The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child recently adopted General Comment 26 on children’s right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment. This comment emphasizes how climate change and environmental degradation jeopardize the rights of children in general. It calls for urgent action to protect those who are most vulnerable. What is climate change and … [Read more...] about Climate change and its impact on young children: there’s no time to lose
Policies and Programs
Can cash transfers boost child development?
We’ve talked before about how poverty negatively impacts both early child development and brain development. Young children are shaped by the stimulation they receive, as well as the words they hear and the significant relationships they have. However, these factors vary considerably from one socioeconomic level to another. To bolster child development, we have to bring down … [Read more...] about Can cash transfers boost child development?
Three Lessons from a Regional Dialogue on Early Childhood
When representatives from Latin America and the Caribbean get together for a dialogue around the present and future of areas as important as health, social protection, and early childhood development, the result is an unending stream of ideas, exchanges, and synergies. Paths open; paths which, beyond showing the shared needs and shortcomings, lead to lessons and innovations … [Read more...] about Three Lessons from a Regional Dialogue on Early Childhood
The Challenge of Integrating Early Childhood Services with Caribbean Health Systems
Initial results from an innovative parenting program in Jamaica showed that it benefited children's cognitive development and parents’ attitudes about caring for children. However, evaluations in subsequent years found that these effects had disappeared. In this post, we present an early childhood program that is incorporated into the country’s health system, as well as the … [Read more...] about The Challenge of Integrating Early Childhood Services with Caribbean Health Systems
IDB Committed to Improving Lives of Latin American Children and Mothers
COVID-19 has exposed the heavy burden on female heads of household or women responsible for caring for children or other family members. One of the main obstacles continuing to impede women’s access to labor markets is the cultural expectation on their role as caregivers. In Latin America and the Caribbean, as in other regions of the world, the work of caring for and raising … [Read more...] about IDB Committed to Improving Lives of Latin American Children and Mothers