Sept 12th, 2023 – Urban design plays a crucial role in creating child-friendly cities that support the needs and well-being of young children and their families. Cities present important challenges for the extension of quality childcare services to the urban poor. City plans set aside spaces for primary and secondary schools but often neglect daycare centres and pre-primary schools. This is particularly so when it comes to provision of childcare centres in and around urban informal places of work, such as markets, homes and roadside—spaces where the majority of the world’s work takes place.
One driver behind the gap in service provision is the lack of appropriate and supportive guidelines and regulations for micro or small childcare centres, which many women informal workers rely on for the provision of care. On September 12, we heard from WIEGO and ECDAN experts and stakeholders working across disciplines—from ECD to urban planning—that are committed towards better ECD outcomes as well as women’s economic empowerment. During this webinar, we discussed the complexity brought on by rapid urbanisation and how to tackle infrastructure challenges and policy regulations to ensure childcare services meet the needs of informal workers.
Experts from WIEGO, BRAC, UNICEF, AeT, ECDAN, and other partners discussed:
- Provisioning of and enabling access to childcare services in resource-poor urban spaces.
- Best practices or solutions that have worked to support childcare provision in urban settings.
- Gaps and challenges that remain to be addressed in provision of childcare services in urban spaces.
