Asia-Pacific Regional Policy Forum on Early Childhood Care and Education

At the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit in September 2015, world leaders adopted 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including, SDG 4 “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all” and Target 4.2 “By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood development, care and pre-primary education so that they are ready for primary education.” This target reflects the recognition that early childhood care and education (ECCE) lays the foundation for children’s long-term development and well-being. The Framework for Action for the Education 2030 (SDG 4) agenda calls for the provision of quality holistic early childhood development, care and education for all children and at least one year of free and compulsory quality pre-primary education, to be delivered by well-trained educators.

UNESCO Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education in collaboration with UNICEF and other partners have been organizing policy fora on education and lifelong learning as a platform for policy advocacy and sharing of good practices. As one of such policy fora, UNESCO, together with UNICEF and ARNEC, has been organizing the Asia-Pacific Regional Policy Forum on ECCE. The policy forum provides a platform for high-level policy-makers of Asia-Pacific countries to share knowledge and discuss strategies to expand access to and improve the quality of comprehensive ECCE.

• The First Asia-Pacific Regional Policy Forum on ECCE, 10-12 September 2013, Seoul, Republic of Korea
• The Second Asia-Pacific Regional Policy Forum on ECCE, 19-21 July 2016, Putrajaya, Malaysia
• The Third Asia-Pacific Regional Policy Forum on ECCE, 5-6 June 2018, Kathmandu, Nepal
• The Fourth Asia-Pacific Regional Policy Forum on ECCE, 16-18 September 2020, Tashkent, Uzbekistan