Conference adopts Hanoi Call for Action on early childhood development

Children present the Hanoi Call for Action to delegates at the closing session of the Asia-Pacific Regional Conference on Early Childhood Development. (Source: en.nhandan.com.vn)

The call is expected to contribute significantly to accelerate the effective realisation of ECD in each country in the region in the near future.

The Hanoi Call for Action affirms the importance of a sustainable environment in achieving development aspirations globally, in the region, in each country and locality, and in shaping scopes and directions for child development in the Asia-Pacific region.

It also highlights the need to prioritise the investment of resources in children in order to build a solid foundation for a strong society and economic development in the region, in accordance with the objectives of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Sustainable Development Goals and countries’ development plans.

The document calls for commitments from governments and parliaments to coordinate to ensure the comprehensive development of children and mobilise support from all relevant sectors to promote the goals of child care and nourishment.

It clearly states the unity in interdisciplinary coordination to promote a safe, sustainable and continuous nurturing environment for children through many specific activities concerning the policy environment, the living environment, the community environment and the family environment.

Delegates will review the progress of implementing the call’s contents and raise their ideas at the Asia-Pacific Regional Conference on ECD in 2020.

Addressing the closing session, Deputy Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Le Van Thanh said this is the first regional conference to co-build and adopt a call for action in implementing ECD in the region under the witness of children.

He expressed his hope that the Hanoi Call for Action will be chosen as a priority concerning solutions and actions that need to be accelerated, while serving as an important foundation for ECD cooperation between countries in the Asia-Pacific region.

During its four days of sitting, the 2019 Asia-Pacific Regional Conference on ECD, which gathered more than 600 delegates from 35 countries and territories and 44 international organisations, discussed a number of important issues impacting the comprehensive development of children, ranging from the issuance of legal frameworks, the building of strategies and policies, the allocation of resources to technical solutions.