Promoting Early Childhood Development Project

The development objectives of Promoting Early Childhood Development Project for Uzbekistan are to increase access to early childhood education, improve the quality of learning environments in selected public preschools, and enable a systematic measurement of education quality for informed decision-making. This project has five components. 1) The first component, Improving Quality of Preschool Education, has the following subcomponents: (i) Improving Preschool Education Quality; and (ii) Enhancing System Capacity and Governance. 2) The second component, Increasing Access to Quality Early Learning Environments, aims to support the improvement of quality of early learning environments, as well as non-center based activities for children not enrolled in preschools, which are expected to lead to an increase in access to preschool education. It has the following subcomponents: (i) Improving Early Learning Environments; and (ii) Expanding Access to Early Childhood Education through Alternative Models. 3) The third component, Partnering with the Private Sector through a Social Impact Bond, aims to provide support to the design and implementation of an innovative impact financing approach, a social impact bond (SIB) through partnerships with private providers or preschools. It has the following subcomponents: (i) Supporting the SIB Design and Results Verification; and (ii) Financing the Payment of SIB Results. 4) The fourth component, Establishing an Education Quality Measurement System, aims to support the establishment of a system to measure education quality for informed decision-making in Uzbekistan. It has the following subcomponents: (i) Supporting the Establishment of a Center to Measure and Monitor Quality; and (ii) Developing and Modernizing Student Assessment Systems. 5) The fifth component, Supporting Project Management, aims to support activities related to day-to-day management of the project, its monitoring and auditing.