This brief provides an overview of country-led T4ECE research projects focused on addressing gaps in evidence and data-driven decision-making in Ethiopia, Liberia, Malawi, Rwanda, and South Africa.

Together for Early Childhood Evidence convened a panel at the Comparative and International Education Society (CIES) Conference to share country-level plans for research in Malawi, Rwanda, Liberia, and South Africa to advance goals for data-driven early childhood systems.

This blog features Colin Almeleh, the Director of Knowledge, Information and Data Solutions at Ilifa Labantwana.  Over the next year, Ilifa Labantwana will be leading the T4ECE South Africa Task Force as they build consensus around a set of key indicators to be included in a new ECD M&E Framework for the National ECD Policy. Read more as Colin reflects on the progresses made in South Africa and his hopes and vision for what is to come.

In this blog, we feature the Thrive by Five Index, South Africa’s first nationally representative survey of preschool children. It provides data on 4-5-year-old children’s developmental outcomes that will inspire action and change so that all children have the chance to flourish by the age of five.

As part of the 2022 CIES conference, Together for Early Childhood Evidence led a panel focused on country-led research activities in Ethiopia, Liberia, Rwanda and South Africa that support strengthening and developing effective early childhood monitoring and measurement systems.

The main goal of having early childhood education (ECE) data is to inform planning, resource allocation, and support, and to address the challenges of quality and access. The South Africa team completed CPDMA Diagnostic Toolkit in 2019 and identified data needs at two levels: service delivery (for parents, teachers and school administrators) and policy level (for district-, state- and national-level governments).

Four CPDMA taskforce countries (Liberia, Rwanda, South Africa and Ethiopia) have been working together since early 2019 to map out their ECE data systems and develop plans to use data to improve outcomes for children.