The African Union Education Outlook Report: Early Childhood Development: A Continental Perspective

Early childhood is defined as the period from birth to eight years old. This early period is considered to be the most important developmental phase throughout the lifespan. Healthy early child development includes the physical, social-emotional, and language-cognitive domains of development, each equally important -strongly influences well-being, throughout life.

Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) can be defined as the support for children’s survival, growth, development and learning from conception to the time of entry into primary school. Support during this time is provided by a range of service providers including primary caregivers and can be accessed in a range of settings including formal, informal and non-formal.