1. CAH Department of Child and Adolescent Health and Development WHO Department of Child and Adolescent Health and Development Description of ECD Monitoring Project CGECCD Annual Consultation October 13-15, 2008 Mercure Hotel Budapest

2. CAH Department of Child and Adolescent Health and Development Objectives 1.To gather information on the development of policies, programmes and research initiatives related to Early Child Development since The Lancet’s series on Early Child Development in Developing Countries in January, 2007 2.To gather information on the most salient strategic obstacles and opportunities for moving ECD forward at the country, regional, and international levels.

3. CAH Department of Child and Adolescent Health and Development Identified key informants who reflect the diversity and breadth of organizations and experts working in the area of Early Child Development Conducted 17 semi-structured phone interviews to collect data The range of agencies, organizations and research centres includes: –World Health Organization –World Bank –UNICEF –Commission of the Social Determinants of Health –Aga Khan Foundation –Bernard Van Leer Foundation –Children’s Investment Fund of London –Consultative Group of Early Childhood Care and Development –Centre for Community Child Health –Human Early Learning Partnership –Centre of Excellence for Early Childhood Development –Ankara University –California Polytechnic State University –University of California –University of Pennsylvania

4. CAH Department of Child and Adolescent Health and Development The range of experts includes: –Scientific researchers –Economists –Policy makers –Foundation executives –Programme managers –Program developers

5. CAH Department of Child and Adolescent Health and Development Initial Analysis on One Issue An issue related to ‘Advocacy Obstacle’ that emerged addressed the fact that: –ECD researchers who generate the evidence may not be the most suitable group (in terms of expertise and networks) to advocate to decision-makers. A related ‘Advocacy Opportunity’ that also emerged addressed the issue that: –There is vital need to bring in and utilize individuals and organizations from outside the ECD research community: To be recruited as champions for early childhood; To mobilize those who have greater mobilizing capacity than research groups do; To provide counsel and training on the political and advocacy strategies and skills needed to gain more policy and funding traction.

6. CAH Department of Child and Adolescent Health and Development Recommendations Invite Jeremy Shiffman, Fellow at the Centre for Global Development, to speak to the CGECCD on his research of successful strategies for generating political priority for a global health issue in developing countries. Email: Jrshiffm@maxwell.syr.edu Jrshiffm@maxwell.syr.edu Invite John Young, Director of the Oversees Development Institute’s RAPID Programme (Research and Policy in Development) to run a workshop on their framework and tools to help researchers improve the policy impact of their work. Email: j.young@odi.org.ukframeworkj.young@odi.org.uk Invite Charles Kolb, President of the Committee for Economic Development, to advise on an advocacy strategy as he has had great success explaining the benefits of investing in ECD to government and business audiences. Email: charles.kolb@ced.org charles.kolb@ced.org