Since its completion, the Early Childhood Rights Indicators (ECRI) tool has received interest and inquiries for use from different organizations.
In 2013, Dr. Vaghri was invited by the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), an organization that had a leading role in the OAS, to present the ECRI tool in the meeting of the Institute of the Child of the OAS, in Medellin, Colombia.
Vaghri was asked to deliver a keynote to present the ECRI tool as an instrument for tracking and promoting the Early Child Development (ECD) and the rights of young children to see if the tool piqued any interest among the member states. This presentation created a great deal of publicity, and several countries, including Panama, expressed interest in using the tool.
In 2014, Dr. Vaghri was invited by the National Secretariat of Children, Adolescents, and Families of Panama to deliver a presentation on the tool and how it can serve ECD in Panama City, Panama. After a few days of meetings, a document of “an intent to collaborate” was drafted to guide the way forward.
The parties decided to resume the conversation after the upcoming election of Panama. However, the conversation was not continued as the new government taking over the office did not show the same degree of interest in taking on the agreement.
In 2019, the UNICEF SEARO office invited Dr. Vaghri and Mr. Adem Arkadas-Thibert (A member of the ECRI team) to present the tool and then set up a workshop on ECRI during the gathering of the ECD professionals of the UNICEF-SEARO in Bangkok, Thailand.
The presentation was well received, and the workshop piqued the interest of a few countries to use the tool in tracking their ECR efforts as well as for their next CRC report. The conversation with the Bangkok office of SEARO is ongoing.
