226 Clara Baez and Guadalupe Váldez
Objectives and Challenges
The Competitive Fund for Educational Innovations has three strate-
gic objectives for extending ECD coverage:
- Articulation of partnerships between government and civil society
- Participation of civil society in the formulation, execution,
monitoring, and evaluation of public policies - Formation of strategic alliances between government and civil
society groups.
Governmental partners may include local, state, and national gov-
ernment. Civil society refers to district, teacher, and religious organi-
zations; study centers; and other groups and organizations that have
an interest in early child development.
It is hoped that the fund will encourage and stimulate civil society
to implement innovative ECD programs for children ages 0–5 years
who live in areas of extreme or dire poverty. The care and education
of these young children are not covered in the IEP project’s pre-
primary and kindergarten objective or in the Dominican Republic’s
Law for Education, which mandates education for children ages 5
years and older.
The fund supports grants for ECD programs that could have an im-
pact on the development of children who live in communities at the
highest levels of poverty. The grant monies are nonreimbursable and
are awarded based on a competitive review of proposals submitted by
organizations nationwide.
The major challenges in administering the Competitive Fund for
Educational Innovations are to:
- Ensure transparency of the fund. The solicitation, review, and
awarding of grants must be as transparent as possible at all
stages and levels of the process. To promote transparency, the
Ministry of Education is convening an annual public meeting to
present the fund’s objectives, programs, and awards.