“Embarking on early childhood development pays off indeed and helps the nation produce healthy, responsible and competent citizenry,” In an exclusive interview with The Ethiopian Herald, African Center for Early Childhood Development (ECD) Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Kebede Worku (MD), stated that the motto “Children: The Future Hope of Addis” with a vision to make Addis Ababa the best city to raise children in Africa, is a city-wide initiative focused on improving the well-being and development of children from birth to six years old. Aiming at providing universal access to comprehensive early childhood services, with a particular focus on vulnerable children and families, the program has been fueled by a collaborative effort between the Addis Ababa City Administration and pother development partners. It is an initiative of Her Excellency, Mayor Adanech Abiebie.
According to Dr. Kebede, the Addis Ababa City Administration has strongly encouraged the African Center for Early Childhood Development (AFC-ECD), to sustain and strengthen the existing Early Childhood Development (ECD) program interventions, which have demonstrated measurable success in improving developmental outcomes for children under-three.
With a remarkable reduction in the proportion of developmentally off-track children, handy collaboration—is essential. Sustaining these efforts will ensure lasting impact, promote the well-being of young children, and build on the solid foundation already laid for a healthier and more prosperous future.
The Addis Ababa ECD Program is a comprehensive, integrated, and multi-sectoral initiative aiming at ensuring that 1.3 million children under the age of six are developmentally on track in terms of health, learning, and psychosocial wellbeing by 2030.
As to him, the program’s primary objective is to provide universal access to comprehensive Early Childhood Development services for all children in the city. While striving to achieve universal access to ECD services, the program focuses on providing intensified support to children from 330,000 low-income and vulnerable households. This targeted approach ensures that all children in the city have the best possible start in life, thereby creating a better future for them and for Ethiopia.
The Addis Ababa City Administration expressed its commitment by setting bold targets like training and deploying 5,000 parental coaches, transforming 101 public health centers and 1009 pre-primary schools, establishing 12,000 playgrounds and 1,000 childcare centers and others, he added.
He added that Ethiopia has additionally established an ECD Center of Excellence in Addis Ababa as the program progresses to expand early childhood development best practices and policy at the local, state, and federal levels. It also aims to build strong links for a sustainable early childhood development subsector in Ethiopia and throughout Africa by utilizing inclusive and collaborative approaches, influencing policy directions, and improving the capacities, skills, and competencies of the early childhood care workforce. Furthermore, it will enable global collaborations to promote the spread and duplication of effective models in other nations.
As learnt from the document prepared by the City Administration, it has aspired to see holistic development for all children in Addis Ababa by 2026, with a motto of “All children in Addis Ababa deserve the best start in life and holistic development that empowers them to create a better future for themselves and the country.” In April 2024, about 2,000 parental coaches provided home-based coaching services to parents and caregivers while the child developmental milestone assessment was being conducted in partnership with the City Health Bureau. Since June 2024, the number of parental coaches has grown to over 5,000.
When Addis Ababa embarked on this program, it quickly realized that there was a huge need for an African organization that could play a leadership role and serve as a knowledge hub in the Early Childhood Development space.
The city took an initiative to establish an organization it needed, both to support its own program and to play a catalytic role as Early Childhood Development became a priority across Ethiopia and elsewhere on the continent. The AfC-ECD is already known to play a key role in championing the Early Childhood Development agenda in Ethiopia, yielding concrete value to the city’s initiatives and the nascent programs in other regions by advising on baseline studies, developing monitoring systems, providing up-to-date research insight. Further, it cultivates relationships at domestic, national, continental and international levels in the Early Childhood Development space; developing curricula and workforce training programs; and setting contextually tailored African developmental norms, Dr. Kebede underscored.
As part of the initiative to strengthen the Capital’s ECD program and promote City Administration’s vision dubbed “Children: The Future Hope of Addis, the development of child-friendly corridors and playgrounds has come to the forefront.
Besides, the expansion of child daycare centers, whether they are private, public or business oriented are of greater significant in promoting the all-rounded endeavors of the City Administration.
As learnt from Dr. Kebede, what happens during early childhood (from pregnancy to age 8) lays the foundation for a lifetime. “We have made great strides in improving child survival, but we also need to create the favorable environment to help children thrive as they grow and develop.”
He stated that ECD is a top priority of the Addis Ababa City Administration and its goal is to transform Addis Ababa by improving its urban environment and services, creating a friendlier public spaces and experiences for infants, toddlers, young children and their caregivers as well as improve their access to high-quality early childhood services.
“In March 2021, the Addis Ababa City Administration launched a comprehensive strategy targeting to expand inclusive program and include all children from birth to six years old. These include the implementation of universal pre-primary school, integration of ECD services into the routine healthcare delivery mechanisms, home visits by parental coaches, the establishment of child daycare centers for working mothers/caregivers, and development of more public play areas.”
Parent coaching, health and social services, community-run ECD centers, daycare centers, expanded access to pre-primary schools; and learn through play like closed roads, playgrounds, and green spaces are of paramount importance in promoting family-child-nature interactions by stimulating the creation and revitalization of urban spaces, turning them into green areas or squares with accessible play spaces. However, the efforts should be supported through partnerships among the City Administration, the private sector and civil society, devising mechanisms to ensure their preservation.
“Through such efforts, we will ensure that our children are born and remain healthy, culturally apt, safe and have the knowledge and skills for life and learning thereby benefitting out of the better social protection, educational opportunities and most importantly gaining quality early childhood development services.”
In close collaboration with federal ministries, and implementing bureaus within the City Administration, this ECD initiative aims to deliver a package of evidence-based interventions to prioritized vulnerable families and children. The goal is to ensure the holistic developmental needs of children, promote their wellbeing, enabling them to effectively succeed in school and the future world of work.
“To this end, we have developed different initiatives for the coming years, out of which parental coaching, health and social support services, community-run ECD centers, publicly-financed daycare centers, expanded access to pre-primary education and establishment of play spaces,” Dr. Kebede underlined.
Healthy and happy children are more likely to become energetic and resilient adults who have greater capacity and resources to contribute to a cohesive and prosperous society. Children deserve the best possible start in life to help them develop to their fullest potential. Investing in the early years has also been proven to be the most effective method for poor and vulnerable societies to break out of poverty and vulnerability cycles, he added.
The City Administration will achieve the aims of the Future Hope of Addis program by establishing an effective ECD system that recognizes the primary role of families in the development of young children, employs strong leadership with coordinated policy direction, entertains collaborative and inclusive approaches and forges strong links within and across sectors. Mayor Adanech is passionate about “Children: the Future Hope of Addis” program, that is foundational in building the nation; it is human-centered program.
Yes, he said coaching, promoting health, and social support for parents and caregivers play a critical role in facilitating early experiences for children and infants.
Under this initiative, the two strategic activities to provide access to quality maternal and child health are: onsite facilities to care for children between the ages of 0-6 years; and home visits to provide support, information, and assistance for vulnerable families.
BY MENGESHA AMARE
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD SATURDAY 5 JULY 2025
