Jamaica is the only Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country to have benefited from 23 projects funded by the Inter-American Development Bank’s (IDB) Early Childhood Development Innovation Fund that has improved the quality of life of more than 700,000 children in Latin America and the Caribbean.
In a statement, the IDB said that in its eight years of implementation, during which it invested US$10 million, the initiative has also benefited 300,000 parents and caregivers and 5,000 childcare centers in the region.
The 23 projects funded in Jamaica, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, and Uruguay explored new ways to boost attendance in early childhood education, improve the quality of interactions between children and caregivers, and address the situation of migrant children.
‘Investing in children’s development is a highly cost-effective strategy. Quality programmes for vulnerable children ages zero to five generate an annual return as high as 14 per cent,’ said Ferdinando Regalia, IDB Social Sector manager.
‘Not making these investments has a high cost for society and undermines the future education, economy, and health of an entire country,’ he added.
To find innovative ways to scale up child development programmes while emphasizing quality, the IDB joined forces with leading civil society organizations-FEMSA Foundation, Van Leer Foundation, María Cecilia Souto Vidigal Foundation, and Porticus-to create the fund.
The alliance came together to finance, design, implement, and evaluate novel and scalable approaches that improve the lives of children under age five in the region, with a focus on the most disadvantaged groups within each country.
The IDB said that in Latin America and the Caribbean, the cost of non-action in early childhood amounts to 1.6 per cent of the region’s gross domestic product (GDP).
It said millions of children in the region still lack essential health, nutrition, and early childhood stimulation services. The average country in the region only allocates 0.34 per cent of its GDP to preschool education, well below the average percentage in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) member countries. This low investment restricts access to quality services and deepens social inequalities.
In addition to its projects, the Early Childhood Development Innovation Fund became a regional knowledge platform. It generated evidence on the most effective interventions and shared resources and best practices through the Community of Practice in Early Childhood Development and the Childhood Development Hub. This effort bolstered collaboration between governments, civil society, the private sector, and academia and laid the groundwork for more effective and sustainable public policies.
‘The achievements of the Early Childhood Development Innovative Fund in Latin America and the Caribbean reflect the IDB Group’s commitment to expanding the impact and scale of development initiatives to fuel sustainable economic growth in Latin America and the Caribbean in a way that puts people at the center of development,’ the IDB added.