Save the Children International in Laos demonstrated promising support for ensuring climate resilience and adaptation in Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) and Early Childhood Development at the Southeast Asia Regional Forum.

On 14th May, the Southeast Asia Regional Forum on Ensuring Equal Access to Quality Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) held in Vientiane, Laos; aiming to acknowledges the link between ECCE and equity, productivity, and sustainable development and therefore a positive and successful future for the children.

Recalling that quality education, including early childhood education, is a fundamental human right and aiming to strengthen early childhood care and education in the region, ASEAN is guided by the ASEAN Work Plan on Education 2021-2025. Specifically, the establishment of regional policies, partnerships, and monitoring mechanisms to enhance access to quality early childhood care, education, and services.

Reflecting this, the agenda for the 2024 Southeast Asia Regional Forum on Ensuring Equal Access to Quality Early Childhood Care and Education includes panel discussions on high-priority issues for ASEAN countries. As one of the panelists discussing ECCE and climate change, Save the Children International in Laos demonstrated its support to integrating climate change considerations into Early Childhood Development (ECD) to improve the quality of ECCE.

 Luke Ebbs, a Country Director of Save the Children, highlighted that “The climate crisis is an early childhood development crisis. Children, especially those in the first 1000 days of life, are least responsible for this crisis, but bear the heaviest burden. We must act now to embed climate change in every aspect of ECD policy and programming”

The climate crisis is a child rights crisis. Through its adverse impact on nutrition, health, home environment, and access to quality ECCE services, climate change affects the brain development of children during the critical first five years of their lives. Through our climate-resilient health, education, and child protection initiatives and our close collaboration with the Government of Laos, Save the Children International in Laos is working to ensure equitable access to quality ECCE for the most marginalized children. We strive to ensure the participation of children and have forged close partnerships with diverse stakeholders at each level to ensure programmatic, policy, and financial commitments and actions for quality and resilient early childhood care and education for the children of Laos. Much more needs to be done, including mainstreaming the climate agenda in ECCE and unlocking climate finance for resilient ECCE. We reaffirm our commitment to support the Government of Laos and critical stakeholders in ensuring resilient ECCE for all children in Laos.