Early childhood development support systems, community participation and sustainability of community centres in central region

Abstract

The study set out to investigate ECD support systems, community participation, and sustainability of community centres in Central Uganda. The study specifically, sought to examine the relationship between ECD support systems and sustainability of community-Based centres; examine the relationship between community participation and sustainability of community-based ECD centres and ascertain the influence of community roles on the sustainability of ECD centres. The study adopted a mixed approach employing both qualitative and quantitative methods. Data was collected from 32 ECD centers which were selected using stratified sampling. In these ECD centres, semi-structured questionnaires and interviews were used for data collection. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, specifically, Pearson product moment correlation coefficient, for quantitative (objective 1 and 2) while content analysis was used for qualitative data (objective 3). The P-Value =0.000 < 0.05 indicated that there is a strong significant correlation between ECD support systems and sustainability of Community Based Centres. The R-square Value = 0.16, indicated that sustainability of community-based centers depends on ECD support systems by 16%. The findings further indicated that there are numerous factors that affect the sustainability of Community Based Centres that are worthy for stakeholders to pay attention to them. The P-Value 0.000<0.05, indicated that there is a strong correlation between community participation and sustainability of ECD. It’s evident from the results that sustainability of ECD centres is affected by community participation. Therefore, it’s important for the community to be involved in the programs of ECD. The study recommended for government intervention by providing all the necessary facilities and scholastic materials in order improve on the enrollment of learners such that it is to the standard of other private schools, create awareness in communities to empower them so that they are able to sustain the established community ECD centres or else they risk collapsing when the community is completely not involved.