Summary of the Horizontal Evaluation of the Indigenous Early Learning and Child Care Transformation Initiative

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About the Initiative

The Indigenous Early Learning and Child Care (ELCC) Transformation Initiative supports the Government's implementation of the co-developed Indigenous Learning and Child Care Framework, which was jointly released in September 2018 by the Assembly of First Nations, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, the Métis National Council and the Government of Canada. The Framework sets out a shared vision, principles, and a path forward for Indigenous ELCC- a Canada where all Indigenous children have the opportunity to experience high-quality, culturally rooted early learning and child care programming.

Over the evaluation period from September 2018 to March 2023, the Initiative had actual expenditures of $1.79 billion.

Key findings

Through its design and implementation, the Initiative has contributed to fostering Indigenous influence and decision-making for Indigenous ELCC programs and services. Some contributing factors included the flexibility within funding terms and conditions, leveraging of legacy funding to produce greater horizontality, and ongoing development of diverse partnership models at the national and regional partnership and technical tables. Some hindering factors included timelines that do not fully recognize the processes involved in effective Partner engagement, lack of inclusion of perspectives from off reserve, off-territory and urban Indigenous communities, partnership development and capacity building.

While the evaluation gathered limited findings due to the lack of distinction specific performance information, some documented examples point to the Initiative having contributed to improving the quality, cultural appropriateness, and accessibility of Indigenous ELCC. Examples include improvements in areas such as language preservation efforts, building confidence in participants' own cultures and identities, cultural connectedness activities, culturally appropriate training for ELCC workers.

The COVID-19 pandemic had significant impacts on the delivery and accessibility of ELCC services in Indigenous communities.

The Initiative is contributing to increased collaboration and coordination of federal Indigenous ELCC investments towards advancing the vision and priorities of Indigenous partners.

Various federal horizontal coordination mechanisms such as the Director General Interdepartmental Committee and a Federal Working Group on Reporting have been implemented, as part of the Initiative.

While progress for the Initiative was identified, there remain areas for improvement including the streamlining of funding for Indigenous ELCC.

Observations

1. Ongoing work with Indigenous partners on performance measurement and data for the Initiative
2. Considerations around streamlining the Initiative with a focus on internal processes and decision-making