Stocktaking of Early Childhood Development (ECD) Services in Armenia

1. Stocktaking of Early Childhood Development (ECD) services in Armenia November 2018 Financial support for this work was provided by the Government of Japan through the Japan Trust Fund for Scaling Up Nutrition

2. The DATABASE WAS COLLECTED to POTENTIALLY inform referrals to ECD SERVICES from social workers during home visits • Social workers are critical players to promote behavioral change through home visits • They have direct contact with most of the households at risk of malnutrition • It is expected this services’ database will be hosted in by the MLSA and will be regularly updated by the government in the future

3. 4 marzes were selected for the stocktaking: Yerevan, Lori, Ararat and Gegharkunik Prioritization index based on • Dimension 1: Nutrition status of children under 5 years (stunting, overweight and anemia) • Dimension 2: Percentage of multidimensionally poor • Dimension 3: Availability of services (kindergartens that operate whole year, share of FBP beneficiaries, # of social workers) • Represent urban and rural areas

4. THE DATABASE COVERS THE UNIVERSE OF NON-PRIVATE SERVICES FOR FAMILIES WITH CHILDREN UNDER 5 Data collection included review of secondary information & direct interviews with key informants and services providers Services that meet all these criteria: • For children <5 or pregnant women • Children members of a family • Universal or targeted to vulnerable population • Provided by public, NGOs and/or International Donor organizations (doesn’t include private) • Services on health, nutrition, early stimulation/education and protection from stress

5. The information covers 20 variables to characterize services* *Questionnaire included suggestions from partner specialists at Save the Children, UNICEF and colleagues from different sectors at the World Bank

6. 797 ecd services were identified and characterized

7. Most commonly services integrate interventions that tackle different aspects of early childhood development… though many of them overlap Services tend to be universal (for all Armenian citizens), only 18% (141) can clearly identify a majority of their beneficiaries as poor or a vulnerable minority Medical care include regular med. services + breastfeeding support, provision of ed. materials, child protection from violence (195 services nationwide) and group training and mentoring (30) Education services include pre-school + food provision, care of children, book/ toy libraries, provision of ed. materials, child protection from violence (344 services nationwide) Parental and child protection include services such asfood recipes, demonstrations, breastfeeding support, community (peer to peer) learning, group training and mentoring, provision of ed. material, child protection from violence (12 of 58 parental ed. and child protection services nationwide)

8. The total number of beneficiaries covered by the database is 234,449*. there are requisites and, in a few cases, fees to pay to access to services Requisites Number of beneficiaries per marze Main requisites are child’s birth certificate (721), child’s health passport (601) and statement of interest from family (407) Fees Health free, however some facilities co-payment for services not included in basic package Education  school-based & community-based preschools are free, however in some kindergartens there is a fee (in marzes amount depends on village council’s decision and residency in Yerevan) *Not all services have information on number of beneficiaries

9. Lessons learned & Next Steps • Stocktaking took 5 months of work of 1 National Coordinator and 4 data collectors (1 per area) –April to August 2018. Political changes occurred during this period • Face to face meetings proved the most effective way to collect detailed information on services. Sometimes it was necessary to interview more than one key informant in the service • Services seem to have difficulties reporting: • Number of beneficiaries by age, refugee and poverty status • Full time or part time staff, and staff that received training to provide ECD interventions • Annual budgets • Next steps: • Analytical exercise of match between demand and supply  using this information to characterize supply and household surveys for characterization of households with children < 5 and/or pregnant women (demand) • Potential use and update by MLSA to inform referrals of social workers during home visits on services promoting early childhood development

10. Thank you!