By: Fatou Dahaba
Government officials, ChildFund representatives, and key education partners gathered at Ocean Bay Hotel in Bakau on Thursday, May 14, to validate a comprehensive assessment report on Early Childhood Development and Education (ECDE) in The Gambia. The meeting aimed to review achievements, identify critical gaps, and chart practical pathways to deliver quality early learning opportunities for young children nationwide.
The validation workshop brought together stakeholders to scrutinize the impact assessment findings, incorporate feedback, and shape future programs, policies, and funding strategies. Organizers emphasized that the report will serve as a vital reference document for strengthening ECDE services.
A central finding of the assessment is that while families and schools deeply value early childhood education, many centers fall short of delivering the quality required for stronger, more equitable outcomes. The report repeatedly highlights persistent challenges: acute shortages of teaching and learning materials, insufficiently trained teachers, poor infrastructure, and weak curriculum implementation.
Anna Nancy Mendy, Director of the Early Childhood Intervention and Education Department at the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education, underscored the strategic importance of investing in the early years.
“Investing in early childhood education is essential to The Gambia’s future,” she said. “The early years are critical for children’s cognitive, emotional, social, and physical development. Quality early learning improves school readiness, reduces inequalities, and gives vulnerable children a stronger start in life.”
Mendy commended ChildFund The Gambia for its decades-long commitment to holistic, community-based ECD interventions, including ECD centers, parenting support programs, teacher training, and child-friendly learning materials.
She described the validation meeting as a timely opportunity to translate evidence into action and called for closer collaboration among government, civil society, partners, communities, and families.
Musu Kuta Komma Bah, Country Director of ChildFund The Gambia, echoed the call for stronger national commitment. Noting that ChildFund has partnered with the Government of The Gambia for over four decades, she urged participants to use the session to reflect on progress, confront existing gaps, and agree on concrete next steps.
“Growing needs among children, combined with limited resources, make timely action more urgent,” Komma Bah stressed. She encouraged stakeholders to treat the report as a shared national document and to define immediate, medium-term, and collaborative actions under government leadership.
The assessment provides strong evidence that ECE positively influences children’s academic performance. Children who attend ECD programs are generally better prepared for primary school and tend to outperform peers without such exposure. These findings were consistent across quantitative data, school feedback, and qualitative consultations.
However, access remains uneven. Children in rural areas, low-income households, and those with disabilities face significant barriers, including financial constraints, long distances to centers, late enrolment, and inconsistent service availability.
The report recommends that ChildFund and partners sustain investment in ECE while placing greater emphasis on quality improvement alongside enrolment expansion. It also calls for targeted support to disadvantaged communities, enhanced caregiver engagement, and community sensitization to reinforce learning gains at home.
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Gambia works towards inclusive and equitable education for all. Stakeholders expressed hope that the validated report will drive meaningful policy shifts and resource allocation to give every young child the foundation they need to thrive.
