Ghana Early Child Development Program Year 2 / Program Year 3 Implementation Plan

The program focuses on the Upper West and Eastern regions, with a geographic scope that includes 17 districts in program year two (PY2) and an expansion to Upper East and Central regions in program year three (PY3). The primary focus of the MCSP Ghana ECD program is to support the integration of ECD interventions into existing health and nutrition activities in Ghana. The program is implementing activities through the Community Health Planning Services (CHPS) program, building off MCSP's existing activities focused on capacity building of CHPS health workers for improved health outcomes. MCSP's ECD activities in Ghana draw from proven approaches of early stimulation packages implemented globally. The program's objectives include finalizing and disseminating an evidence-based set of early childhood development materials, building capacity of CHPS staff, community health volunteers, and Social Welfare Officers to effectively teach caregivers with young children about early stimulation and responsive parenting, assessing the ability of CHPS staff, CHVs, and SWOs to integrate early childhood activities into their routine services, and creating an enabling environment at the national and regional level to promote institutionalization of early childhood development activities into partner and government programming. The program's implementation plan includes activities such as training of trainers (TOTs), sensitization of administrative staff, and step-down trainings in the targeted districts. The program also focuses on advocacy and policy efforts at the national level to ensure institutionalization and sustainability of ECD activities. The program's geographic scope includes the Upper West and Eastern regions, with a focus on 17 districts in PY2 and an expansion to Upper East and Central regions in PY3. The program's technical focus is on supporting the integration of ECD interventions into existing health and nutrition activities in Ghana, drawing from proven approaches of early stimulation packages implemented globally. The program's financial summary indicates that the total DCHA core obligations received for PY2 is $3,600,000, with estimated expenditures through 06/30/2018 totaling $1,561,412. The program's budget for PY4-5 is $2,038,588, with a variance of $0 from available funding. The program's in-country partners include the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MOGCSP), Ghana Health Service (FHD), Health Promotion Department (HPD), Policy Planning and Monitoring and Evaluation (PPME) Department, Regional Health Teams, United Nations International Children's Fund (UNICEF), United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA), USAID Communicate for Health, and Princess Marie Louise Children's Hospital.