Inter-American Development Bank
facebook
twitter
youtube
linkedin
instagram
Abierto al públicoBeyond BordersCaribbean Development TrendsCiudades SosteniblesEnergía para el FuturoEnfoque EducaciónFactor TrabajoGente SaludableGestión fiscalGobernarteIdeas MatterIdeas que CuentanIdeaçãoImpactoIndustrias CreativasLa Maleta AbiertaMoviliblogMás Allá de las FronterasNegocios SosteniblesPrimeros PasosPuntos sobre la iSeguridad CiudadanaSostenibilidadVolvamos a la fuente¿Y si hablamos de igualdad?Home
Citizen Security and Justice Creative Industries Development Effectiveness Early Childhood Development Education Energy Envirnment. Climate Change and Safeguards Fiscal policy and management Gender and Diversity Health Labor and pensions Open Knowledge Public management Science, Technology and Innovation  Trade and Regional Integration Urban Development and Housing Water and Sanitation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Primeros Pasos

IDB

  • HOME
  • CATEGORIES
    • Early Education
    • Family and Children
    • Maternity
    • Measurement and Indicator
    • Nutrition and Lactation
    • Policies and Programs
    • Seminars and Courses
  • Authors
  • English
    • Spanish
    • Portuguese

International Day for the Eradication of Poverty & Early Childhood: How to innovate with impact?

October 16, 2023 por Florencia Lopez Boo - Vanesa Marazzi - Marian Licheri Leave a Comment


Poverty is not just a lack of income: It is a multidimensional phenomenon comprising the satisfaction of multiple needs that are not necessarily related to financial resources. But, what does this have to do with Early Childhood Development? Although there are still knowledge gaps, the evidence is compelling: quality investments in early childhood are the most effective strategy to break the cycle of poverty.

Today, October 17, we commemorate the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty by sharing innovative strategies led by the Early Childhood Development Innovation Fund, achieving a significant impact on 700,000 children, 300,000 mothers, fathers and caregivers and 5,000 care centers in 10 countries in the region. These strategies are based on innovative solutions that improve Early Childhood Development, especially in contexts of poverty.

Below, we tell you about some of them.

Strategies with impact on preschool attendance  

It is widely documented that access to care and education services makes it possible to overcome poverty and inequalities and achieve sustainable development. In terms of access to quality preschool care services, the region has made significant progress in terms of coverage, recognizing this level as an important stage for children to enter primary school with the necessary skills. However, there are still major challenges in terms of attendance and quality of services, for it is essential to carry out interventions with this focus.

In Uruguay, for example, preschool education is compulsory from the age of 4, but absenteeism is three times higher than in primary school. To combat this problem, the Innovation Fund developed a nationwide intervention that uses behavioral science to promote preschool attendance through greater involvement of parents and caregivers. This resulted in a large reduction in absenteeism and an improvement in some indicators of cognitive development, albeit only for children near the median of the baseline attendance rate distribution.

On the other hand, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, creches coverage has increased but there are knowledge gaps regarding the medium-term effects of access to childcare for poor children. One study showed that childcare attendance at age 0-3 years increased children’s elementary school completion as well as the number of days of attendance per year. In addition, the evidence shows that the provision of quality center-based childcare services improves household income by freeing up the mother’s time to enter the labor market.

Strategies with an impact on parenting practices

Supporting mothers, fathers and caregivers with tools on how to improve parenting patterns can have profound impacts on children’s lives in the long term. Quality interventions in this regard have shown effects into adulthood: they performed better in school, and, as adults, had better mental health, demonstrated less violent behavior and had higher incomes than similar individuals who did not benefit from such programs. The Innovation Fund has promoted projects of this type in Brazil, Jamaica and El Salvador.

In Boa Vista, Brazil, for example, the integration of parenting activities with existing group meetings with parents was promoted and the hybrid modality (WhatsApp) of a parenting program implemented during the pandemic was evaluated, which significantly increased the number of activities caregivers do with their children (reading, storytelling, singing, playing, walking outdoors, counting or enumerating).

In Jamaica, the hybrid modality was also explored to improve parenting practices, with interesting results: community health workers appreciated the flexibility of virtual methods, but prefer in-person visits to see the child and assess her development. Parents, on the other hand, appreciated the printed manual and the activities they could integrate into their daily routine.

In El Salvador, a program to promote growth mindset among caregivers and children in vulnerable communities was developed and evaluated. The results show that caregivers who received this training enhanced their parenting skills.

Strategies that improve the quality of services in childcare centers

When we talk about eradicating poverty, we know that early childhood is a unique age for investment in human capital. In fact, there is evidence of “the cost of inaction”, meaning that not investing in early childhood services costs governments almost two points of GDP.

Moreover, it is not enough to invest in coverage: care without structural and process quality (caregiver-child interactions) does not have an impact on the accumulation of human capital, which is what effectively brings children out of poverty. For this reason, the Innovation Fund has promoted projects that focus on this issue.

In Mexico, for example, it was necessary to diagnose the quality of public childcare services by type of provider and level of child development. The diagnosis showed high levels of safety and quality of physical infrastructure, but also identified opportunities to strengthen process quality.

In Colombia, in the face of the increasing wave of migration, we promoted comprehensive care for children, their families and pregnant women. On the other hand, in response to the lack of evidence on structured curricula for the development of socioemotional skills in childhood, we implemented a curriculum that had a significant impact on children’s prosocial behavior, self-awareness and cognitive learning. Center staff also showed higher levels of empathy, lower negative health symptoms, better pedagogical practices and a closer relationship with the children’s caregivers.

Fighting against poverty requires viewing development effectiveness as a holistic process that includes targeting impact, measuring what is important, learning and readjusting to acquire knowledge. The 23 projects of the Early Childhood Development Innovation Fund are committed to this purpose in order to make a positive and enduring impact early in life. We invite you to discover more effective strategies on our Innovation Fund results dashboard and join the conversation using the hashtag #ECDhubLAC.

The Early Childhood Development Innovation Fund is an alliance between the Inter-American Development Bank, FEMSA Foundation, Maria Cecilia Souto Vidigal Foundation, Porticus and Bernard Van Leer Foundation.


Filed Under: Family and Children Tagged With: early childhood, Early Childhood Development, ECD, ECD Fund, IDB, Inter American Development Bank, poverty

Florencia Lopez Boo

Florencia Lopez Boo is a Director, Global TIES; Economics and Applied Psychology at NYU. Prior to joining NYU, she was a Lead Economist at the Social Protection and Health Unit of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), where she led the Early Childhood Development (ECD) agenda, the IDB ECD Innovation Fund, the knowledge agenda of her unit, and an initiative on behavioral economics and social policies. She was a professor at the University of Louvain and worked at the World Bank and UNIDO. She has a PhD in Economics from Oxford University (Clarendon-Oxford University Press award). She is also a Young Lives Research Associate at the University of Oxford and the Institute for Labor Studies (IZA) in Bonn. Twitter: @florlopezboo

Vanesa Marazzi

Vanesa Marazzi is a consultant for the Inter-American Development Bank’s (IDB) Social Protection and Labor Markets Division, where she works on projects for the Early Childhood Development Innovation Fund. She holds a degree in Political Science, a master's in Public Policy, and is a PhD candidate in Social Sciences. She has over 15 years of experience in the design, management, and monitoring of social protection policies, particularly in the implementation of early childhood policies. She previously served as Director of Management and Monitoring of Special Programs at Argentina’s Ministry of Social Development.

Marian Licheri

Marian is a communications specialist with expertise in social policies such as early childhood and education. She currently leads the communications for the Early Childhood Development Innovation Fund, as well as coordinating outreach products and activities for the Education Division of the IDB, Brookings Institution, and other agencies operating in Latin America and the Caribbean. Marian holds a B.A. in Journalism from Universidad Católica Andrés Bello and is currently pursuing a Certificate in Early Education Leadership at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Follow Us

Subscribe

Search

Early Childhood Development

The first years of life are essential to establish the future foundation of a person´s productivity and wellbeing. In this blog, experts from the IDB and thought leaders in the topic, share information and international experiences related to early childhood development. Join us to talk about initiatives implemented in your country in this area

Similar Posts

  • How to Apply Behavioral Economics to Early Childhood? Some Experiences from the Region  
  • Can we really change parenting behavior?
  • How Nudges can Help Improve Adult-Child Interactions

Footer

Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo
facebook
twitter
youtube
youtube
youtube

    Blog posts written by Bank employees:

    Copyright © Inter-American Development Bank ("IDB"). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons IGO 3.0 Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives. (CC-IGO 3.0 BY-NC-ND) license and may be reproduced with attribution to the IDB and for any non-commercial purpose. No derivative work is allowed. Any dispute related to the use of the works of the IDB that cannot be settled amicably shall be submitted to arbitration pursuant to the UNCITRAL rules. The use of the IDB's name for any purpose other than for attribution, and the use of IDB's logo shall be subject to a separate written license agreement between the IDB and the user and is not authorized as part of this CC- IGO license. Note that link provided above includes additional terms and conditions of the license.


    For blogs written by external parties:

    For questions concerning copyright for authors that are not IADB employees please complete the contact form for this blog.

    The opinions expressed in this blog are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the IDB, its Board of Directors, or the countries they represent.

    Attribution: in addition to giving attribution to the respective author and copyright owner, as appropriate, we would appreciate if you could include a link that remits back the IDB Blogs website.



    Privacy Policy

    Derechos de autor © 2025 · Magazine Pro en Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

    Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo

    Aviso Legal

    Las opiniones expresadas en estos blogs son las de los autores y no necesariamente reflejan las opiniones del Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo, sus directivas, la Asamblea de Gobernadores o sus países miembros.

    facebook
    twitter
    youtube
    This site uses cookies to optimize functionality and give you the best possible experience. If you continue to navigate this website beyond this page, cookies will be placed on your browser.
    To learn more about cookies, click here
    X
    Manage consent

    Privacy Overview

    This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
    Necessary
    Always Enabled
    Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
    Non-necessary
    Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
    SAVE & ACCEPT