Council
The Council provides advice on strategic direction, guidance and policy support on ECD in the region.
The Council members of PRC4ECD will be at least two Ministers – one from the Ministry of Finance, and at least one from the social sector (Ministries of Health, Education, and the Ministry responsible for Social Welfare). These Council members will be not be more than four Ministers from each of the 15 Pacific island countries: Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Republic of Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tokelau, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu.
All members of the Council will have full decision-making rights. These members will be expected to jointly represent the interests of the Pacific region.
The Full Council will elect their own Chairperson and Vice-Chairperson.
Steering Committee
The Steering Committee will be at least two Permanent Secretaries or CEOs- one from the Ministry of Finance, and at least one from the social sector (Ministries of Health, Education and the Ministry responsible for Social Welfare). These Steering Committee members will be not more than four from each of the 15 PICTs.
All positions in the Steering Committee will have voting rights. The Steering Committee will also have a Chairperson and Vice-Chairperson to oversee and guide the deliberations of the Steering Committee and to ensure that decisions taken are actionable and are in line with the functions and values of PRC4ECD. The Steering Comittee can decide to rotate the Chairperson and Vice-chairperson positions across the countries annually.
To strengthen links between the Pacific and the broader Asia-Pacific region, ARNEC, which is the primary ECD network in Asia-Pacific, has allocated one seat at its Steering Committee for PRC4ECD. The Chairperson or Vice-chairperson of the PRC4ECD Steering Committee will be automatically nominated to sit on the Steering Committee of ARNEC, starting in 2020.
Secretariat
The Secretariat role will be primarily to coordinate and provide administrative support for the council and steering committee functions. Some of the specific tasks are:
- Preparation and submission of reports to the Steering Committee and/or the Council;
- Convene and facilitate meetings;
- Prepare meeting reports, papers, and other relevant documents;
- Monitor and evaluate implementation of the Council workplan and decisions;
- Support resource mobilization and fundraising for ECD meetings, events, and activities;
- Undertake communication and updates to stakeholders on ECD;
- Other tasks, as directed by the Steering Committee.
UNICEF will remain the Secretariat of PRC4ECD in recognition of UNICEF’s mandate for the rights of children and its leading role in promoting ECD in the region. UNICEF will hold the position of Secretariat, as necessary.
Task Teams
Whenever necessary, the Council may choose to form and convene task teams and appoint task team leaders from within the Council to lead on key or emerging priorities on ECD. These will be defined as needed to support the overall mandate and action plan of PRC4ECD. The task teams will be guided by Terms of Reference that detail their specific deliverables, timelines, and other working modalities, including sunset clauses. The task teams may report to the Steering Committee or the Full Council, as necessary.
The Council will establish Task Teams which shall be technical in nature and responsible for translating policy decisions by the Council into regional actions that support national efforts in ECD, as intended by the Council. (Such an example of the Task Team is the PRC4ECCE to be renamed as the Pacific Regional Taskforce on early childhood care and education (ECCE) within the education sector.) The Task team will report to the Council through the Steering Committee on progress of their work and specific recommendations for decisions. The Taskforces may also report through the regional sectoral architecture such as the officials and ministerial forums through the Council.