Join PATH at the East Africa Regional Early Childhood Development Conference in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
PATH will join delegates from around the world at the East Africa Regional Early Childhood Development (ECD) Conference from March 11 to 14, 2024. The event, which will be held at the Julius Nyerere International Conference Centre in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, will take stock of ECD in the sub-region, showcase innovative programs, foster dialogue around knowledge exchange and learning, and build consensus around key advocacy issues.
PATH is recognized as a global leader in using a systems-based approach to expand the scope of primary health care (PHC) to provide ECD supportive services such as monitoring of children’s developmental milestones and providing caregivers with parenting counseling on responsive caregiving and early learning.
Recently, PATH has been testing ways to provide parenting support to vulnerable caregivers, for example adolescent girls who are mothers and caregivers of children with disabilities, while also refining its core ECD model through human-centered design (HCD) to improve service delivery and caregiver uptake of desired parenting practices.
At the conference, PATH and government partners will showcase its ECD, maternal mental health (MMH), and enhanced community-based rehabilitation (CBR) innovations and results from Ethiopia, Kenya, and Mozambique through several oral presentations and roundtable discussions.
Below are more details about sessions where PATH and partners will be presenting.
- Side event
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The role of the health sector in supporting ECD: Building human capital along the life course in 12 countries
March 12, 2024 | 2:00 PM–5:00 PM | Mkomazi Hall, Julius Nyerere International Convention Centre
This side event will illustrate with practical examples how systems can be strengthened to be more responsive to the needs of caregivers and enable young children to thrive. Speakers will reflect on lessons learned around workforce development for ECD. Panelists will also identify priority actions that can enable the health sector alongside other sectors to contribute to efforts in ECD that will build human capital.
Among the countries in attendance will be Ethiopia, which will be represented on the panel by the Hon. Dr. Meseret Zelalem, Director for Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child, and Adolescent Health and Nutrition. PATH Ethiopia’s Nesibu Agonafir provided inputs into the presentation and participated in preparation meetings for the Ethiopia delegation.
- Oral presentations
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Assessing ECD integration into PHC in Ethiopia
Presenter: Nesibu Agonafir, PATH
Assessing ECD and MMH integration into post-conflict PHC reconstruction in EthiopiaPresenter: Debjeet Sen, PATH
Effect of early childhood development programme on the caregiver’s knowledge, attitude, and practices
Presenter: Pamela Josephine Anyango, Ministry of Health, Siaya County, Kenya
Assessing enhanced community-based rehabilitation of children with delays and disabilities in Mozambique
Presenter: Gino Luís Regina, PATH
- Roundtable discussions
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Multisectoral approach implementation to enhance nurturing care for ECD in Siaya County
Presenter: Kennedy Odhiambo Oruenjo, Ministry of Health, Siaya County, Kenya
Strengthening nurturing care for ECD in pregnant women and caregivers with children 0–3 years; through continuous mentorship, shadowing, and simulations at community and health facilities in Siaya County
Presenter: Pamela Josephine Anyango, Ministry of Health, Siaya County, Kenya
Assessing MMH integration into PHC in Mozambique
Presenter: Dr. Svetlana K. Drivdale, PATH
- The exhibition
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We invite you to stop by PATH’s exhibition space throughout the conference to get a hands-on look at the suite of materials that we have developed to support ECD, MMH, and CBR services. The exhibition will also feature briefs and other materials that capture results and lessons learned from PATH’s decade-plus experience in supporting such services. At the exhibition, you can also speak one-on-one with PATH staff to learn more about our work, as well as the results of HCD to refine our approaches and materials.
PATH’s delegation is available for media interviews, speaking engagements, and panel discussions. Send us an email at media@path.org.