Early childhood development (ECD) is a top priority for the Addis Ababa City Administration. Mayor Adanech Abiebie aims to transform the city by enhancing its urban environment and services, creating friendlier public spaces and experiences for infants, toddlers, young children, and their caregivers, and improving their access to high-quality early childhood services. The ‘Children: The Future Hope of Addis Ababa Early Childhood Development Initiative’ aspires to ensure that by 2025, all children in Addis Ababa have the best start in life, fostering a better future for themselves and Ethiopia.

 

In collaboration with various partners, the ECD initiative is now implementing an intensified support model for 330,000 vulnerable families and children. It strives to provide universal access to comprehensive early childhood development services by 2025 through the rollout of nine strategic initiatives:

1. Parent coaching, health, and social services

2. Community-run ECD centers

3. Daycare centers

4. Expanded access to pre-primary schools

5. Center of Excellence for ECD

6. Learn through play (closed roads, playgrounds, and green sites)

7. Cross-sectoral governance

8. Improved regulatory standards

9. Measurement, learning, accountability, and data for decision-making

 

These initiatives aim to create a harmonious and prosperous community for all.

 

As part of these efforts, the City of Addis Ababa participated in the inaugural cohort of the AMALI Data Programme. I served as the lead coach, working with the city's Early Childhood Development Data team to enhance their data practices, improve data collection, and ensure the quality of the data collected for the ECD initiative. Leveraging the city's established data infrastructure and performance initiative, we conducted four monthly 1-hour sprint sessions and one on-site visit focused on conducting a data inventory and improving data quality. This effort helped the city identify data gaps and create plans to address them, including the development of a new survey tool to properly identify families in need of services.

 

During the engagement, Addis Ababa’s ECD team cataloged over 50 datasets related to the city’s ECD initiative, identified data owners, and established reporting requirements. The team documented their approach to improving data quality by creating a remediation plan, further strengthening the city's commitment to early childhood development.