Seychelles ECCE delegation leaves its mark in Uzbekistan.
After a long-haul flight, the Seychelles delegation at the WCECCE touched down in Tashkent, Uzbekistan in the morning of Sunday 13, November 2022.
The Seychelles delegation was represented by a multisectoral group of ECCE professionals led by Mrs Shirley Choppy, Chief Executive Officer of the Institute for Early Childhood Development (IECD) with team members comprising of: Mrs Michelle Fred (Ministry of Health), Mrs Nathalie Moustache (IECD), Ms Marie-France Barra (IECD), Ms Beryl Laboudallon (Social Affairs) and last but not least, Mr Cyril Pillay (Education).
The WCECCE is a UNESCO intergovernmental meeting for Category II Member Countries that aims to reaffirm the right of every young child to quality care and education from birth to age eight.
The conference was held from the 14-16th November, 2022 with the aim to urge member states to renew and expand their commitment to invest in Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Target 4.2 to ensure that: “All girls and boys have inclusive access to quality early childhood development care and pre-primary education so that they are ready for primary education.”
The first day of the conference was mainly parallel sessions that provided space for conference participants to exchange practices, challenges and solutions to advance ECCE around the four main themes of the Conference: Inclusion, quality, and wellbeing; Educators, teachers, and caregivers; Policy, governance, and finance; Innovations.
The Seychelles delegation attended various sessions on curriculum and pedagogy; equity and inclusion; health, nutrition and well-being; school readiness and the role of assessment. The delegation also attended side events: Harnessing a global network for the ECCE workforce development; Tools for Transformation: Strategies for building a gender transformative pre-primary education system; Childhood Care and Education in times of crisis: Best practice and advocacy opportunities to name a few.
The official opening ceremony of the conference was held on 15th November where the Seychelles delegation carried a special message from his excellency President Wavel Ramkalawan which was delivered through a video message.
UNESCO and Member States described President Ramkalawan’s message as powerful. The delegation also received many great compliments, from other Member States present, on our resilient system and landmark achievements in ECCE as outlined in the President’s message.
There were also side events which followed the opening ceremony such as: How philanthropy can accelerate ECCE system reform; Early Childhood Educators: Raising the Status of the Profession and 10 years of the ILO Policy Guidelines on the promotion of decent work for early childhood education personnel to name a few ending the evening on a lighter note with an array of cultural exchange between the participating countries in a cultural reception.
On the final day, the delegation took part in a visit and tree planting activity at a child care centre, plenary sessions and highlight of the day being the Adoption of the Tashkent Declaration and Commitments to Action for Transforming Early Childhood Care and Education.
Below are a collection of photos highlighting key moments of the WCECCE in Uzbekistan.
