Ghanaian-based TERIA Foundation is gaining growing visibility across Africa for its work in early childhood education, creativity, culture and sustainable development, with its Africa Early Childhood Education Awards (AECEA) and EARLYFEST initiative now featured on the AU ECED-FLN platform.
The initiative, titled “Advancing Early Childhood Education through AECEA and EARLYFEST Initiatives in Ghana and Beyond,” highlights TERIA Foundation’s efforts to create platforms that bring greater attention to early childhood education and the people contributing to the development of young minds.
The development represents an important step in TERIA Foundation’s ambition to position its programmes within Africa’s wider early childhood education and development ecosystem.
Founded by Amb. Walter Mawuli Gli, TERIA Foundation has developed a number of initiatives aimed at using education, creativity, culture and sustainability to create opportunities for children and young people.
Among its flagship programmes is EARLYFEST, an annual platform designed to celebrate children while promoting learning through creativity, tourism, culture and sustainability. The Foundation also organizes the Africa Early Childhood Education Awards, which seeks to recognize individuals and institutions contributing to the advancement of early childhood education in Africa and beyond.
According to the Foundation, the growing continental interest in its programmes demonstrates the importance of creating African-led platforms that address the needs of children while connecting education with culture, creativity and sustainable development.
The appearance of the TERIA initiative on the AU ECED-FLN platform also provides an opportunity for the Foundation to deepen engagement with continental stakeholders working in early childhood education and development.
However, TERIA Foundation emphasizes that its appearance on the platform should be viewed as an important point of visibility and engagement rather than described as a formal endorsement by the African Union.
From Ghana to Africa
What began as a Ghana-focused initiative is increasingly developing a continental outlook.
Through AECEA, EARLYFEST and the Global Africa Early Childhood Education Forum, TERIA Foundation is seeking to bring educators, policymakers, researchers, civil society organizations, development partners and other stakeholders together to discuss the future of early childhood education across Africa.
The Foundation believes that Africa's development must begin with investment in its youngest generation.
“Early childhood education is not simply about preparing children for school. It is about building the foundation of the Africa we want to see,” the Foundation's leadership has emphasized.
A Growing Continental Agenda
TERIA Foundation's work comes at a time when early childhood development is receiving increasing attention as an essential component of Africa's human-capital development.
The Foundation says its long-term objective is to develop its programmes into sustainable African platforms that can facilitate knowledge-sharing, recognize outstanding contributors and encourage stronger investment in early childhood education.
The growing visibility of its work through continental networks could therefore open opportunities for deeper collaboration with African institutions, development organizations, governments, educational institutions and international partners.
For Amb. Walter Mawuli Gli and the TERIA Foundation team, the objective is clear: to build an African movement that places children and early learning at the centre of the continent's development agenda.
As TERIA Foundation prepares for the next editions of EARLYFEST, the Africa Early Childhood Education Awards and the Global Africa Early Childhood Education Forum, its growing continental visibility signals a potentially significant new chapter in the Foundation's journ
