within the context of the revision of the Education Sector Strategic Plan (ESSP), the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) identified the need for an ECCDE mapping to have reliable and accurate information on ECCDE provision for policy, planning and decision making. The last comprehensive survey of pre-primary schools was undertaken in a 2012 UNESCO survey (1,200 pre-schools were identified at the time).

The assignment consists in conducting a complete mapping of ECCDE service provision in Eswatini to obtain a comprehensive list of the ECCDE centres, including private, public, formal, and non-formal centres across the country. The mapping also intends to provide a baseline on the essential components of ECCDE services, including the types of programmes, the levels provided, enrolment and access for vulnerable and disadvantaged groups such as children with disabilities. Information on teacher qualifications, learning materials and infrastructure was also targeted

The survey was designed to be integrated with the current data collection on ECCDE by the Education Management and Information Systems (EMIS). MOET received the database as part of the products of this project. The methodology and design of the mapping tool, which are described hereafter, have been co-developed with the PROMAN team, UNICEF, and the MOET.

Type of services provided

• Creation of a Master List of ECDCE Centres;
• Determining the criteria for inclusion of additional centres;
• Developing a questionnaire in an iterative process;
• Overview and organisation of survey, carried out by surveyors recruited by the MOET and ECDCE supervisors with the use of tablets and KoBo Toolbox; training, supervision and spot checks were carried out by the PROMAN Team;
• Structured interviews with online questionnaire;
• Data export, cleansing, and analysis (descriptive univariate statistics analysis);
• Drafting of the Mapping Report and Presentation.

Main staff provided:

• ECD Expert (24 w/d);
• Coordinator and Education Expert (81 w/d);
• CEval Experts (30 w/d).