Across the globe, the care economy has shifted from the periphery of policy discussions to the very centre of economic planning. Childcare is no longer viewed as a mere social service but as an essential public infrastructure that fuels female labour participation, builds human capital, and drives long-term productivity. In lower-middle-income nations, around 58 per cent of children are enrolled in early childhood education. Yet, in sub-Saharan Africa, this figure stands at roughly 28 per cent, a stark reminder of the region’s persistent coverage gap. This disparity underscores why governments and development partners are reframing childcare as a public good vital to economic and social transformation.
The Childcare Dividend Initiative (CDI) reinforces this urgency with striking data: in 2022 alone, South Africa, Kenya, and Nigeria collectively forfeited billions in potential income because millions of employable mothers were unable to join or remain in the workforce due to inadequate childcare systems. This economic loss highlights a missed opportunity to harness a vast pool of female talent, a resource that, if properly supported, could significantly boost national productivity and household welfare across Africa.
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Concrete examples from West Africa demonstrate that effective policy design and targeted investments can radically improve outcomes. Cabo Verde has emerged as a regional trailblazer, introducing efficient demand-side financing mechanisms and systemic regulation that have made childcare more accessible and better managed. In Burkina Faso, mobile crèche units integrated into World Bank supported public works programmes have allowed women to earn an income while ensuring their children are cared for in safe, supervised environments. Similarly, Senegal’s national preschool reform, anchored on a new curriculum and community-based delivery system, exemplifies how governments can professionalise and expand early learning services at scale.
Even in fragile settings, childcare systems have proven transformative. In conflict-affected areas of Cameroon, community childcare services have enabled displaced parents to re-enter income-generating activities while fostering local stability. Meanwhile, Côte d’Ivoire’s ambitious expansion from 140 pilot childcare sites to more than 2,300 centres with a target of reaching all 8,000 villages by 2030, showcases how strong political will and community participation can drive nationwide progress. Collectively, these country examples illustrate a broader truth: when political commitment, donor partnership, and grassroots engagement converge, childcare becomes not just a developmental aspiration but a driver of inclusive economic growth.
Where the Ground Still Gives Way
Despite promising pilots and national efforts, key structural barriers continue to blunt impact. Public expenditure on early childhood education in many West African states remains well below the International Labour Organisation’s suggested target of one per cent of GDP. Inadequate finance, insufficient infrastructure, and a shortage of trained childcare professionals are recurrent themes. The lack of reliable data on children under three in formal pre-nursery programmes compounds planning difficulties, though available estimates indicate that in Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire, fewer than one per cent of the youngest children participate in such programmes.
Social norms and entrenched gender biases also continue to confine care responsibilities to families, with the practical effect of restricting women’s ability to participate fully in the labour market. These structural limits mean that many of the most vulnerable households remain excluded from the gains demonstrated by the pilots and policy experiments.
What the Childcare Dividend Looks Like on Paper
Recent modelling presented by Economist Impact’s Childcare Dividend Initiative quantifies the potential economic payoff of closing childcare gaps. The analysis finds that Nigeria could gain up to 1.7 million working mothers by 2030 if it invests in affordable, quality childcare, a shift estimated to raise Nigeria’s GDP by roughly 1.09 per cent through higher female labour participation, increased household incomes, and expanded tax revenues.
The study further concludes that poor access to affordable, quality childcare cost the economies of Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa billions of dollars in lost potential income in 2022 alone. The report, therefore, frames childcare investments explicitly as fiscal and macroeconomic policy levers capable of generating measurable returns.
Returns Beyond Immediate Employment
Investments in childcare produce both near-term labour market effects and longer-term human capital dividends. Evidence drawn from international studies suggests that investment in early childhood care can have very large economic returns. In one cited example, research shows that every one dollar invested in childcare can yield up to seven dollars in returns through better child development outcomes and increased labour participation.
When these developmental gains are paired with policies that open labour markets to mothers, the combined benefits become cumulative across the decades of an economy’s growth path. Framing childcare as an investment rather than solely a welfare cost thereby shifts the conversation toward sustainable financing and results-oriented policy design.
The reporting and expert commentary point to a coherent, cross-cutting framework that governments and partners should adopt. Financing must evolve beyond ad hoc project grants; governments need predictable public expenditure lines, complemented by demand-side subsidies, public-private partnerships, and community financing arrangements so access is both affordable and sustainable.
Early-childhood care must be regulated and integrated across education, health, and social protection ministries so that standards, training, and monitoring do not depend on a single ministry acting alone. The childcare workforce requires professionalisation: certified training pathways, decent wages, and career progression for caregivers will improve quality and attract skilled personnel.
Policy must also be gender-responsive in budget design and execution, ensuring that gender tagging is accompanied by fiscal accountability so budgets reflect women’s realities rather than symbolic gestures. Finally, data systems must be strengthened to track children under three, measure utilisation, and inform scaling strategies. Community-based delivery models and multisectoral collaboration are central to this framework.
Country Snapshots Drawn from Reported Experience
Cabo Verde’s approach to demand-side financing and system regulation is presented as a replicable model for nearby states that want to pair parental support with accountability. Burkina Faso’s experience with mobile crèches shows how labour-intensive programmes can be designed so care provision and job creation reinforce one another. Senegal’s curriculum reform and community delivery model show how quality and scale can be pursued together. Côte d’Ivoire’s plan to reach 8,000 villages by 2030 demonstrates ambition backed by concrete scaling targets.
On the eastern and southern edges of the continent, Kenya’s National Care Strategy is a positive example of policy integration, while the modelling for Nigeria and the macro-estimates for South Africa, Kenya, and Nigeria underline both the magnitude of the economic costs of inaction and the scale of the potential gains. These country cases, while selective, illustrate the different levers, regulation, financing, workforce development, and community delivery that must be deployed in combination.
Politics, Budgets, and the Practicalities of Reform
The shift from pilot to country-wide reform requires political capital and fiscal realism. Experts emphasise that care is a public good and that embedding it into national development planning requires finance ministries, education, and health departments to act in concert with social development arms of government. Gender-responsive budgeting must go beyond token gestures to deliver measurable reallocation and accountability. If such fiscal realignment does not occur, progress risks being partial and heavily dependent on donor cycles. Reform, therefore, needs both technical models and durable political commitment.
Timing, Ambition, and the Test of Implementation
The evidence assembled makes the central case clear: childcare is not an optional social programme but a strategic lever for inclusive economic growth. There are working models and nascent policy frameworks in Africa that demonstrate what can be achieved, and rigorous economic analysis shows that the benefits are measurable—both for women entering or returning to paid employment and for the broader macroeconomy.
Yet even the best models face familiar implementation challenges: financing gaps, workforce shortages, weak regulation, and social norms. The test between now and 2030 will be whether governments can convert pilot success into system-wide provision by aligning budgets, professionalising the care workforce, and embedding childcare in national development strategies. If they do, the modelling suggests the payoff could be substantial: millions more women in paid work and measurable gains to GDP alongside better life chances for children. If not, the opportunity cost, already quantified as billions lost in 2022 for some economies—will continue to weigh on growth and equity objectives.
