Purpose:

To strengthen the care environment for young children in the Caribbean by providing technical and financial support to partners

Vision:

Young Caribbean children from all social and economic backgrounds have equal opportunities to reach their maximum potential

Mission:

To significantly increase the number of disadvantaged children who acquire the knowledge and skills to prepare them for entry into primary school and lifelong learning by accessing quality early childhood development services

FDCC Guiding Principles:

• Advocate for access to quality early childhood development services especially for those considered “socially vulnerable”
• Flexible in-country approach to adapt to the cultural context while still achieving the ECD mission
• Work in partnership with each government to develop a self-sustaining national capacity and approach to ECD
• Advancement in ECD must be aligned to national policy agendas and the Millennium Development Goals (particularly goals 1-5)
• Strategic partnerships with regional and international institutions already working in related sectors must be forged and strengthened
• Focus on efficiency, effectiveness and quality results in the use of resources and relationships with partners

Operational Effectiveness:

1. Ownership: Country governments must set their own national development goals and lead their own development policies and strategies, and manage their own development work on the ground, to ensure that the progress is sustainable.
2. Alignment: Assistance provided by the FDCC should line up firmly behind the priorities outlined in the Country’s national development strategies. Using local institutions and procedures for managing programmes in order to build sustainable structures.
3. Harmonisation: FDCC must coordinate development work with other donors where possible to avoid duplication and high transaction costs for poor countries.
4. Managing for results: FDCC must focus on the result of their initiatives and programmes and the tangible difference it makes in poor people’s lives. They must develop better tools and systems to measure this impact
5. Mutual accountability: FDCC must account transparently to the countries and to their citizens and parliaments as well as other donors for their use of aid funds and the impact of their aid.