Cambodia's Milestone: Regulating Early Childhood Care for Equity and Growth

On December 15, 2025, Prime Minister Samdech Moha Borvor Thipadei Hun Manet signed a historic sub-decree on the management of child care centers, marking a decisive step with the first formal regulatory framework for nurseries in Cambodia.

On March 12, 2026, His Excellency Dr. Hang Chuon Naron, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education, Youth and Sports, chaired a workshop dedicated to disseminating this crucial legal provision. Without access to the foundations of early learning, an entire generation risks lasting inequality. By establishing these essential standards, the decree aims to bridge the educational gap and ensure every child has the developmental foundations necessary for their fulfillment.

A Promising Turning Point for Early Childhood Development

Early childhood development in Cambodia is reaching a promising turning point thanks to the government's decisive action and strategic investments. Until now, childcare options for working mothers with children aged 0 to 3 have remained extremely limited: only 3% of them enroll their children in formal centers (World Bank, 2026). Yet, investing in early childhood is fundamental for multiple reasons.

Social Equity, Future Workforce, and Economic Return

First, expanding access to childcare is an essential lever for social equity, freeing up parents—especially women, who currently shoulder 90% of unpaid domestic work in Cambodia. By alleviating these burdens, this investment opens direct pathways to formal employment and family financial autonomy. Next, laying solid foundations for school readiness represents a direct investment in the country's future workforce.

With 88% of the current active population in low-skilled jobs, this shift is vital for the success of the government's Pentagon Strategy for human resource development. The economic argument is backed by the work of Nobel Prize winner James Heckman, whose research shows that quality programs from birth to age 5 generate an annual return on investment (ROI) of 13%.

At the heart of his work: the earlier the investment, the higher the return. This return is so because the benefits of early childcare accumulate over a lifetime: better academic outcomes, higher salaries, and improved physical health. These early interventions thus have a strong societal impact, with long-term socio-economic stability, improvements in public health outcomes, and reduced costs related to violence prevention. Finally, regulated nurseries offer a crucial alternative to current practices, such as prematurely placing toddlers in preschool or entrusting them to elders, which often forces the latter to drop out of school.

Planète Enfants & Développement's Commitment

The international NGO Planète Enfants & Développement (PE&D) plays an active role in expanding access to early learning in Cambodia. Through the development of Community-Based Childcare Centers (CBCCs), the organization supports children aged 0 to 3 in disadvantaged rural areas.

In collaboration with communities and the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MoEYS), PE&D contributed its expertise to drafting the sub-decree on nursery management. This expertise draws on the NGO's framework for childcare centers, funded by UNICEF's Nurturing Care framework. Since 2022, PE&D has created 13 nurseries welcoming 812 children. Building on this, the Royal Government of Cambodia plans to open 60 new centers by 2030.

Thanks to these advances, young children will have access to three healthy meals a day, trained professionals, secure facilities, playgrounds, toys, and monthly health check-ups.

A Pioneering French NGO in Cambodia Since 1984

Planète Enfants & Développement (PE&D), a French organization based in France, has been working in Cambodia since 1984. It is also active in Nepal, Vietnam, Burkina Faso, France, Togo, India, and Laos.

Its mission: to co-build an environment that protects, educates, and integrates children from birth to foster their development. As a catalyst for change, the organization pioneered a collaborative model of community preschools in Cambodia a few years ago and has implemented Community-Based Childcare Centers since 2022.

A human-scale organization blending local and international experts, PE&D collaborates with populations, local authorities, and field actors to ensure the relevance and impact of its projects, and to promote autonomy.