Innovating women-led childcare in the West Bank
The International Labour Organisation has commissioned Genesis Analytics and our partner, the Palestinian Child Institute, to explore innovative childcare approaches in the West Bank with the goal of facilitating the establishment of affordable, accessible, sustainable, quality childcare services led by women.
The project will see our team:
- Develop an assessment of the childcare landscape in the West Bank, including mapping the legal and institutional context, as well as trends in demand and supply.
- Develop a feasible childcare model that is best suited to the context in the West Bank.
- Identify possible sites and partners to establish a pilot of this childcare model.
- Provide a detailed feasibility study for the establishment and operation of the childcare centre.
- Design a business plan that outlines the structure, implementation, operation and administration of the proposed model.
- Design a training programme and use this to empower a cohort of women by providing training on the skills and knowledge needed to establish the centre.
- Support the piloting of the childcare centre in the West Bank.
The initiative occurs within the context of the Palestinian Authority, which recognises the importance of childcare in its Early Childhood Development (ECD) strategy.[1] This strategy focuses on children aged 0-8 years old and envisions integrated care for all children.[2] However, despite these efforts to improve childcare services, significant challenges remain.
Only 25% of Palestinian children on the West Bank aged 35 to 59 months attend Early Childhood Education (ECE) programmes.[3] Children face significant challenges in accessing ECE, and often are unable to regularly attend preschools due to restrictions in movement, distance from schools, military checkpoints and ongoing violence.
Furthermore, considering that most childcare facilities are private (90%), financing childcare remains a significant challenge for many families.[4] As of 2021, the poverty rate was 27.3%, representing approximately 1.5 million people.[5]
Access to quality childcare holds immense potential. It can drive human capital development, increase equity and reduce poverty. When quality childcare services are available, they are associated with multi-generational impacts, including promoting women’s employment, productivity and empowerment. They also contribute to positive child outcomes, family welfare, business productivity, equity and economic development.
Globally, women shoulder the bulk of unpaid care work, including care work for young children.[6] Tackling this inequality by reducing women’s unpaid care work can have substantial benefits. Childcare enables more women to participate in the labour force, undertake more hours of paid work and obtain higher paid jobs. Meanwhile, for children, being exposed to nurturing, responsive care and opportunities for early learning in childcare settings can be highly beneficial for development.[7]
However, global access to quality childcare services is insufficient to adequately support children and their parents/caregivers. This is particularly acute for families with low incomes and those with children in early childhood (up to the age of six).[8] Over 40% of children below primary-school-entry age, approximately 349 million children worldwide, lack access to childcare.[9] Insufficient childcare provision forces caregivers (particularly mothers) to adopt inadequate and unsafe arrangements, including bringing children to work or leaving them in the care of another child.
Footnotes
[1] The latest was until 2022, which was extended until 2023.
[2] ECD National Strategy, https://www.unicef.org/sop/med...
[3] UNICEF, Education and Adolescents: https://www.unicef.org/sop/wha...
[4] MoE data.
[5] World Bank, Economic Monitoring Report to the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee, 2022: https://documents1.worldbank.o...
[6] Ibid.
[7] P. Gertler, J. Heckman, R. Pinto et al. (2021). “Effects of the Jamaica Early Childhood Stimulation Intervention on Labour Market Outcomes at 31”, Policy Research Working Paper 9787, (World Bank: Washington D.C., USA).
[8] UN Women (2015). Progress of the World’s Women 2015-2016: Transforming Economies, Realising Rights. (UN Women: New York, USA).
[9] Devercelli and Beaton-Day (2020). Better Jobs and Brighter Futures.