Policy Brief: Enhancing Holistic Child Development in Ghana through Context-Relevant Research
ECD is fundamental to ensuring children succeed, achieve their full potential, and contribute to socioeconomic development. It involves the creation of favourable conditions to facilitate the cognitive, social, emotional, linguistic, and physical development of young children (WHO, UNICEF, & WBG, 2018).
Ghana’s Early Childhood Care policy, introduced in 2004, aligns with global commitments, such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 4) and the African Union’s Agenda 2063. The policy aims to provide comprehensive and holistic care for children aged 0-8 years, highlighting key developmental areas such as early learning and protection, health, nutrition, responsive caregiving, caring for the caregiver, and family support.
Building on this policy and other policy frameworks, the Early Childhood Education policy and a guideline for its implementation were developed by the Ghana government. Ghana is the first country in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) to expand free universal and compulsory basic education to kindergarten, leading to the highest pre-primary enrolment rate in SSA (Gratz & Putcha, 2019). Approximately 71% of children in this age group access early childhood education (Ghana Statistical Service, 2019; Ghana Education Fact Sheets, 2020).
One in every five children in Ghana experiences stunted growth during the first 1,000 days of life due to inadequate nutrition, frequent illness, and an unhealthy environment (UNICEF Ghana, n.d.). Furthermore, the under-five mortality rate remains high at 40 deaths per 1,000 live births (Ghana Statistical Service and ICF, 2023).
To enhance ECD outcomes, there is a need for evidence-based policies that are locally relevant and contextually grounded. Local ECD researchers, with their deep understanding of local systems and challenges, are well-placed to generate evidence that informs policy, investment, and practice; yet, they often remain underutilised (McLean & Sen, 2019). In response, Education Sub Saharan Africa (ESSA) and the Research for Equitable Access and Learning (REAL) Centre at the University of Cambridge, with funding from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, are aiming to increase the visibility of researchers in SSA, with Ghana as a focus country.
This policy brief synthesises key findings from a comprehensive review of ECD research by Ghanaian authors (Acquah et al., 2024). It compares outputs and trends of ECD research from Ghana that are published in international databases (Dimensions, Scopus, and Web of Science) and those disseminated through local sources that are available online (institutional repositories, journals, and websites). Based on this analysis, actionable recommendations are offered to strengthen ECD research in Ghana.
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