Deadline: 03-Jul-2026
The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund is inviting proposals to strengthen early childhood development services with a focus on disability inclusion in Namibia. The programme aims to improve early identification, referral, caregiver support, inclusive education, nutrition screening, birth registration, hygiene promotion, and multi-sectoral coordination for children with disabilities and developmental delays.
Programme Overview
UNICEF Namibia is inviting proposals to strengthen inclusive early childhood development services for children in Namibia, with a strong focus on disability inclusion.
The programme is implemented in collaboration with national ministries, including the Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare, the Ministry of Health and Social Services, and the Ministry of Education, Innovation, Youth, Sports, Arts and Culture.
The initiative is designed to improve access to quality, equitable, and integrated early childhood development services, especially for children with disabilities, developmental delays, and special protection needs in vulnerable and underserved communities.
Programme Purpose
The purpose of the programme is to strengthen Namibia’s early childhood development systems so that young children, especially those with disabilities, can access the support they need during the most important stages of development.
The programme focuses on early identification, timely referral, caregiver capacity building, inclusive learning, nutrition support, social protection linkages, community awareness, and coordinated service delivery across health, education, child protection, nutrition, and social protection systems.
Key Focus Areas and Objectives
The programme focuses on disability-inclusive early childhood development and integrated support for children, families, caregivers, educators, and communities.
Key focus areas include:
- Disability inclusion
- Early childhood development system strengthening
- Early recovery and support for vulnerable children
- Early identification of children with disabilities
- Referral support for children with developmental delays
- Capacity building for parents and caregivers
- Training of educators and Educarers
- Training of pre-primary teachers
- Integration of health, nutrition, education, child protection, and social protection services
- Strengthening nurturing care systems
- Foundational literacy for children with disabilities
- Foundational numeracy for children with disabilities
- Community awareness and stigma reduction
- Birth registration support
- Disability grant access support
- Nutrition screening and referrals
- Immunisation-related referrals
- Hygiene and sanitation promotion
- Advocacy and communication on inclusive early childhood development
- Multi-sectoral coordination across government and community structures
Implementing Partners
The programme is implemented by UNICEF Namibia in collaboration with key national ministries and government structures.
Main partners include:
- UNICEF Namibia
- Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare
- Ministry of Health and Social Services
- Ministry of Education, Innovation, Youth, Sports, Arts and Culture
- Government and community structures involved in early childhood development
- University of Namibia interns supporting field-level implementation
- Early childhood development centres
- Community service providers
- Caregivers, educators, and Educarers
Who Will Benefit?
The programme is designed to benefit young children, families, caregivers, educators, and communities, with priority given to vulnerable and underserved populations.
Target beneficiaries include:
- Children with disabilities
- Children with developmental delays
- Children with special protection needs
- Mothers and newborns
- Young children in early childhood development centres
- Adolescents requiring integrated support services
- Parents and caregivers
- Educators and Educarers
- Pre-primary teachers
- Vulnerable families in underserved communities
- Community members affected by stigma and misinformation around disability
Why This Programme Matters
Early childhood is a critical stage for learning, health, protection, and long-term development. When children with disabilities or developmental delays are not identified early, they may miss essential services that can support their growth, learning, protection, and wellbeing.
This programme matters because it strengthens the systems that help children receive timely support. It connects families with referral services, birth registration, nutrition screening, disability grants, inclusive education, hygiene support, and child protection services.
The programme also addresses stigma and discrimination, which often prevent children with disabilities from accessing services, participating in learning, and being fully included in community life.
Early Identification and Referral Support
A major focus of the programme is improving early identification and referral systems for children with disabilities and developmental delays.
This includes helping parents, caregivers, educators, Educarers, interns, and community service providers recognize early signs of disability or developmental delay and connect children to appropriate support services.
Referral support may include links to:
- Health services
- Nutrition services
- Child protection services
- Social protection services
- Birth registration services
- Disability grant services
- Education and early learning support
- Community-based support systems
Capacity Building for Parents and Caregivers
The programme supports structured training for parents and caregivers.
This training helps families understand early childhood development, identify possible developmental delays, and access referral services. It also supports families in understanding available documentation and social protection services, including birth registration and disability grants.
Caregiver training is important because parents and caregivers are often the first to notice developmental concerns and the first to support a child’s learning, safety, nutrition, and emotional wellbeing.
Training for Educators and Educarers
The programme strengthens the capacity of early childhood development educators, Educarers, and pre-primary teachers.
Training areas include:
- Inclusive teaching methods
- Early identification of disabilities
- Referral pathways
- Nurturing care approaches
- Foundational literacy
- Foundational numeracy
- Support for children with disabilities
- Stigma reduction in learning environments
- Child protection awareness
- Integration of health and nutrition messages into early learning settings
This helps ensure that children with disabilities are supported in safe, inclusive, and developmentally appropriate learning environments.
Role of University of Namibia Interns
The programme supports interns from the University of Namibia to apply early identification and referral manuals in vulnerable communities.
These interns will help strengthen community-level implementation by supporting early identification, referral, caregiver engagement, and inclusive early childhood development activities.
Their involvement also helps build a future workforce with practical skills in disability inclusion, child development, community engagement, and referral-based support.
Integration of Nurturing Care Services
The programme supports the integration of nurturing care services into early childhood development centres.
Nurturing care includes the conditions children need to survive, grow, learn, and thrive. This includes good health, adequate nutrition, responsive caregiving, safety, security, and early learning opportunities.
The programme links early childhood development services with:
- Education
- Health
- Nutrition
- Child protection
- Social protection
- Hygiene and sanitation services
- Community referral systems
Nutrition, Health, and Hygiene Support
The programme includes nutrition screening, health referrals, and hygiene promotion.
Key activities include:
- Conducting nutrition screening
- Supporting referrals for children at risk of malnutrition
- Supporting immunisation-related referrals
- Promoting hygiene and sanitation practices
- Strengthening health and nutrition linkages in early childhood development centres
- Coordinating with relevant ministries to improve service delivery
These activities help ensure that children’s development needs are addressed through a complete and integrated support system.
Birth Registration and Social Protection Support
The programme helps families access essential documentation and support services.
This includes support for birth registration and disability grants. Birth registration is important because it helps children access legal identity, education, health services, protection, and social support.
Disability grant access can help families meet the additional needs of children with disabilities and improve access to care, learning, nutrition, and support services.
Community Awareness and Stigma Reduction
The programme addresses stigma, myths, and discrimination affecting children with disabilities.
Community awareness activities will promote positive attitudes toward disability inclusion and inclusive early childhood development. These activities are intended to help communities understand that children with disabilities have the right to care, protection, education, participation, and development support.
Stigma reduction is important because negative beliefs and misinformation can prevent children from being identified, referred, enrolled, supported, and included.
Communication and Advocacy Activities
A key component of the programme is communication and advocacy on inclusive early childhood development.
Communication activities may use multimedia platforms such as:
- Radio
- Television
- Human interest stories
- Case studies
- Documentary production
- Community engagement activities
- Strategic advocacy events
These activities will highlight the needs of children with disabilities and promote stronger inclusive early childhood development systems in Namibia.
Multi-Sectoral Coordination
The programme strengthens coordination across government and community structures.
Multi-sectoral coordination means that different sectors work together to support children and families. This is important because children with disabilities may need services from health, education, nutrition, child protection, and social protection systems at the same time.
The programme encourages stronger collaboration between ministries, community structures, early childhood development centres, educators, healthcare workers, social workers, families, and local service providers.
Expected Outcome
The expected outcome is that by 2029, mothers, newborns, children, and adolescents, especially those with disabilities, will have improved access to gender-responsive, high-quality, integrated services.
The programme aims to ensure that children can reach their full developmental potential through inclusive early childhood development, stronger referral systems, better caregiver support, improved nutrition and hygiene services, and coordinated government and community action.
How the Programme Works
The programme works by strengthening systems, training people, improving service linkages, and raising community awareness.
The implementation approach includes:
- Strengthening early childhood development systems with a focus on disability inclusion.
- Training parents and caregivers to identify disabilities and developmental delays early.
- Supporting referral pathways for children who need health, nutrition, protection, education, or social protection services.
- Training educators, Educarers, and pre-primary teachers in inclusive education and nurturing care.
- Supporting University of Namibia interns to apply early identification and referral manuals in vulnerable communities.
- Integrating nurturing care services into early childhood development centres.
- Conducting nutrition screening and strengthening nutrition-related referrals.
- Promoting hygiene and sanitation practices.
- Supporting access to birth registration and disability grants.
- Reducing stigma through community messaging and awareness activities.
- Using media and advocacy tools to promote inclusive early childhood development.
- Strengthening coordination between ministries, communities, and service providers.
How to Apply
Applicants should prepare a proposal that clearly shows how they will strengthen inclusive early childhood development services in Namibia.
Application Preparation Steps
- Review the programme objectives
Applicants should carefully review the focus on disability inclusion, early childhood development, referral systems, caregiver support, inclusive education, nutrition, hygiene, advocacy, and multi-sectoral coordination. - Define the target communities
The proposal should identify the vulnerable or underserved communities where activities will be implemented. - Identify the target groups
Applicants should clearly explain how the programme will benefit children with disabilities, children with developmental delays, caregivers, educators, Educarers, teachers, families, and service providers. - Describe the early identification and referral approach
Applicants should explain how children with disabilities and developmental delays will be identified and referred to appropriate services. - Include caregiver capacity-building activities
The proposal should describe how parents and caregivers will be trained and supported. - Include educator and Educarer training plans
Applicants should explain how early childhood development educators, Educarers, and pre-primary teachers will be trained in inclusive teaching, nurturing care, literacy, and numeracy. - Explain service integration
The application should show how health, nutrition, education, child protection, and social protection services will be linked. - Include nutrition, hygiene, and documentation support
Applicants should explain how they will support nutrition screening, referrals, hygiene promotion, birth registration, and disability grant access. - Plan community awareness activities
The proposal should describe how it will address stigma, myths, and discrimination through community messaging and engagement. - Develop a communication and advocacy strategy
Applicants should include plans for radio, television, stories, case studies, documentaries, or advocacy events where relevant. - Show coordination with government and community structures
The application should demonstrate how the applicant will coordinate with ministries, early childhood development centres, community structures, and service providers. - Include monitoring and reporting methods
Applicants should explain how progress, outputs, referrals, training results, and community-level outcomes will be tracked.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Applicants should avoid submitting proposals that are too broad, unclear, or not directly focused on inclusive early childhood development.
Common mistakes include:
- Not clearly addressing disability inclusion
- Failing to define target communities and beneficiaries
- Ignoring early identification and referral systems
- Leaving out caregiver training
- Providing weak educator or Educarer training plans
- Not linking health, nutrition, education, child protection, and social protection services
- Ignoring birth registration and disability grant support
- Not addressing stigma and discrimination
- Providing weak communication and advocacy plans
- Not explaining how government and community coordination will work
- Leaving out nutrition screening and hygiene promotion
- Failing to include monitoring and reporting methods
Tips for a Strong Application
A strong proposal should be practical, inclusive, and aligned with Namibia’s early childhood development and child protection priorities.
Applicants should:
- Use clear language to explain the needs of children with disabilities
- Show understanding of early childhood development systems
- Include strong disability inclusion strategies
- Describe how children will be identified and referred early
- Include practical training plans for caregivers and educators
- Demonstrate links between health, nutrition, education, child protection, and social protection
- Include actions to reduce stigma and discrimination
- Show how families will access birth registration and disability grants
- Include realistic community awareness and advocacy activities
- Demonstrate strong coordination with ministries and local structures
- Include measurable outcomes and reporting methods
- Keep the child’s developmental potential at the center of the proposal
Key Terms Explained
Early Childhood Development
Early childhood development refers to the physical, cognitive, emotional, social, and language development of young children. It includes health, nutrition, protection, responsive caregiving, and early learning.
Disability Inclusion
Disability inclusion means ensuring that children with disabilities can access services, participate in learning, receive support, and enjoy equal opportunities without discrimination.
Early Identification
Early identification means recognizing signs of disability, developmental delay, or special support needs as early as possible so children can receive timely help.
Referral System
A referral system connects children and families to the services they need, such as health care, nutrition support, child protection, education, social protection, birth registration, or disability grants.
Nurturing Care
Nurturing care refers to the full range of support children need to grow and thrive, including good health, adequate nutrition, safety, responsive caregiving, and early learning.
Educarers
Educarers are early childhood development workers who provide care, learning support, and development-focused activities for young children.
Foundational Literacy and Numeracy
Foundational literacy and numeracy refer to early reading, language, counting, and basic learning skills that prepare children for future education.
Multi-Sectoral Coordination
Multi-sectoral coordination means that different sectors, such as health, education, nutrition, child protection, and social protection, work together to support children and families.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the purpose of this UNICEF Namibia programme?
The purpose is to strengthen inclusive early childhood development services for children in Namibia, especially children with disabilities and developmental delays.
Who is implementing the programme?
The programme is implemented by UNICEF Namibia in collaboration with national ministries, including the Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare, the Ministry of Health and Social Services, and the Ministry of Education, Innovation, Youth, Sports, Arts and Culture.
What are the main focus areas?
The main focus areas include disability inclusion, early childhood development system strengthening, early identification and referral, caregiver training, educator training, nutrition screening, hygiene promotion, birth registration support, stigma reduction, advocacy, and multi-sectoral coordination.
Who will benefit from the programme?
Children with disabilities, children with developmental delays, mothers, newborns, adolescents, parents, caregivers, educators, Educarers, pre-primary teachers, and vulnerable families in underserved communities will benefit.
How does the programme support children with disabilities?
The programme supports children with disabilities through early identification, referral services, inclusive teaching, nurturing care, nutrition screening, birth registration, disability grant access, community awareness, and stigma reduction.
What role do parents and caregivers play?
Parents and caregivers will receive training to help them identify disabilities and developmental delays early, support child development at home, and access referral and support services.
What role do educators and Educarers play?
Educators and Educarers will be trained in inclusive teaching, early literacy, numeracy, nurturing care, and support for children with disabilities in early childhood development settings.
What is the expected outcome by 2029?
By 2029, mothers, newborns, children, and adolescents, especially those with disabilities, are expected to have improved access to gender-responsive, high-quality, integrated services that help them reach their full developmental potential.
Conclusion
The UNICEF Namibia programme aims to build a stronger and more inclusive early childhood development system for children with disabilities and developmental delays. By improving early identification, referral services, caregiver training, inclusive education, nutrition screening, birth registration, hygiene promotion, advocacy, and multi-sectoral coordination, the programme supports Namibia’s efforts to ensure that every child can access the services needed to grow, learn, and reach their full developmental potential.
For more information, visit UN Partner Portal.