In order to accompany the Ministry of Social Development (MIDES) in the implementation of the Early Childhood Public Policy, the CAF – development bank for Latin America and the Caribbean – and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), signed a technical assistance agreement.

With this agreement, an effort is made to strengthen universal access to quality early childhood services for children under the age of 4 in Panama, and to ensure them a promising future

Similarly, the signing of this agreement represents the path to the implementation of the early childhood care strategy led by MIDES in the company of other actors in the public sector to ensure that every Panamanian child has access to child development services from their early years of life, thus laying the foundations for a prosperous and equitable future.

In this agreement signed by CAF and UNICEF for the benefit of MIDES, each of the institutions adds efforts based on its potential; CAF provides a non-refundable contribution of US$70,000, UNICEF will coordinate and execute the project based on the international experience and knowledge accumulated in more than 75 years since its creation, and MIDES is the government entity that can adopt standards at the national level and scale them to universally benefit all children without leaving anyone behind.

The UNICEF representative in Panama, Sandie Blanchet, pointed out that Panama has made great advances in early child development, demonstrating political will with the adoption of important standards and advances in their implementation, however, the coverage and quality of early childhood services remain low.

“Despite the efforts that have been made, only 4% of children under 3 years of age have access to public early child development services. Addressing these structural challenges involves the collaborative work of all state institutions, and the support of multilateral entities such as CAF and UNICEF, to reach the most vulnerable children and their families with quality services,” Blanchet said.

For her part, the representative of the CAF office in Panama, Lucia Meza, stressed the importance of investing in early childhood as a fundamental pillar for the sustainable growth of Latin America and the Caribbean, emphasizing the need to reduce existing inequalities and advance in the fulfillment of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Meanwhile, the Minister of MIDES, María Inés Castillo, said that Panama has managed to increase the coverage of comprehensive care and early quality stimulation in the Centers of Integral Early Childhood Care, going from attending 1,233 children in 2019, to a care of 2,210 children to date.