The UNESCO Chair in Early Childhood Education, Care, and Development (ECD), with Prof. Alan Pence as the chair-holder, was established in 2008 with a primary focus on the promotion of capacity in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) for the care and well-being of young children (see overview below). In 2017, with the 3rd renewal of the Chair, Pence proposed modification to a Co-Chair structure that would include a ‘next generation’ African ECD leader.  Prof. Hasina Banu Ebrahim, a 2007 Ph.D. graduate from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, prodigious scholar and Professor, at the University of South Africa (UNISA), was an outstanding candidate and was approved by UNESCO. The Co-Chairs work closely to extend and expand the long-standing goals and objectives first approved by UNESCO in 2008.