An ECD Collaborative is Born! 

BY EILEEN CHONG, LEAD, INSIGHTS & INNOVATION

It has been three years since 12 APC members and partners first banded together to commission a regional early childhood development (ECD) landscape study which mapped the gaps in ECD policies in four countries – China, Indonesia, Philippines and Singapore. After it was published in July 2023, the report was shared widely with key public and private stakeholders and went on to spark many conversations within the membership. How could we tackle these gaps that the report outlined, and in what sequence? Who should we journey with, so we can get there faster?  When and where do we start?  

I boarded the ECD express shortly after joining APC in June 2024. Momentum was clearly gathering. Work of the Philippines’ Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM2) was apace as it sought to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the state of the country’s education sector and make recommendations for targeted reforms. ECD and its crucial role in laying a strong foundation for young learners found itself among the top of the agenda. The House had just passed House Bill 10142 in March 2024 which proposed comprehensive upgrades to existing ECD policy framework. The Senate was in the midst of debating the counterpart Senate Bill 2575. How could philanthropy ride on and amplify the momentum?  

The undeniable reality is that the Philippines is facing an early years catastrophe.  Home to more than 12 million children under 5, the Philippines has a high under 5 stunting rate of 26.7% (as of 2024) and extremely low preschool enrollment rate of 9% for 2- to 4-year-olds (for SY2022-2023). This means that countless children start their lives at a disadvantage, further entrenching societal inequalities and hindering lifelong potential. Given the magnitude of the challenge, it was clear that there needed to be continued, meaningful collaboration between private, public and philanthropic stakeholders to ensure that every Filipino child had a fair and prosperous beginning.  

APC and four Philippine members (Ayala Foundation Inc. (AFI), Knowledge Channel Foundation Inc. (KCFI), Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc. (RAFI) and Zuellig Family Foundation (ZFF)) met regularly over several months to explore meaningful collaboration. We began by mapping members’ work and resources against the five pillars of the Nurturing Care Framework, a holistic ECD roadmap developed by WHO and UNICEF. The mapping revealed strong complementarities among members’ initiatives, highlighting opportunities to pool resources in shared locations for a more comprehensive and holistic approach to ECD.  

In July 2024, Carol and I visited the Philippines to gain firsthand insight into the local ECD policy and operational landscape. We joined KCFI’s trip to Iloilo province, where we visited Child Development Centers (CDCs) and engaged with early educators, parents, local officials, and mayors. With ECD programs decentralized to local government units, we heard about budget limitations, resource constraints, and implementation challenges. Yet, we also witnessed inspiring, resourceful solutions—examples of communities doing more with less. These experiences provided valuable grounding for our discussions in the months ahead as we worked with members to lay the foundation for the Philippines ECD collaborative.   

A two-prong strategy soon began to take shape. The first was advocacy on a national level. This ranged from collectively providing input to the Senate bill to regular engagements (both individually and collectively, at all levels) with key public sector stakeholders to explore how philanthropy could continue to complement and support public sector efforts.  

The second was working with local governments to improve their capacity to plan, finance and implement ECD programs and services. Members had each developed their respective know-how over the years of working in various parts of the Philippines and were forthcoming with their sharing. RAFI conducted a virtual brownbag in January 2025 to share about a new governance scorecard that it was developing in tandem with the ECCD Council that could provide an accurate snapshot of local government ability and readiness to deliver ECD programs and services while ZFF shared how it had refined its local health systems change approach over the past decade.  

KCFI coordinated the provision of collective input to the draft Senate Bill 2575, which was merged into the draft ahead of its third reading in December 2024. The draft Bill was later approved with full consensus in mid-December 2024 and was later consolidated with House Bill 10142 to form the Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) Act in February 2025!  

The founding members co-hosted a high-level public sector roundtable lunch dialogue on ECD that same day. We were heartened by the strong roundtable turnout, which included DepEd Secretary Sonny Angara, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, Congressman Roman Romulo, DOH Undersecretary Mary Ann Maestral, TESDA Director General Secretary Kiko Benitez, ECCD Council Executive Director Dr Teresita Inciong and EDCOM2 Executive Director Dr Karol Mark Yee. We had a candid and productive conversation over two hours that laid the groundwork for what will hopefully be many more meaningful conversations to come. 

It is full steam ahead as we navigate our first thousand days! AFI will be spearheading the Collaborative’s foray into its first location in the Philippines’ southern BARMM region. At the same time, we are also brainstorming new ideas with partners and friends to keep the advocacy momentum going. We welcome all interest, responses and partnerships that will help this Collaborative grow up strong and healthy and look forward to sharing more updates in the future. Maraming salamat!