That there is a certain type of meeting that doesn’t say it’s historic. There was no fuss, no world leaders, and no cameras vying for a good spot at the door. The OMEP Regional Africa Conference was that kind of meeting—not very fancy, but very important in terms of what it meant. As of now, 14 African governments have officially adopted the framework that came out of it, making it harder to ignore what happened in that room.
This work has been done by OMEP, the World Organization for Early Childhood Education, since 1948, when it was founded in Prague. At that time, most of the world was still putting itself back together after the war. The group has always been determined in a quiet way—not in a flashy or loud way, but in a steady way. Its Africa chapter brought the same spirit to its regional conference, which brought together educators, policymakers, and child development experts from all over the continent to work through a really tough problem: how do you make an early childhood education policy that works when your countries have different languages, resources, political climates, and education systems that were built during the colonial era?
It wasn’t tried to hide those differences in the framework that came out of those talks. That’s most likely why it works. It didn’t force a single model on governments; instead, it gave them a structured set of principles that they could use to make changes that fit their own needs. These principles were about access, quality, inclusion, and workforce development. It recognized what researchers like Steven Barnett at Rutgers have been showing for decades: that good early education has measurable, long-lasting benefits for children and the societies around them. That set of evidence was important. It gave African leaders something real to talk about with their cabinets.
As I watch this happen, I’m struck by how much the framework reflects ideas that have been brewing for years in the world of international education but rarely make it to the level of implementation. The European Commission and UNICEF now use Laura Lundy’s work on children’s right to participate in decisions that affect them as a model. The OMEP Africa model also says that early childhood policy should serve children, not just talk about them. Up until the end of 2025, Mercedes Mayol Lassalle was the World President of OMEP. She has long said that early childhood education is a human rights issue, not a charity issue. It’s clear that that argument stuck in this regional process.
There are fourteen governments, which is a lot. In Africa, policies for young children have been poorly funded and applied in different situations in the past. The fact that fourteen governments have agreed to the same framework suggests a regional shift rather than a policy trend. Adoption and implementation are still a long way off. Anyone who has seen education reform in action knows that there can be a huge gap between what governments agree to and what happens in classrooms. Nigerian policy expert Dr. Mo Adefeso-Olateju has spent years bridging that exact gap. He has written and spoken about how changing systems takes more than political will; it needs the right structures and long-term investment.
There’s a chance that not all fourteen will follow through at the rate that their adoption hints at. It’s reasonable to worry about that. But the fact that they’re all working from the same basic document and sharing language, standards, and sometimes even data makes them more accountable in a way that separate national policies don’t usually do.
The things that OMEP built in Africa aren’t really revolutions. It’s more like a foundation being poured in the background while everyone else looks at something else. It’s possible that the kids who learn in schools that use this framework will not know where it came from. They don’t often do. However, the work that goes into making something lasts rarely comes to light.
