The Government of Bangladesh (GoB) recognises the significance of early childhood care and development (ECCD)[1] through the Comprehensive Early Childhood Care and Development (CECCD) Policy 2013, which aims to ensure the wellbeing of children up to the age of eight. The policy focuses on providing early interventions, ensuring school readiness, and equipping caregivers with the necessary skills to foster children’s wellbeing.
This report presents a comprehensive analysis of policies related to ECCD and provides an in-depth overview of the current data landscape, highlighting the availability of data on various ECCD indicators in Bangladesh compared to these policy commitments. To construct a comprehensive understanding of the ECCD sector in Bangladesh, we anchor our analysis in two frameworks: the Nurturing Care Framework (NCF) and the Bangladesh CECCD Policy. Established in 2018, the NCF is a collaborative initiative by the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and the World Bank, offering a strategic approach to ECD. It emphasises the importance of providing nurturing care to children through various contexts, including the home, childcare, community, and policies. The NCF framework includes five interrelated and inseparable domains of nurturing care necessary in early childhood for children to reach their full potential: good health, adequate nutrition, responsive caregiving, opportunities for early learning, and safety and security. The CECCD Policy is the key cross-sectoral policy document in the country, first established in 2013.
[1] For this report, we use the term ECCD in line with Bangladesh’s CECCD Policy 2013.