Globally, young children bear the greatest burden of poverty, disease, neglect, and lack of educational opportunities. This volume’s goal is to promote evidence-based policies for advancing the positive development of young children everywhere, with a specific focus on developing countries. It brings scientific knowledge about early child development (ECD) in both developed and developing countries to bear on international programmes and policies that affect young children and families, focusing on the whole child.

The volume includes traditional sectoral approaches (e.g., health, nutrition, and education), as well as newer sectors such as child protection, social assistance, and child rights; and it addresses nongovernmental actors, such as community- and faith-based agencies, nonprint media, and the private sector. The volume also focuses on the “how to” of using evidence to address the greatest challenges to program quality, sustainability, and “scaling up”—the challenges of capacity building, governance, and finance. Also presented is a clear set of recommendations for future research, policy, and programmatic directions for the field, addressing not only the implications of evidence, but also recogniding the importance of including families and serving vulnerable and disadvantaged populations.

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