Gender Ministry sets up national committee to strengthen early childhood development

The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MoGCSP) has inaugurated a National Inter-Sectoral Early Childhood Care and Development Committee (NIEC) to improve coordination and accelerate the implementation of Ghana’s Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) Policy, 2025.

The new committee brings together representatives from Ministries, Departments and Agencies, development partners, the private sector and civil society to provide a coordinated national approach to promoting the wellbeing and development of children from conception to eight years.

The committee, chaired by the Chief Director of the Ministry, Dr Marian Kpakpah, is expected to help translate the ECCD Policy into practical programmes and interventions across the country.

At the inauguration on Tuesday in Accra, the Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Dr Agnes Naa Momo Lartey, said the committee was established to move the ECCD Policy beyond commitments and ensure that stakeholders worked together to achieve concrete results.

She said a child’s early years are critical to physical health, emotional wellbeing, cognitive development, social behaviour, and lifelong learning, and that investing in early childhood is an important part of Ghana’s development.

Dr Lartey explained that the ECCD Policy was built around a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach, with emphasis on six areas under the Nurturing Care Framework: health, nutrition, early learning, responsive caregiving, safety and inclusion.

She said the NIEC would harmonise ECCD plans and interventions, identify gaps and overlaps in service delivery, improve data collection and use, support joint planning, and track progress on national ECCD priorities.

Members of the committee were taken through an overview of the ECCD Policy and the mandate of the NIEC by the Head of the Early Childhood Care and Development Unit, Pearl Peters, before the Minister administered the Oath of Office and Oath of Secrecy.

Congratulating the members on their appointment, the Minister urged them to draw on their professional expertise and institutional knowledge to advance the committee’s work and ensure that ECCD services reached children in all regions, districts and communities.

She placed particular emphasis on vulnerable and disadvantaged children, saying the national effort must ensure that no child is left behind.

Dr Lartey also called for the establishment of Regional and Metropolitan, Municipal and District Inter-Sectoral ECCD Committees to strengthen coordination and implementation at the sub-national level.

“The structures have been established, and the time to act is now,” she said, urging the committee to focus on practical interventions that would deliver measurable improvements in the lives of Ghana’s youngest citizens.