In July 2022, ANECD organized the “National ECD Committees: Reality, Challenges, and Prospects for Action workshop”. 45 experts, academics, government ministries, and institutions representatives, and early childhood associations of seven Arab countries (Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon, Yemen, Oman, Egypt, and Tunisia) successfully attended the webinar.

ANECD’s General Coordinator Dr. Ghassan Issa welcomed the participants and introduced the ANECD’s plan to expand and strengthen its partnerships with governments, organizations, and individuals active in the ECD field at the national, regional, and international levels.

Dr. Issa, also, introduced the ANECD’s strategy and action plan emphasizing the importance of establishing national ECD networks and working groups in different Arab countries to enhance communication, consolidate efforts, and share the necessary experiences, especially during the current multi-dimensional crisis.

Following Issa’s introduction, the General Secretary of the National Council for Family Affairs in Jordan, Dr. Mohamed Al-Meqdady, presented the successful model of establishing the Jordanian National ECD work group founded three years ago with the National Council for Family Affairs (NCFA) as an umbrella for its work. (Ms. Mai Sultan, the Coordinator of the Jordanian work group for ECD, gave the presentation on behalf of Dr. Al-Meqdady).

The highlights of this presentation were:

1- National network’s tasks
2- Internal organization and coordination
3- Achievements
4- Challenges
5- Coordinating and institutionalization of relationship with ANECD
6- Future plan for the network

Following the Jordanian presentation, Ms. Rihab Sandouka, the coordinator of the Palestinian Network for ECD, presented another successful experience of launching the Palestinian network for ECD addressing the following points:

1- Network’s objectives and areas of intervention
2- The internal structure of the network
3- Achievements
4- Challenges
5- Future plan for the network

Then, participants were divided into eight working groups where they discussed the importance of establishing national networks and the role and tasks of the ECD work group, in addition to the challenges that this process may face.

Participants were re-distributed into groups according to countries to discuss the first steps and requirements to start establishing and forming a national network in each country.

Finally, there was a general agreement among the participants that this workshop is the 1st step toward a long-term collective process to establish national ECD networks in the Arab countries.

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