A Global Compact on Learning - Brookings Institution

seven. At these centers, children are provided with
60 percent of their daily nutritional requirements
and are supervised by “community” mothers, who
are selected from among women in the community.
These community mothers are trained in nutrition,
health, hygiene, and recreation; they are paid a salary;
and they receive assistance in obtaining home
improvement loans. After six years, the community
day care program reached 1 million children. 90
Four main actions need to be pursued to achieve
Strategy 1A:
• Invest in nutrition, health, and livelihoods
support.
• Develop comprehensive ECD frameworks
and plans.
• Provide support programs that promote adequate
stimulation and good parenting and
caregiving.
• Strengthen program standards, support,
and professional training for ECD educators
and caregivers.
The first needed action is to invest in nutrition,
health, and livelihoods support. Because learning
can (and should) take place continuously throughout
one’s life, both in and out of the classroom,
interventions to improve cognitive development
require investments beyond education policy—
such as investments in nutrition, potable water,
and livelihood support for families with infants
and small children. 91 For example, in Vietnam, a
preschool nutrition program was associated with
higher test scores in grades 1 and 2. 92 In Bangladesh,
the provision of eight fortified biscuits a day
to approximately 1 million children in 6,000 primary
schools resulted in 28 percent higher mathematics
scores after one year than those in control
schools. 93 Therefore, improving early learning requires
multisectoral coordination and integrated
approaches because the business of learning is not
just the work of education actors. Although the
examples given here come from primary schools,
these types of interventions should also, and foremost,
be implemented in ECD programs to mitigate
the irreversible effects of early malnutrition on
children (see box 2.1).
Box 2.1. Improving Child Health—and School
Enrollment Rates—in Bolivia
In Bolivia, poor families tend to have high rates
of child mortality and malnutrition, low rates of
primary school attendance, and a greater likelihood
of repetition and dropouts. The early
childhood development program Projecto Integral
de Desarollo Infantil, which provides
comprehensive home-based day care for impoverished
families, was established to better
prepare children to enter and succeed in school,
empower women through employment opportunities,
and increase community participation
in childhood development. Each center serves
fifteen children ranging from six months to six
years old and is led by a mother or caretaker
who is assisted by helpers. Children receive two
meals and a snack per day (providing 70 percent
of their daily caloric needs), receive basic
health care, and engage in games and physical
activity to foster cognitive development. Almost
all children who leave the program at the age of
six enter primary school, a significant increase
from the 20 percent enrollment rate for children
not in the program. These results are attributed
to improved children’s health as well as parents’
participation in the program.
Source: J. van der Gaag and J. Tan, Benefits of Early Childhood
Development Programs: An Economic Analysis (Washington: World
Bank, 1998).
The second needed action is to develop comprehensive
ECD frameworks and plans. In many countries,
ECD is a low priority and the quality of services
has been poor and fragmented. In some areas, the
private and non-profit sectors have been primarily
responsible for providing ECD without adequate
resources, regulation, or quality assurance from the
government. 94 Governments should develop a comprehensive
framework or shared plan of action for
ECD that addresses the rights and needs of all children—especially
the poorest—and that is supported
by information and monitoring systems. 95 This will
require collaboration and coordination among ministries
and organizations—especially ministries of
A <strong>Global</strong> Compa c t on Learning: Taking Action on Educat i o n in Developing Countries
C e n t e r for Universal Educat i o n at Brookings
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