Public Private Partnership and Role of CSR in Scaling up Early Childhood Education & Development Programme

The Presentation Covers: Need of ECED – needless to mention Objectives – Early Education & Development Current Situation & the Issues Corporate Engagement – the changing trend Oxfam India’s Experience PPP strategies and Role of CSR

Need of ECED– needless to mention Approximately 80% neuronal and 50% cognitive development happens in the early years of the child A period of mental flexibility and willingness to learn new things, values etc. ECED makes the child ready for the schooling It helps in improving the school performances, increases the logical and language abilities, sharpens thinking and attention skills and lowers chances of school dropout It helps the child to develop socially and emotionally. Improves interaction with peers, decreases problematic behaviors, helps in adjusting to the demands of formal schooling Brings high psychological, sociological and economic returns for the country

Objectives – Early Education & Development Good health habits Learn to perform daily routine activities Learn Fine & Gross motor skills Express thoughts through signs & language Know about family, community and environment Initiative to learn and be creative Child’s Holistic Development and School Readiness Improves interactions with peers Helps in academic outcomes in future

Current Situation & the Issues 18, 54, 667 Children in Odisha belongs to 3-6 years of age. 15,31,926 of this age group coming to ICDS centers 14,31,212 are getting pre Primary Education in the ICDS Centers 71,306 AWC in the state (60,918 Main AWC & 10,388 mini AWC) 48,463 AWCs do not have own building Out of sanctioned position of AWW 2906 are vacant Static budget for Pre-School Education (INR Crore 13-14, Crore (BE) for and Crore (BE) for 15-16) Though steps taken for improving pre primary education by coming up with New Arunima, translating into tribal languages but steps are not sufficient looking at the need (Data source –WCD dept, Govt of Odisha )

Corporate Engagement – the changing trend Increasing interest among companies to look for integration of social impact and core business.. Emerging concepts like shared value and finding markets at the bottom-of-the-pyramid forcing companies to understand the needs of the underserved. In the proposed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) private sector is seen as an important stakeholder in resolving development issues. Section 135 of the Companies Act 2013 mandates CSR spending. India increasingly becoming part of global value chains (e.g. Garments) and associated ethical compliances

PPP strategies and Role of CSR In Odisha, Govt. spends around 18 Crores for Pre-primary education. The CSR budget of many corporates in Odisha is much more than this Indian Express report mentions, India’s top 50 companies have spent INR4,600 crore in the financial year ended in March Health Care, Education, Environment and Swach Bharat got the major share. 5% of this on Pre-primary education could make a big and sustained change Most Corporates focusing on tangible activities. Long tem and process related investments are less. There is a need of discourse in corporate and CSR platforms on this

There are couple of strategic areas where CSR investment is needed as per as ECCD is concern Investing in building models with replication possibilities Invest to increase the efficiency of delivery of ECCD Investing in staff capacity development Investing in hardware activities that are core to delivery of services. Invest in bringing innovation in the areas of tracking children, centers, transition, progress, vacancies etc PPP strategies and Role of CSR

Building capacities of the stakeholders Brining innovation in management Investing in hardware activities Advocacy for a transparent system Promoting community based monitoring systems Supporting CSOs to build model interventions Increasing investment Prioritizing the ECED Sustaining Building Models Strengthen the system Promote Downward & Upward Accountabili ty PPP strategies and Role of CSR

Challenges Lack of engagement strategy & structured coordination mechanism Trust deficit (study by Center for Innovations in Education, Baku, Azerbaijan) Limited understanding of strengths & weaknesses Degree of control desired Will and mutual respect on all sides with long-term commitment. Scale up - Sustainability

Oxfam India’s Experience Oxfam’s priority is working with the children at the Primary and till elementary level However, at the project level we started intervening at the pre-primary level looking at the needs and specially to strengthen our intervention at the primary level. Tracking enrollment of the children, promoting mother tongue based education, building the capacities of the AWW and establishing a school-AWW link are part of our intervention. Oxfam India is currently working with corporates (PSU) like Bharat Petroleum to ensure quality education both at the pre-primary and primary level

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