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The African Center for Early Childhood Development (AfC-ECD) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the RISE Institute on July 30, 2026, to collaborate in Early Childhood Development initiatives in Ethiopia and in selected African countries. AfC-ECD, operating under the Addis Ababa City Administration, is dedicated to fostering multisectoral, integrated, and comprehensive early childhood development (ECD) policies and programs. The Center focuses on advancing government-led systems to provide equitable access to quality ECD services, using Addis Ababa’s experiences and global best practices as benchmarks for scaling across Ethiopia and the continent. The RISE Institute is an international institute based in Washington, DC, United States, that supports national policy and systems planning, training, research, monitoring, and evaluation. The parties share a strong commitment to advancing child development, parent education and support, inclusion, and equity through system level strengthening, research, and knowledge exchange. Specifically, the focus of this MoU is advancing early childhood development (ECD), early childhood intervention (ECI), inclusive early education (IEE), and socio-emotional learning (SEL). Five areas of collaboration for the partnership include: Situation analysis and strategic assessment of ECD, ECI, and IEE systems, achievements, challenges, and future opportunities; developing a costed operational plan for ECI in Ethiopia; creating a comprehensive workforce training plan for ECD, ECI, and IEE; refining national capacity to conduct national-level ECD, ECI, and IEE monitoring, evaluation, and reporting linked to the program planning and annual budget cycle; and planning national and regional networking and advocacy initiatives. At the signing occasion, Dr. Kebede Worku, AfC-ECD’s CEO, who was joined by Dr. Meseret Zelalem, Deputy CEO, and the team, highlighted that the partnership will strengthen research, publications, and knowledge sharing in ECD. On the part of the RISE Institute, the Director, Dr. Emily Vargas-Baron, joined by Prof. Alexandra Schneider, reinforced the Institute’s commitment to support the encouraging ECD initiatives underway in Addis Ababa and Ethiopia at large.