The overarching goals of the WCECCE are to:

• Reaffirm ECCE as a right of all children and as the basis for development;
• Take stock of the progress of Member States towards achieving the EFA Goal 1;
• Identify binding constraints toward making the intended equitable expansion of access to quality ECCE services;
• Establish, more concretely, benchmarks and targets for the EFA Goal 1 toward 2015 and beyond
• Identify key enablers that should facilitate Member States to reach the established targets; and
• Promote global exchange of good practices.
  
  

The specific objectives are to:

• heighten global awareness and policy dialogue on ECCE as a fundamental human right and its relevance to individual and national development and prosperity;
• share applicable lessons of good practice;
• discuss the progress in achieving the EFA Goal 1, identify binding constraints that limit the progress, agree on a set of benchmarks and targets for the Goal 1 that member states should work toward and set up a mechanism for monitoring these benchmarks and targets;
• discuss critical requisite instruments for guiding the scaling up of equitable provision of quality and comprehensive ECCE services, including policy, strategic, institutional, financing, implementation frameworks;
• discuss programmatic and operational elements of effective ECCE services, such as a conceptual and programme framework for holistic child development, important competencies of educators, caregivers and other ECCE (para)professionals, elements for assuring quality of services, including assessment and impact evaluation; and
• identify areas in which capacity building is required by Member States, sub regions and regions, and discuss concrete ways of assisting the required capacity building.