The Challenge of Early Childhood Care and Education: An Agenda for Action.

Accounts of achievements in early childhood care and education in developing countries supplement a discussion of optimal programming. The document begins with background information on problems in educational provision and a rationale for a national focus on early education. Discussion then turns to: (1) parents as prime educators; (2) involvement of the community; (3) program replication; (4) development of partnerships between parents and the community; (5) new ways of working for governments, service agencies, and educators; (6) governmental roles; and (7) community development in action. Supplementary profiles detail benefits of early childhood care and education in Colombia, community involvement in Nigeria, community ownership of schools in Kenya, an early childhood and community project in Arab communities in Israel, Alabama's Federation of Child Care Centers' peer education project on countering negative racial scripting, the Bristol Child Development Project in England and Wales, France's Schools Without Frontiers preschool program in the Chian Kham refugee camp in Thailand, the development of "little schools" and teacher training programs in Mozambique, and the development of a preschool program with health and community action components in rural Brazil. Newsletters, occasional papers, seminar reports, books, videos, and publications in Portuguese and Spanish are announced. (RH)