vative financing strategies. All of this action is balanced by research
which continues to document the criticality of children’s early years
and the value of well-designed ECD interventions.
The momentum toward ECD programs for all children is accelerat-
ing in all arenas and sectors in which they apply—health, nutrition,
education, human development, productivity, and economic growth.
Early child development is finally a legitimate, recognized, and inte-
gral component of the development agenda.
In the next 5 years, we need to close the gap between what we
know and what we do about early child development. In continuing
to move forward, there are priority goals to be addressed and neces-
sary actions to take.
Priority Goals
To close the gap between what we know and what we do to promote
early child development over the next 5 years, two priority goals are:
- Stimulate awareness—of the long reach of early child develop-
ment (and its effects on health, behavior, and learning), and
foster public demand for ECD initiatives to enhance early child
development. - Increase access—to ECD programs and services to assure that all
children have a “fair start” in school and life, and target, in par-
ticular, children who are poorest and most vulnerable.
Necessary Actions
Seven necessary actions for the next 5 years are:
- Increase Funding.Increased public and private funding and other
resources are needed for ECD interventions that are effective
and successful. Efforts are under way to mobilize such action
through a global coalition of public and private partners and to
develop a grant-making mechanism, such as the Bank’s Millen-
nium Fund for Early Child Development.
The ECD Agenda: Closing the Gap 11