Promoting sustainable investments in quality and affordable childcare in Vanuatu

About this project

The capital city of Port Villa in Vanuatu, a bustling centre for the working class population and schools, lacks any state-supported centres that follow educational and care standards and are affordable and accessible to all. Lack of state-supported, affordable childcare institutions has been one of the key challenges limiting the transition of women to the workforce. This project will generate knowledge around workable and feasible models for childcare centres and develop recommendations to guide national policy on early childhood development. It will assess demand, supply, barriers and opportunities on policy and operational levels. This will include willingness to pay, availability of staff, facilities-related challenges, and social and gender norms and risks, including child safeguarding and staff safety. It will also include a cost estimate of development, operations and maintenance of a childcare service system in Vanuatu with a focus on urban areas. A second phase will include development of a standards and guidelines document to operationalize early childhood care centres by the Vanuatu government. Not only will this support the implementation of the Ministry of Education and Training’s Early Childhood Development Policy in Vanuatu, it will also contribute to scaling policy innovations that have indirect bearing on supporting women’s workforce participation and their social inclusion in education and the labour force.

Published by

International Development Research Centre · Other public sector

Countries

Vanuatu

Sectors

Education policy and administrative management

Focus

Gender equality · Main focusClimate adaptation · Also contributes

Published by International Development Research Centre to the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI), last updated 1 Sept 2026 and imported automatically. IATI identifier: XM-DAC-301-2-110574-001.

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