Special Initiative: 
Strengthening Early Childhood Development in Uganda

The ELMA Foundation’s emerging Early Childhood Development (ECD) strategy in Uganda aims to expand access to and improve the quality of early childhood services, and to improve government capacity and its resources to deliver, measure, and improve child development and learning. ELMA is seeking co-funding partners to evolve this strategy, and bring it to scale.

ELMA’s strategy entails:

• Building a community of practice so that grantees and other stakeholders will work collaboratively and share solutions and lessons learned through the course of developing and implementing their programs. Rather than a competitive approach, this community of practice aims to develop best practices and models suited for the Ugandan context and move the entire ECD sector forward.

• Strengthening the ECD workforce by supporting and expanding the institutional capacity of key ECD teacher training entities, so that the sector will have more certified early childhood practitioners who will be officially recognized by the Ministry of Education.

• Supporting grantees’ learning through the community of practice and establishing sound measurement approaches early in our engagement with grantees. Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) will be a partner in learning and evaluation through the course of the investments.

Current Investments