Nepal
Early Childhood Development
2015-2023 (Phase 1) / 2023-2026 (Phase 2)
Early childhood development: a priority
Parental neglect remains commonplace in Nepal, often due to a lack of knowledge and resources. Kindergarten enrolment has increased in recent years, but teaching staff have little or no training in dealing with children under 6.
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The context
In Nepal, school is compulsory from the age of 6. According to the Ministry of Education, there are 35,000 pre-schools in the country. Housed in elementary school, they are free and welcome children from 4 to 5 years old.
But the high level of enrolment in these schools (94% in 2022 according to the World Bank) in fact masks a very irregular attendance and low quality of early childhood development in public schools.
Attendance is particularly low in the countryside where it can take an hour to walk to school, teachers are poorly trained and underpaid, they lack equipment and teaching materials, classes are overcrowded and hygiene is lacking.
The most vulnerable families - ethnic and caste groups - do not understand the value of early childhood development and preschool. Stimulation through play, speech, and song is low until the child speaks, and only one out of two households has toys in the home.
Finally, neglect and even abuse of small children remains a major problem in Nepal where corporal punishment affected 75% of children in 2018 according to UNICEF.
Inequalities between men and women are rooted in mentalities.
The education of children from the earliest age, especially girls, is a priority.
How is your donation used?
For every €100 raised by Planète Enfants & Développement, €84.4 goes to our social mission.
Our projects are evaluated by independent firms. And our accounts are audited and certified each year by KPMG.
%
of children are subjected to corporal punishment
Age of compulsory school
toys in kindergarten class
The project
In Nepal, since 2008, Planète Enfants & Développement has created four preschools in Kathmandu, in slums and then for the children of women in exploitative situations. Building on this experience, the association has strengthened the skills of its local partners Prayas Nepal and Child Nepal so that they, in turn, can train kindergarten teachers within a "Protection and Emancipation" program that has reached some 15 preschools since 2017.
In the 1st phase of the Early Childhood Program Agreementsupported by the Agence Française de Développement between 2020 and 2023, we worked in the districts of Kathmandu and Dhading.
Support for 63 nursery schools
- School equipment
Planète Enfants & Développement has financed equipment for 10 schools in Kathmandu and 10 schools in Gajuri (Dhading): balls, bicycles, shelves, cushions and blankets, games...). It encourages and works with municipalities to equip other schools in their district.
- Teacher training in schools
We trained the mobilizers of our local partners so that they, in turn, could train the teachers of the 63 schools. We then organized coaching sessions (up to 6 visits per school) to help them better organize and run their classes, and produce teaching aids using recycled local materials.
Support for parenthood for the awakening of young children in the villages
Parenting support is aimed at parents of pupils in the 63 nursery schools in which we have been involved. 1,560 parents took part in 2023. The aim was to pass on to these parents the keys to positive parenting, and to enlighten them on the importance of healthy nutrition.
The results were convincing and many changes could be observed between the first and last meetings.
In Dhading, 45 mobilizers have been trained to continue the activity after our departure. In Gajuri, a partnership with Paris-Dauphine University will enable us to carry out an impact study of parenting support in 2023-2024.
In addition, social workers went out to meet families during home visits to help them identify their problems (lack of birth certificate, unemployment, separation, etc.) and guide them in resolving them.
Advocacy for Early Childhood
In Nepal, municipalities now have responsibilities and budgets for developing social welfare and education. Planète Enfants & Développement fully involves the municipalities where the program takes place. We work in close coordination with them to help them integrate early childhood projects into their annual plans, and in particular to raise teacher salaries, subsidize school meals, maintain equipment and provide social support for the most disadvantaged.
PE&D's active advocacy led to the allocation of budgets entirely dedicated to early childhood, the elaboration of an integrated early childhood development plan, and the opening of a nursery school in Gajuri.
For the 2nd phase of the Early Childhood Program AgreementWe are rolling out the project in a new rural area of Nepal: the Gorkha district.
Launched in November 2023, with a new local partner - UN Nepal - the project now supports 48 nursery schools and the Sahid Lakhan municipality in improving pre-school education.
Other projects :
Nepal: a social center for young prostitutes
Nepal: Help for women victims of exploitation
Nepal: a new hostel for the education of Chepang girls
"I realized that you shouldn't force toddlers to write but let them do things at their own pace. After the training, I let them play. I found that after a few days, the children picked up the crayons on their own! I also realized that all children are different and need to be treated differently."
Ganga, kindergarten teacher
Our partners in the field
UN Nepal: NGO created in 2009 to promote the holistic development of young people. We have been working with Gorkha on pre-school and parenting support since 2023.
Prayas Nepal : Nepalese NGO founded in 2002, which works particularly on the emancipation of highly marginalized women. We've been working together since 2015.
Child Nepal: NGO created in 2003 to support children's rights. We cooperated on preschool and parenting support in Kathmandu between 2017 and 2023.