While the progress toward standardisation
of child protection and well-being principles has been remarkable, more
needs to be done. Despite the plethora of guidelines and standards, no
single
document specifically and holistically
targets parameters of assistance for young children and their caegivers,
families, and communities in emergencies.
Emergencies can be considered a 'window
of opportunity' to introduce ECCD provision and concepts where none existed
before. Therefore it is crucial that quality programming, adherence to
good practice, and development of minimum standards are a major priority
for emergency ECCD response.
What is required goes beyond ensuring
that humanitarian aid efforts include ECCD programming. Policy makers must
rethink the way the emergency response is carried out so that the rights
and needs of young children and their families are fully recognised and
centred in humanitarian relief.
Continued coordinated efforts must be
made to make interventions effective and accountable, strengthen collective
advocacy, and develop concrete policy and programmatic frameworks to prioritise
ECCD as a core intervention in crisis
settings.