The 2017 Pacific Early Childhood Development Conference, with its theme Moving Forward with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for Early Childhood, was a three-day high-level conference for ministers and key government officials across Pacific Island Countries (PICs) to further their understanding of and commitment towards high-quality, equitable, and inclusive early childhood development (ECD). The conference brought together 135 senior officials in ministries of education, finance, health, child and social protection from 15 PICs: Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Republic of Marshall Islands (RMI), Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tokelau, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu. It was the first gathering of its kind in the region and was held 19–21 September 2017 at the Sofitel Hotel in Nadi, Fiji. UNICEF organized the conference in partnership with the World Bank and the Pacific Regional Council for Early Childhood Care and Education (PRC4ECCE).

The overarching purpose of the conference was to gather key government officials from various sectors to discuss and develop concrete strategies to achieve in a comprehensive and multisectoral way the SDGs for young children by 2030. During the conference, world-renowned ECD experts presented compelling evidence of the benefits of investing in the early years and called on government delegates to renew, reform and accelerate national plans that support the success of their youngest citizens. Permanent secretaries of ministries of education from selected PICs summarized the status of early childhood education in their countries and shared lessons learned in implementing various programmes and services. Interspersed with the presentations were small group discussions among conference participants that explored key ECD issues and post-conference ECD plans and strategies. A concrete and immediate goal of the event was the drafting and endorsement by the conference body of a Pacific Call to Action on ECD that will serve as a post-conference regional document to guide PICs on strategic actions to advance ECD progress.

Outcomes

Endorsement of Pasifika Call to Action on ECD

Documents

2017 Pacific ECD Forum Report