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UNESCO is pleased to announce that the Republic of Uzbekistan will host the Second World Conference on Early Childhood Care and Education (WCECCE), co-organized with UNESCO from 14 to 16 November 2022 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

The conference host country agreement was signed in June 2022 by Ms Agrippina Shin, Minister of Pre-school Education of Uzbekistan, and Mr Firmin Edouard Matoko, the Assistant Director-General of the Africa Department and External Relations of UNESCO. The Republic of Uzbekistan has invested heavily in early childhood, leading to significant progress and development of the ECCE sector. The kindergarten enrollment rate has increased from 27.7% in 2017 to 67.2% with plans to reach 100% pre-school enrollment of 6-year-old children by 2025.

Two statutory Committees have been established to provide strategic guidance and coordination support for the WCECCE: the Organizing Committee, co-chaired by the Prime Minister of Uzbekistan and UNESCO’s Director-General, and a Programme Committee, co-chaired by UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General for Education together with the Minister of Pre-school Education of Uzbekistan.

UNESCO convened the first and only previous WCECCE in Moscow in 2010, warning that the Education for All Goal on ECCE was “at great risk of not being achieved by 2015 unless urgent and resolute action is taken” and posited ECCE as a social, human and economic development imperative.

Twelve years later, the WCECCE is happening for a second time, bringing together member states, international organizations, stakeholders and experts from across the globe to shape the future of ECCE. The conference will be a key moment to further rally policy makers, educators and teachers, families and caregivers, and all stakeholders in pursuit of SDG 4.2 The goal of the conference is to renew and expand political commitments and investments in society’s youngest members. It will provide an important forum for policymaking, knowledge sharing, and concrete actions and strategies for scaling-up of successful ECCE programmes and innovations across all regions and countries.

The conference aims to bring together 1,500 participants both in person and online to discuss challenges and effective practices within the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals.

As a conference outcome, member states will take the lead in adopting a new framework document, the Tashkent declaration, for action to put in place policies, incentives, regulatory frameworks, and mechanisms to contribute to expanding inclusive access to high quality ECCE for all young children without exception, generally determining the international agenda in the field of preschool education until 2030.

For additional information, please contact the UNESCO Secretariat in charge of the Conference at the following email address wcecce@unesco.org

• More on UNESCO’s work in early childhood care and education