From 19 to 21 August, 2024 - The National Child Development Agency (NCDA) and partners held a three-day National Early Childhood Development (ECD) Conference that took place in Kigali.

The conference brought together 350 stakeholders, including representatives from government institutions, non-government organizations, private sector, academia, and ECD service providers.

It focused on addressing progress, identifying gaps, and renewing commitments to providing high-quality ECD services that shape children during their formative years.

This year’s conference was held under the theme: “Nurturing Tomorrow: Advancing Sustainable Early Childhood Development.”

According to Ingabire Assumpta, the Director General of NCDA, investing in early childhood development is vital, as 80% of a child's brain capacity is developed within the first three years of life, and the ECD services play pivotal role in this development.

"With the increase of established ECD settings, there is still a pressing need to support these facilities to provide holistic and fully inclusive services. The government, in collaboration with partners and relevant institutions, is actively working to achieve this goal, creating more inclusive environments for all children.” Ingabire said.

The stakeholders in Early Childhood Development (ECD) reaffirmed their commitment to addressing the ongoing challenges that hinder the effective implementation of the ECD program. These challenges include ineffective ECD services delivery, low attendance rates, the need for capacity building among ECD practitioners, insufficient investment in ECD, and the need to increase well-equipped and fully inclusive ECD facilities.

Speaking at the closing of the meeting, the Minister of Gender and Family Promotion, Consolée Uwimana called on stakeholders to prioritise ECD and family empowerment in their planning.

"Many of the challenges we observed that hinder the provision of Early Childhood Development (ECD) services are related to our current capacity not yet reaching the desired level. However, these issues can be addressed through effective planning, learning from others, improving cross-sector collaboration, and empowering and closely monitoring families, as our role is to support, not replace parents in their homes and responsibilities." Minister Uwimana highlighted.

The period of early childhood development is characterized by heightened sensitivity to environmental influences. Investing in early childhood results in better health outcomes, enhanced learning capabilities, increased adult earnings, poverty reduction, fewer inequalities, and a more peaceful society.

Currently, in Rwanda, there are 31,638 ECD facilities with a total of 101,809 caregivers.