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EMBRACING POTENTIAL

Navigating “best practices” to find the best policy

for early childhood education in Honduras

Kate Olden

The George Washington University

Educ 203, Dr. Jim Williams

November 2010
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THE CONTEXT AND PROBLEM

Honduras faces a number of difficulties as it tries to move beyond poverty and

marginalization and embrace its potential. Providing a quality education to all children is one of

the greatest of these challenges, especially given the intense developmental and social

disadvantages that the nation’s poorest children face. It is critical that Honduras recognize the

need for community-oriented early childhood care and education in its most desperate

populations, including those who live on the margins of urban areas, neither in the rural areas

where community ties may be stronger nor in the urban areas where jobs and services are more

available. This paper is meant to outline how to establish policies that will adequately serve these

children. In order to do this, it is important to look not only at the situation in Honduras itself but

also at the available evidence of how to most effectively address the needs to young children.

The importance of Early Childhood Care and Education

The 2007 Education for All (EFA) Global Monitoring report (UNESCO, 2007)

emphasized that effective programs and policies of Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE)

are excellent mechanisms for guaranteeing the human rights of the globe’s most vulnerable

citizens as they traverse a period of intense physical, cognitive, and emotional growth. In

addition to its immediate returns, effective ECCE programs can help to address other EFA

indicators as well as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), including: improved primary

school outcomes, adult learning and skills, gender parity, poverty reduction, and improvements

in child mortality (UNESCO, 2007). In the United States, participation in preschool programs is

correlated with lower rates of grade repetition, lower rates of dropping out of school, higher rates
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of school completion, and higher income as an adult. (Young, 2002) Spending money in ECCE

is a wise investment.

Honduras would likely see substantial benefits in the immediate and medium terms. For

example, school readiness at first grade is an issue faced across much of Latin America. Rates of

first grade repetition are high, and many efforts to address this at the first grade level have failed.

Peru, for example, instituted automatic promotion for first graders, but subsequent monitoring

found that the repetition rates for second and third grade then rose, indicating that the problems

were only delayed not solved. (Ames, 2009) So, despite the important drive for Universal

Primary Education, ECCE does not need to be seen as diverting funds and focus from primary

education but rather supporting primary education by ensuring that more children are socially

and academically prepared to succeed in the primary grades.

Evidence shows that to be most effective, ECCE programs must make strong connections

between home and school. The table below is a compilation of information adapted from a paper

presented to The World Bank on the importance of ECCE in overall Human Development.

RANGE EDUCATION HEALTH SOCIAL CAPITAL EQUALITY

Immediate -language, motor, & -better nutrition -increased access of
emotional development -access to health parents and student to
-nutritional, health, & interventions community supports
parenting interventions -abuse prevention
-better hygiene

Medium -school ready -better health - skills necessary for -decreases effects
-lower rates of allows students to effective learning and of disadvantages
repetition and drop out study and learn social formation faced by poor
-more schooling more
completed

Long -being well educated is -lower child - improved self-

the best predictor of morbidity esteem, problem-
success under any -better mental and solving, and
definition physical health motivation
throughout life
Source: van der Gaag (2002)
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All four areas of effects addressed by van der Gaag (2002) are interrelated. Better education

leads to better health and more equality, and better health leads to better education and better

social capital formation, while more equality leads to more education, better health, and better

social capital formation, etc. That is to say, ECCE efforts will be most effectual if they are

holistic and intervene in a child’s life through both education and health, as well as connecting

with the child’s social supports in the family, all of which can allow that child to gain not only in

the areas of education and health but also, together with his or her community, to form greater

social capital and equality.

This indicates that, at least on a policy level, effective ECCE efforts are comprehensive.

This means that programs need to engage a child beyond the classic humanist perspective, in

which the student is an individual in need of discrete skills and knowledge to be given by the

teacher and in which education in considered only as it exists within the four walls of the

classroom (Fuller 2007). More holistic efforts are those which engage the support and

involvement of the community because it is acknowledged that the child is a member of a wider

community, particularly his or her family, and those surrounding environs can scaffold and

enhance efforts taking place in the school or childcare setting.

The challenge of how to approach ECCE

It is important to establish how policy in Honduras might best support and encourage the

formation of effective ECCE programs. Debates over this phase of education are particularly

fraught with myriad theories and philosophies, which deserve some measure of contemplation in

a policy oriented discussion. It is worth exploring and exposing to critical discussion those
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elements of ECCE that have been absorbed by many in the educational and development

communities worldwide.

Bruce Fuller (2007) lays out four of these issues in his book Standardized Childhood:

The political and cultural struggle over Early Education. The first is an assumption that early

childhood care and education benefits all three and four year olds, which is the sentiment driving

the push for universal provision of preschool in many nations. In fact, studies show that the

benefits are greatest for the poorest and most disadvantaged students, but middle class students

see only marginal benefits. In resource poor nations like Honduras, then, it is critical to point

limited resources toward those populations most in need. This leads into another of Fuller’s

critiques, which is that resources are often wasted on symbolic rather than research-based

indicators of quality. For example, a heavy focus on school readiness could lead to a narrowing

of the curriculum offered to children in a program, limiting any focus on social skills and

physical development.

Issues of what and who to support do not concern only students. The formation of

capable teachers must be part of any education policy but is often forgotten or under supported.

For ECCE it is especially important to acknowledge that while teacher training is essential, so is

practice and heart. For example, studies in the US show that teachers who interact with children

eye-to-eye and by using reasoning often have more positive effects on their students’ cognitive

and verbal skills (Fuller 2007). Research in this area, however, is based almost exclusively in

resource-rich nations. So, in addition to and/or as part of teacher training, ECCE efforts in

Honduras would benefit from action-research efforts to document and investigate the realities of

a nation’s population and educational realities.

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A second assumption is that if a little of something is a good thing then more of that

something is even better. Fuller (2007) points out that studies have actually shown that longer

days and more days a week spent in formal programs can actually lead to slower development in

some children. The issue of the extent to which to provide a service is connected to the issue of

what institution or institutions would best implement the policies and programs. For example,

ECCE efforts are often brought under the wings of the already existing formal education system.

While this can benefit ECCE efforts in terms of funding and stability, it can also hamper efforts

as well. This often limits programs to children 3 and older, meaning that infants and toddlers go

without interventions. It can also limit innovation and over emphasize the educational aspect,

causing the curriculum narrowing already mentioned. Effective ECCE programs are multi-

dimensional efforts that combine the resources and efforts of multiple ministries, including

education, health, and child welfare.

The need for ECCE in Honduras

Honduras is the second poorest nation in Central America, with a poverty rate of 64%

and a rate of extreme poverty at 45%, as of 2005. The percentage of those unemployed or

underemployed stands at 36%, with an industrial production growth rate of -7.4%. Thirty-eight

percent of the population is under the age of 14, and the overall median age is just under 21 years

of age. (CIA, 2010) Added to these striking statistics is the fact that the average age of first birth

for a woman is now 14 years old, and that a large number of these young mothers are

subsequently abandoned by the child’s father to raise the child on their own (Dr. David Ashby,

personal communication, August 2010). Even in areas where it is physically possible for these

young women to find industrial, agricultural, or domestic work, the lack of childcare often makes
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this impossible. Once the child is old enough to attend the first grade, and even if the mother can

collect together the funds for uniforms and school materials, the most formative years of that

child’s life have often been spent in extreme poverty, possibly replete with experiences of

malnutrition, disease, neglect, and abuse.

The educational system in Honduras is proving fairly effective in terms of access, with

90% of school-age children attending primary school (PRIE, 2007), but there is still a long way

to go to achieve academic quality. As of 2008, only 61% of students graduated from primary

school, and compulsory education terminates with the 6th grade (www.unicef.org). As of 2004,

only 32% of those finishing primary school managed to do so without repeating grades.

(“Honduras.has the most backward” 2004) As previously mentioned, effective early childhood

care and education programs could mitigate these statistics by helping children enter the first

grade school-ready, helping them avoid repeating grades and dropping out of school. But, in

terms of implementing any ECCE policy or program under these educational realities, it is

important to navigate the sentiments that likely pervade this culture when it comes to education.

After all, why would parents want to hand their children over to a bad system a year or two

earlier than necessary?

Current Honduran policy sends a mixed message about the nation’s dedication to

improving its education system. While the percent of its budget spent on education nearly

doubled between 1995 and 2002, its actual spending per pupil remained one of the lowest in the

region. (PREAL, 2005b) This lack of funds has meant that necessary investments have not been

made, including in teacher training. For example, the Secretaries of Education and Finance

refused to fund the new Escuela Normal Mixta de Valle de Sula in 2009 (Cruz Yanes, 2009).

Classes were subsequently offered at the Instituto Jose Trinidad Reyes, but the program there
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was denied funding in early 2010 (Acosta, 2010). Whether from purely financial reasons, or for

the alleged but undefined political reasons, this lack of investment threatens not only the

formation of new programs but also the future of current programs.

Education is not the only troubled institution in Honduras. While the Honduran

government purports to support the rights of children, their current institutions are not proving

capable of doing so. The Instituto Hondureno de la Ninez y la Familia [Honduran Institute for

Children and Families] (IHNFA) is charged with caring for abused and neglected children,

rehabilitating criminal youth, and improving the wellbeing of families at risk. In 2009, however,

90% of their $10 million USD budget went to pay salaries, leaving only $1 million USD for their

many programs (Mejia, 2010). In 2005 there were only 37 non-orphanage IHNFA childcare

centers in the entire country, focused primarily in the super-urban areas of Tegucigalpa and San

Pedro Sula. (www.ihnfa.hn)

Child abuse is a significant problem, one which IHNFA, law enforcement, and the courts

seem unable to adequately address. According to the US State Department’s Human Rights

Report for 2006 (www.state.gov) there were almost 2,000 reports of crimes against children in

Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula, but only 11% of these cases were processed and 46% of the

cases processed were thrown out by the courts. As of the report’s publication, only 62% of the

remaining cases had been resolved. In summary, out of 2,000 alleged crimes only 4% saw timely

justice done. An effective network of ECCE programs could help to mitigate some of these

issues, providing adults with opportunities to learn better parenting styles, providing children

with safe places where they learn about their rights and seek help, and providing the justice

system with possible witnesses to a child’s suffering.

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The culture of Honduras is not ethnically diverse, with 90% of the population being

Mestizo. What does stratify the population is income. The poorest 10% of the population has 7%

of the nation’s wealth, while the richest 10% has over 44% of the nation’s wealth. (CIA, 2010)

Fuller (2007) described a similar situation in the US state of California, in which because of

“incomes displaying an hourglass structure, there’s an apartheid-like separation between rich and

poor” (p.143). The description is apt for Honduras and raises the importance of making policy

decisions that address these inequalities. One such policy could be to include parents and

community members in oversight councils, which would provide a disenfranchised and

marginalized population with more opportunity for democratic and civic participation.

In summary, many of the issues facing Honduran society are founded in the wide gaps in

income, achievement, and access to social services. Current programs for children, including

education and child welfare, are not proving adequate to the problems. ECCE can be a cost

effective way to address some of these issues for the next generation, if implemented critically

and comprehensively. Having established the need in Honduras, it is important to look at

previously implemented programs that can provide a good examples of what might or mightly

likely not work in Honduras.

PREVIOUS ECCE EFFORTS IN HONDURAS AND ELSEWHERE

It is important to look at previous efforts in the area of ECCE, in Honduras and in the

Latin American region as a whole. In a study of five remarkably successful models of

community-based ECCE efforts from around the globe, Simone Kirpal (2002) reported the

following common characteristics:

- a child centered approach

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- strong parental involvement and family support

- the existence of community ownership

- the existence of cultural and financial sustainability

- a component of training and capacity building

- the integration of the program’s aspects within a broader framework of development,

-and private-public partnerships to provide flexibility, innovation, and oversight.

Using these characteristics as criteria for identifying useful examples from past efforts in

Honduras and Latin America, it is possible to gain important knowledge about the

implementation of ECCE programs in the same or similar cultural contexts.

ECCE Efforts in Honduras

Alas, to date, there have been few comprehensive, public efforts at early childhood care

and education in Honduras. Middle-class and wealthy parents have a variety of options to choose

from, from in-home nannies to bilingual preschool programs that teach children English. Private

programs have a small share of the overall pre-primary enrollment (UNESCO, 2007), but this

speaks more to the lack of programs in general than to a preponderance of public programs. The

Honduran Secretary of Education reports that in 2009 there were only 200,000 children enrolled

in pre-primary programs at a total of 8,500 centers. (www.se.gob.hn) When considering that

there are one million children under the age of 5 (www.nationmaster.com), it is obvious that

there is a large need for more widely available programs, because in total, only half of 5 year

olds and a quarter of 4 year olds receive services. (PRIE, 2007)

Most efforts are centered either in very urban areas or very rural areas and are geared

more toward health and nutrition, often lacking an educational component (Vargas-Baron 2009).
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However, one well-known pilot project is Madres Guias [Guide Mothers], in which female

community members are trained to work with families in the home and with children in primary

schools to help the children transition easily from the family into the school setting (Evans

2002). Methods are built on existing cultural practices and household objects are the source of

tools that mothers and caregivers are taught to use to help stimulate a child’s development

(Vargas-Baron 2009).

Another significant program is Save the Children’s Regional Initiative Central America

(RICA), which is taking place in southern Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua. RICA helps

underserved communities access quality early childhood services. It is implemented flexibly at

the local level and facilitates smooth transitions to school by increasing the number of children

who receive early childhood services, promoting a child-centered approach through the first

years of elementary school, and by providing parents and educators with the information they

need to support children as they adjust to school. In 2007, RICA was able to reach 13,000

children in Central America, and RICA students have been shown to complete first grade

without repeating at a rate 20% higher than the national average. (Save the Children, 2007)

Despite the dire situation of many children in Honduras, these two programs show that it

is possible to provide them with successful community-based programs. And, despite the

unsettling realities of Honduran institutions, there is also a bright side. Honduras does appear

willing to engage in innovation, particularly in terms of community involvement. Their

PROHECO program, for example, has allowed a number of well-organized rural communities to

found and supervise schools for their children. Many of these schools include a kindergarten or

pre-K level. Since 1995 the program has gone from serving 10,000 children to serving almost

100,000 children in rural areas (www.se.gob.hn).

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These are a couple of examples of excellent ECCE programs that have taken place in

Honduras, as well as evidence that the Education ministry, at least, has experience with

implementing community-based programs. However, there are many more programs from the

Latin American region that can also aid policy makers in deciding what kind of programs are

possible and should be supported.

ECCE Efforts in other nations of Latin America

The region of Latin America is an excellent resource for examples of successful

programs in the area of Early Childhood Care and Education. Cuba’s socialist structure allows it

to provide well-rounded, holistic care for nearly all of its tiniest citizens. Starting at 2 years of

age, working parents can place their children in a circulo infantil [Child Circle] in which there is

a 1 to 6 teacher-student ratio. Parents who choose to remain at home are provided with materials

and guidance from the Educa a tu hijo [Educate your child] program, which includes home visits

for both health and cognitive development guidance (Victoria Castillo Garrido, personal

communication, October 2010). Cuba has thus managed to achieve near universal access to

quality early childhood services, indicating the importance of flexible programming options.

Another classic of Latin American efforts in ECCE is the Jardin de Niños [Children’s

Garden] in Mexico. It was one of the earliest efforts to adapt the kindergarten model being

imported from the US and Europe into a truly Mexican way of educating young children. The

program emphasized that a child’s development was an integration of the cognitive, affective,

and psychomotor domains and that a child is both an individual and a member of Mexican

society. Jardin de Niños philosophies promoted the children’s efficacy as members of the

community and the need for flexibility so that teachers could respond to the realities of their
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particular group of students (Logan 1983). Jardin de Ninos is a useful example of how

progressive but culturally valid attitudes can be introduced to a community through ECCE

programs. Even more importantly, it is an excellent example of the tradition of comprehensive

programs that address the integrated nature of a child’s development.

One last good example comes from Colombia’s PROMESA program, which is the

Spanish acronym for “The Project for Educational Improvement, Health, and Environment.” It

has proved very successful, expanding from four small villages in 1978 to now serve

approximately 7,000 families in several areas of the country. It is particularly notable for its use

of parents and community leaders as the main educational agents, freeing project staff to act as

facilitators between different parts of the program and other institutions. It emphasizes the

program as the basis for broader efforts in social development and completes its own monitoring,

evaluation, and action-research efforts. (Evans 2002) ECCE programs can be an excellent way to

reach communities with many development services, and a community-based structure not only

is positive for the participants but also for the coordinating team, allowing them to do work that

affects not only the local realities but also the broader scope of policy and program support.

Other efforts in the region can also serve as guides for pitfalls to avoid, in particular the

alluringly simplistic idea of “best practices” and the issues faced in scaling up programs. For

example, as Columbia expanded its successful and much heralded Escuela Nueva system, it went

from being an innovative and community-generated program to being a heavily top-down effort

(McGinn 1996). Flexibility and conscious, deliberative, and careful scaling up of policies and

programs are critical to long-term and wide-ranging success. In his analysis of the way Colombia

scaled up Escuela Nueva, McGinn pointed out that it is important to focus on disseminating a

plan rather than implementing a rigid design, because success is going to come through the
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whole-hearted adoption of the program and the ability to innovate locally. McGinn pointed out

the importance of maintaining an environment that fosters innovation, because continuous

adaptation allows each program site to respond to its specific and changing context. The central

coordination team for any program needs to be able to continually reference over-arching

principles that transcend specific methods and that foment learning amongst students, teachers,

and communities.

This approach has proved useful in the Cuban context, but apt warnings also come from

Cuba’s very centralized system. One Cuban educational specialist warns that, due to overly top-

down administration, many in that nation’s education system have “lost the essence of self-

regulation” (Dr. Lisardo Garcia Ramis, personal communication, 29 October 2010). Correctly

implementing the policy decisions in a way that maintains flexibility in terms of curriculum and

daily structure are critical if programs are to respond positively to diverse perspectives and

geographic areas as well as the changing needs of children and their communities.

AN ANALYSIS OF THE PROBLEM IN CONTEXT

There are a number of ways in which the ideas and lessons from the above cases can

inform Honduran ECCE policy. However, it is important to identify the obstacles that

programming and policy making faces in the Honduran context. In particular, Honduras will face

difficulties in resourcing ECCE programs, both in terms of financial and material support as well

as social support. Implementation may also face some challenges, because of social realities in

the communities, as well as the nature of ECCE itself.

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Opportunities despite a lack of resources

According to the statistics previously cited, there is most definitely a need for more and

more effective ECCE programs in Honduras, a need which is not currently being met. The vast

majority of children under the age of 6 are not being reached by any program. However, the

evidence available suggests that the country has neither the financial nor political capability to

meet the need for more ECCE independently. A related need that seems likely to continue to go

unmet is that of certified teachers. ECCE is not one of the specialties currently available and is

unlikely to be added anytime soon to the existing, struggling teacher training programs. There is

evidence, however, that there are some within the elite that recognize the need for greater

attention to young children, including the current First Lady, wife of President Lobo, who has

raised significant emergency funds for IHNFA programs. (Mejia 2010)

There is great opportunity for ECCE to have positive effects on some of the seemingly

intractable problems faced by Honduras both in education and children’s rights. High rates of

grade repetition and low rates of primary school completion show that there is a huge need for

greater school readiness amongst children. ECCE programs could also provide safe havens for

children as well as access to the justice system and social services that could improve their

quality of life and overall development outcomes.

There is little existing data on the most current efforts underway in Honduras, possibly a

result of the financial and political tumult following the June 2009 coup d’état. Curriculum and

best-practices research within Honduras is equally, if not more, difficult to locate. It would

behoove the Secretary of Education and IHNFA to foment more external research or action-

research on the part of participants so as to create a documented knowledge-base from which to

operate and innovate within the Honduran culture and context.

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There are going to be significant hurdles to implementing ECCE programs in Honduras;

however, there is evidence that there are solutions and strategies to surmount these difficulties.

Public interest and commitment can be fomented by those in the elite and government who are

interested in children’s welfare. Action-research can fill the need for greater knowledge of what

constitutes “best practices” in Honduras. The greatest opportunity is for ECCE to affect children

and communities in incredibly positive ways.

Challenges of implementing community-based ECCE in Honduras

There are likely to be a number of negative sentiments on the part of several parties of

stakeholders that will need to be navigated in the creation of ECCE policies and programs, in

particular entrenched negative perceptions of public programs and the allure of simplistically

implementing “best practices” approaches. Those currently in the education infrastructure may

worry that ECCE would negatively affect primary education by diverting funds and teachers

badly needed in later grades. Because of the already endemic problems that have not been

successfully addressed, parents and community members may assume that the ECCE efforts will

also suffer from similar problems and be hesitant to place their young children into the programs.

It will be important to form programs that parents and children find relevant to their daily lives

and futures. For parents, this means that ECCE programs must be participatory and community-

based, allowing them a voice in their children’s education, and there should also links through

the ECCE programs to other development program options for parents, such as employment,

further education, and/or health services. For children, there are many different programs and

practices from which program designers could choose.

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Research shows that there does not seem to be one “best practice” when it comes to

ECCE programs, but there does seem to be one aspect that all successful programs have in

common; successful programs are comprehensive efforts that scaffold children’s cognitive,

physical, and social development and that involve communities in participatory ways (Fuller

2007; UNESCO 2007; Young, 2002). Program and curriculum formation and implementation

will likely need to be very different from the models traditionally conceived for primary

education. For example, while first graders might be expected to sit quietly and repeatedly write

numbers for practice, a preschooler is more likely to learn by also coloring or drawing the

number and representative amount, by forming the number with clay, or by singing a song. In the

long run, perhaps the success of ECCE methods could also inspire first-grade teachers to employ

similar methods in their classrooms and thus ease children’s school transitions.

The final challenge to implementation will likely come in effectively ascertaining and

addressing the needs of the often informal communities that exist in areas that are neither fully

urban nor rural. Most information is currently broken dichotomously into only urban and rural

categories (PREAL, 2005a), obscuring any available knowledge about the peri-urban areas

where children may be more likely to experience gaps in achievement and social integration,

aspects which ECCE could possibly be effective in addressing by setting marginalized children

on a stronger academic and social base for beginning school.

POSSIBLE STRATEGIES FOR PROVIDING ECCE IN HONDURAS

The basic issue at hand is that Honduras is in need of greater supports for its youngest

citizens, supports which have not as yet been made widely available but could be through

effective ECCE programming. It is important to first look at strategies of how such programs
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could be provided, and then one can discuss how programs should be supported through teacher

support, community support, and the generation of knowledge.

Addressing the lack of programs

Viewing the information above, it is unacceptable to allow the situation to remain as it is,

with marginalized children doing without adequate, effective early childhood services. As

previously stated, the needs of the current development efforts, such as UPE, could be

significantly enhanced by children having better school readiness skills when they enter the first

grade, making them less likely to repeat or drop out. However, how to provide programs is not a

problem easily solved.

The most obvious answer would be for the government to provide publicly funded

programs that were widely available to all Hondurans. This, however, is neither feasible nor

advisable at this time. With resources for education already stretched beyond thin, it is more

important to spend that money which is available on those most in need and most likely to

benefit from preschool, which evidence shows to be the poorest and most marginalized children.

There is also a great deal of suspicion of centrally run programs in Honduras, due to a past of

endemic corruption and ineffectiveness. And, needing to be a coordinated effort between

contentious ministries, the question of a purely public effort could easily snag on the matter of

which ministry was to head the program.

On the other side of the spectrum would be the option for the government to create

conditions that encourage the formation of private, for-profit ECCE programs, using the

mechanism of the market to establish demand and supply. This concept, too, will be caught by

the issue of financing. In a country lacking a fair distribution of capital, how is the adequate
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capital to be found by entrepreneurs to establish the hoped for programs? Also, private programs

would necessitate fees from students, and as illustrated previously ECCE programs are most

effective for those students who most likely cannot afford them.

Instead, it seems most apt to use a public-private partnership model to provide widely

available ECCE programming to communities most in need of it, as was found true by Kirpal

(2002). Public, in this case, means the Honduran government and its various ministries of

Education, Health, Child Welfare, and probably also Labor (to help provide employment support

to community participants.) Private, on the other hand, means the communities in which the

programs are located, as well as NGOs, IGOs, and other private parties that would like to help

fund, implement, and support programs. While the provision of microfinancing could encourage

the creation of private centers, the best strategy would be for the government to provide a

framework and support services for community-based programs, in which communities take on

much of the program implementation and oversight.

Addressing the lack of resources

The greatest resource needed and not currently available in Honduras is positive

commitment to ECCE programming for those who stand to gain the most from it. This requires

that the government act to move child welfare from beyond the realm of rhetoric and into the

realm of concrete actions. Meaning, shared principles and a vision for the future must be

established and widely disseminated within the Honduran population and the government’s

diverse ministries.

The second resource needed is knowledge regarding the critical stages of a child’s first

several years of life and how these can best be supported in various Honduran contexts. While
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some success may be achieved if North American and European “best practices” are imported

without a critical eye to their contextual adaptation, actually generating knowledge about what is

already positive about early childhood practices in Honduras and building upon these will likely

have even more successful outcomes. This is not only because they will actually help children

develop better but also because they will be better perceived by the community. This kind of

knowledge base could be built by inviting foreign researchers in to conduct the studies needed or

by encouraging local researchers and participants to take part in action-research, which could

also inform and promote greater interest amongst the general population if published. Previous

examples such as Madres Guias and PROGRESO are both excellent examples of the power of

using local knowledge sources.

It is critical to look for untapped and innovative resources both internally and externally

if the problem of ECCE is to be addressed in a timely manner. Pooling the expertise, funding,

and efforts of multiple government ministries, NGOs, IGOs, and private enterprises—while

fomenting a truly collective sense of responsibility for the welfare of young children—will not

only improve the foundational situation for programs but will also help provide the multi-

disciplinary environment in which ECCE needs to exist. Public-private partnerships between the

Honduran government and NGOs can enhance the options for financing, the resources for

expertise and materials, and the undertaking of monitoring and evaluation.

Addressing the challenges to successful program implementation in Honduras

Having established the need and commitment, as well as avenues for resourcing ECCE

programs, the final step is to address the strategies necessary to overcome challenges to

implementation. The two biggest challenges are likely to lie in adequate and effective staffing of
 Olden – ECCE in Honduras - 21

teachers as well as overcoming long-standing suspicions of education and social programs as

ineffective and corrupt. From the policy end, the government can help communities overcome

these two hurdles by providing incentives. Incentives are important, not just for the formation of

ECCE programs as mentioned earlier, but also for the adequate recruiting and training of ECCE

teachers and the effective participation of communities. And, if ECCE is to be provided widely,

it is important to scale-up programs but to do so with an eye to maintaining and even improving

the quality of the programs.

Finding and training quality teachers is a complicated issue, especially as are there are no

public university programs in Honduras that currently specialize in ECCE teacher training. So

far, the country has been relying on those teachers interested in the age group to figure out their

own practices and, hopefully, disseminate them to other interested professionals. But, this is not

very likely to occur in widely dispersed peri-urban and rural areas. With very little investment,

Honduras could ensure this was occurring by establishing networks through which experienced

and less-experienced teachers could establish mentoring relationships. This is unlikely, however,

to be enough to establish wide-spread positive practices, making it imperative that the

government encourage the formation of ECCE teacher training programs as well as professional

development initiatives for continuing teachers. This is not meant to steal teachers away from

primary and secondary education, where the need is also great, but rather to help foment more

investment in teacher training overall.

Having teachers is critical, but so is having students. Many parents, many of whom may

have left primary school prior to completing the cycle, may not want to hand their children over

to a system they do not trust. This means that the option of implementing programs under a

single ministry, such as Education, may very likely prove ineffective in encouraging attendance,
 Olden – ECCE in Honduras - 22

even if there are no program fees. And, as previously stated, programs coming under a single

ministerial umbrella are more likely to find their scope and reach limited. So, while it might

seem like the most sensible step, connecting preschool programs to the existing primary

education structure might not actually be the best choice, although the two systems certainly

need to be in communication.

Parents will be more likely to enroll their children and support their children’s

participation if they can see that the ECCE programs have immediate positive effects. One way

this has been done for primary and secondary school programs has been through conditional cash

transfers (CCTs), but young children are rarely responsible for much of the family income.

Instead, ECCE programs must fill children’s needs that parents want to fill but cannot. These can

include school readiness skills, social skills, and connections to health, nutrition, and other social

services. If there are complementary services that are accessed through the ECCE program, both

for children and their caregivers, then community participation is much more likely.

Community participation, at all levels from the founding of centers to teacher supervision

to school upkeep, will likely help to address issues of hesitation on the part of parents and other

community members. In addition, given that ECCE programs cannot alone solve the problems

poor children face, early childhood policies and programs are likely to be more effective when

parents and community members also take part in efforts for social development. The topics of

such development activities can be as child-oriented as parenting or as economically oriented as

job skills training. Together, these two facets are likely to draw wide community support.

However, the communities in question are diverse and need to receive adequate attention

in the implementation phase. The cookie cutter nature of “best practices” positivism can actually

undermine the success of ECCE efforts, especially in a geographically diverse set of

 Olden – ECCE in Honduras - 23

communities. Attacking the problem in small increments, founding only a handful of centers at a

time, could successfully spread out thin resources and give time for further resources to be

recruited for the founding of more centers. Addressing the likely differences between disparate

communities, as well as the fact that communities will change over time, is also more likely

when there is not an enormous push to “go to scale” all at once, such as in the case of Escuela

Nueva. Flexibility could be provided either through a single structure upon which communities

build their particular program details or by offering communities a choice between multiple

program designs.

RECOMMENDATIONS

The overarching recommendation of this report is to create policies and frameworks that will

encourage the formation of community-based, participatory early childhood services in

marginalized communities, especially in those areas that are currently informal and most

marginalized, such as the peri-urban areas previously described. Widely available ECCE

programs could begin to quickly address the large social and economic gaps faced by so many

Honduran children. To create this programming, however, Honduras must invest itself creatively

and passionately. It must provide flexible frameworks and support for ECCE programs that are

community-based and participatory and that comprehensively address the needs of students and

their communities. And, it needs to encourage the formation of greater knowledge about what

works best within the Honduran context.

1. The most basic step Honduras can undertake is to invest itself in early childhood and

education. To be more specific, however, this includes several kinds of investing:

 Olden – ECCE in Honduras - 24

a. Commitment – The Honduran government must encourage people to develop a

positive attitude toward and knowledge of the development of young children by sharing

information about the importance of ECCE in future outcomes for those children

participating. It is also critical to establish a central vision and set of principles for

Honduran ECCE that program creators, supporters, and participants can look to for

inspiration and purpose. These reasons must be explained clearly to all Honduras, rich

and poor, to help guarantee that programs for the poor become and remain a priority.

Stakeholders from multiple levels of government and education must also be convinced

of the importance of these efforts. For example, the MOE and teacher training programs

need to come to see the importance of ECCE training. Also, multiple ministries need to

be committed to the difficult task of working together, so that the health, education, and

rights of the children are equally emphasized within ECCE programs.

b. Financing – It is important that there is a strong public element to ECCE programs for

the poor, even if the government itself cannot front the entire cost for such efforts.

Expertise and funding can also come from private sources, especially NGOs and IGOs.

There may even be aspects of ECCE programs that specific NGOs or IGOs could

supervise or evaluate. Returns on investments in ECCE have been shown to be greatest

for the poorest children, so funding needs to be directed toward the formation of

programs for those most in need.

c. Knowledge – Using the frameworks for monitoring and evaluation that are necessitated

by funding from national and international sources, there would be ample information to

aid in the formation of knowledge about what programs and program aspects are most

successful in the Honduran context. Returning to the idea of fomenting commitment to

 Olden – ECCE in Honduras - 25

the continuous betterment of ECCE efforts, knowledge of what works could also be

generated via action-research on the part of researchers, teachers, and community

councils.

2. Successful efforts in ECCE are likely to come from community-based, participatory

frameworks that address more of the community needs than just childcare. This can serve to

address the lack of human resources for supervision of centers, to address the negative

sentiments some community members may feel toward public education, and the development

needs of the community itself. By providing informal communities with a central meeting

location and the chance to form their own leadership councils, an ECCE program can have far

wider ranging effects than just its young students’ lives. Depending on how the community

decides to use the ECCE program, it can serve to connect community members to social services

or to the formation of job skills and employment opportunities. Community-based programs are

also easier to keep flexible in terms of how they approach ECCE and development, as they can

respond quickly to changes in their immediate environs and culture.

3. Research shows that the most successful ECCE programs are comprehensive efforts that

include education, nutrition, health, and social interventions. Honduras can best serve the future

of its children by fomenting programs that address all of the areas at the same time, and by

implementing research-based curriculums and programs that can be flexible enough to meet the

needs of diverse children in many different communities.

CONCLUSION

Honduras faces both daunting challenges and incredible opportunities to make positive

changes in the current and future lives of its youngest citizens. There is no single or simple
 Olden – ECCE in Honduras - 26

answer to address the wide-ranging needs of Honduran children and their communities.

However, the degree of need is such that it is obviously well past time to be implementing and

fomenting greater efforts in ECCE. In particular, the peri-urban areas are likely in need of greater

attention and assistance. Flexible, participatory, community-based programs that

comprehensively address children’s needs are most likely to have positive effects on children

and to also help communities experience greater levels of social and economic development.

Previous efforts provide ample evidence of the need for efforts to be holistic as well as the need

to include the collection of information about what Honduran “best practices” might be. ECCE

could help to address a number of social and educational issues that Honduras faces, making the

most important lesson from previous efforts the realization that success is not only possible but

probably under the right policy conditions.

 Olden – ECCE in Honduras - 27

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