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Supporting Early Childhood Development in Africa: Capacity-Building Partnership

Subcontract

Research Team

Name Name

Principal Investigator: Natalie Koziol

Co-Principal Investigators: Abbie Raikes

Funding Information

Funding Agency: Children's Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF)

Subcontract from: University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC)

Award Date: Jul 1, 2017

End Date: Dec 31, 2018

Abstract

This project is funded by a subcontract from the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

Implementing standard measurements of early childhood development and learning worldwide has its challenges. But University of Nebraska researchers are working with the United Nations and other international organizations to ensure global measurement tools are not restrained by borders.

Researchers are examining the accuracy and reliability of measurement tools designed to monitor standards developed through the Measuring Early Learning Quality and Outcomes initiative.

Founded in 2014, the MELQO initiative is a joint effort between United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Brookings Institution and World Bank. The initiative has established a set of standard, global measurement tools to assess early childhood development and learning, as well as the quality of early learning environments — primarily in low- and middle-income countries.

For its project, CYFS’ Nebraska Academy for Methodology, Analytics and Psychometrics will receive data from Ethiopia, Lesotho, Liberia, Pakistan and Tanzania to examine the measurement tools’ effectiveness.

Once core measurement standards are pinpointed, they will be tailored to various countries and cultures.


Research, Measurement and Evaluation Methods, Early Childhood Education and Development

From left, Dawn Davis, ECE project manager; Abbie Raikes, assistant professor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center; Natalie Koziol, CYFS research assistant professor; and Anna Burton and Katelyn Hepworth, graduate research assistants
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