International Early Childhood and Child Development

In low- and middle-income countries, children’s survival rates and access to primary education have both increased dramatically. Attention is now turning to improving children’s early development, and their preparation to enter primary school on time and ready to learn.
 

Our Work

AIR's work focuses on early stimulation and nutrition, quality of early care and education, and the use of innovative strategies to promote school readiness in places where comprehensive pre-primary education is largely unavailable.

Contact
Image of David Seidenfeld

David Seidenfeld

Senior Vice President, International Development
Elizabeth Spier

Elizabeth Spier

Principal Researcher
Related Topics
Education
International
Related Work
African granny together with her granddaughter

Study on Parenting for Early Childhood Development in Ethiopia

Extensive evidence on early development from conception to the time a child enters elementary school has made a compelling case to promote early childhood development (ECD) in national and international policy and programming. Promoting ECD also aligns with international objectives such as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the ...
Image of smiling girl in Bangladesh

Effective Pre-Primary Education Programs: Lessons Learned from Bangladesh and Mozambique

20 Oct 2020
Countries such as Bangladesh and Mozambique have made universal access to pre-primary education a priority in recent years. Other countries hoping to improve their pre-primary education programs can learn from the experiences of Bangladesh and Mozambique; specifically, some of the necessary conditions to make pre-primary education programs effective. ...
Image of mother in Zambia with young child

A Quick Word With: Hannah Ring, Senior Researcher

03 Dec 2018
The First 1000 Most Critical Days program was designed to provide women in Zambia with a host of maternal and infant health supports. In this Q&A, Hannah Ring provides insight into how the program worked and the challenges of bundling multiple interventions.
Image of UNICEF Think Piece report cover

Quality and Equitable Access Grounded in Local Knowledge: Bringing Pre-primary Education to Scale

31 Jul 2018
The authors of this UNICEF Think Piece explain why focusing on quality and equitable access to pre-primary education is imperative in Eastern and Southern Africa and why it unfortunately does not happen, and explore the implication of the increased focus on access on the provision of quality pre-primary education. ...

Study on Traditional Parenting and Child Care Practices in Zambia: Final Report

30 Jul 2018
Recognizing the importance of early childhood development, the Zambian government has committed to scaling up programs that support health, nutrition, and early learning/stimulation for children. UNICEF partnered with AIR and researchers from the University of Zambia to gather data on traditional parenting and child care practices across diverse cultures in ...

Evaluation of Zambia’s First 1,000 Most Critical Days Program: Final Report

30 May 2018
The First 1,000 Most Critical Days Program was designed to offer mothers and babies in Zambia a suite of interventions to improve their health and development. This report is the result of an evaluation of the efficacy of this program.
Image of two women in Zambia

AIR in Zambia

17 May 2018
Since 2001, AIR has been working in Zambia, conducting multi-method impact and process evaluations across many sectors such as health, WASH, social protection, early childhood development, nutrition, and education. Explore our projects and read about our regional office.

Ethiopia Accelerated School Readiness Evaluation

The Ethiopian government has made a firm commitment to supporting early childhood development and school readiness support nationally. However, the creation of (Grade 0) kindergarten classes in all primary schools cannot be achieved overnight. UNICEF Ethiopia received a challenge grant to test the effectiveness of two accelerated school readiness programs ...
Young Australian children in school uniforms

Children and Society: A Global Scan of Child Well-Being

All children deserve to live healthy lives and experience positive well-being. The aim for this work is to understand the context that includes the norms, values, and conditions that underpin child well-being in various countries, with the intention of transferring and applying that knowledge to the United States. ...

The Effects of Mainstreaming Nutrition and Early Childhood Development Under BRAC’s MNCH Programme

01 Oct 2017
To combat malnutrition, BRAC Bangladesh has implemented Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health programming focused on nutrition and early childhood development. This programming is designed to combat malnutrition in pregnant-lactating women and young children, as well as to implement multiple strategies to establish better practices for breastfeeding and child feeding, build ...