Excellence and Equity in Early Childhood Around the Globe

Excellence and Equity in Early Childhood Around the Globe

Equity and Excellence in Early Childhood around the Globe

It is so refreshing to see that leaders around the world understand that children are our future and that the time is now to help them to become all that they can be. Below are three countries and their journey to understanding early childhood development and the outcome.

Brazil

 Núcleo Ciência Pela Infância (NCPI) is a collaborative initiative designed to advance early childhood investment in a rapidly growing country. One of the most important features of the partnership is an Executive Leadership Program (ELP) designed to build the capacity of leaders in government and civil society to apply the science of early childhood development to some of their country’s most complex social problems. Latin American nation facing significant socioeconomic inequalities.

Some of the action plans developed by course participants over the years include:

·        A comprehensive national “Legal Framework for Early Childhood” was developed by the 27 members of the Federal Congress who participated in ELP and it was adopted by the lower House of the Congress in early 2015.

·        A new early childhood development program in the city of São Paulo led by its First Lady.

Brazilian leaders feel that they have to invest in their children; in the future of their country. They are being trained on the science of early childhood.

Canada

A partnership led by Grand Challenges Canada, Saving Brains, seeks to improve outcomes for children living in poverty through interventions that nurture and protect early brain development in the first 1,000 days of a child’s life. The Center on the Developing Child supports a dynamic learning community of Saving Brains innovators to help them advance the impact and scale of their work in countries around the world.

The leaders were also a part of the Alberta Family Wellness Initiative (AFWI) and they learned how to translate the science of child development to inform public policy. The initiative fulfills two key mandates:

1.   supporting research in early brain and biological development, mental health, and addiction, and

2.   translating that research for policy makers, healthcare communities, and the general public.

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Mexico

The Aceleradora de Innovación para la Primera Infancia, one of the Latin American Innovation Clusters, is anchored in Monterrey at the Universidad Regiomontana, a pioneering institution at the forefront of an extensive urban revitalization effort. These leaders have a strong interest in adding a human development focus to their work led by the Monterrey team to connect with the Center and learn more about our strategy for enhancing child outcomes through adult capacity building.

Using current best practices as a starting point, the Center is working with a network of researchers, practitioners, and community members to design, implement, and evaluate innovative, science-based practice models that achieve transformation change for vulnerable children and families.

Reference

Center on the developing child Harvard University
https://developingchild.harvard.edu/science/