1. The Promise of Early Childhood Development in Latin America and the Caribbean
Emiliana Vegas and Lucrecia Santibañez
With contributions from:
Bénédicte Leroy de la Brière,
Alejandro Caballero,
Julien Alexis Hautier, and
Domenec Ruiz Devesa

2. Contents Why invest in early childhood development?
Status of early childhood development (ECD) in Latin America and the Caribbean
What interventions affect ECD (and how)?
ECD policies and programs in Latin America
Concluding remarks

3. 1. Why invest in early childhood development?
There is consistent evidence of the effects that early childhood development interventions have on future life outcomes:
Education
Labor insertion and wages
Health, fertility
Probability of engaging in ilegal activities
The impact of these interventions is greater in the most vulnerable populations
Especially relevant for Latin America

4. Factors that affect ECD and Lifetime Outcomes
Early
Childhood
Development
Cognitive development
Socioemotional
development
Physical health
and growth
Context
Economic growth
Poverty
Inequality
Diversity
Lifetime Outcomes
Education
Health
Fertility
Income
Dangerous Behavior
ECD Policies
Health
Nutrition
Education
Poverty reduction

5. ECD interventions have high returns
Pre -
school Programs
School
Job Training
Return
per $
invested 2 4 6 18
Age
school
Post 8
Opportunity cost of funds
Learning begets learning
Dynamic complementarities
Source: Carneiro and Heckman (2003)

6. 2. ECD Status in Latin America
Child poverty rates are high, and poverty affects ECD
There are great differences in access to ECD services by socio-economic status
ECD investment is relatively low and varies greatly across countries

7. Poverty rates in LAC are higher among children than in the general population
Note: Poverty is defined as living with less than two dollars a day
Source: World Bank estimates using household survey data

8. At 6 years of age, children have significant cognitive differences
Ecuador
When kids arrive in schools, there are already huge differences in their readiness to learn.
Age (in months)
Source: Adapted from Paxson and Schady (2007)

9. Early childhood education - 1:5 income quintile ratio of children aged 5-6 attending preschool
Por cada niño del quintil 5 que asiste a EPI , menos de 0.8 niños del quintil 1 van a EPI (la cobertura de EPI del quntil 1 es al 80% del quintil 5)
Source: World Bank estimates using household survey data.

10. Health insurance–1:5 income quintile ratio of children under age 6 with coverage
Por cada niño del quintil 5 que tiene acceso a cobertura de salud, 1.02 niños del quintil 1 tienen acceso a cobertura: en Chile (la cobertura en chile de niños del quintil 1 es del 102% de los niños del quintil 5)
Source: World Bank estimates using household survey data.

11. OECD countries invest up to 1.8% of GDP in ECD
Source: Adapted from Bennett 2007

12. ECD investment in Latin America does not exceed 0.6% of GNP
Source: UNESCO Global Monitoring Report 2007

13. Healthcare and hygiene
3. What interventions affect ECD (and how)?
Child
Prenatal
0-2
3-4
5-6
Mother(prenatal)
Mother/Father/
Caregiver
Healthcare and hygiene
Maternal/prenatal health
Water and sanitation
Healthcare prevention
Mental Health
Education
Preschool (3-5)
Care (0-3)
Poverty reduction
Income transfers
Maternity/paternity permission
Female Labor participation
Home infrastructure
Nutrition
Food and supplements

14. Impact of ECD interventions
Interventions with nutritional components have positive effects on:
growth and physical well-being, reflected on weight, height, and overall health
cognitive development
CCTs have impacts on cognitive have impacts on:
healthcare prevention and control
cognitive and socioemotional development
Preschool attendance has positive effects on:
the probability of continuing in school

15. 4. ECD policies and programs in Latin America
There are many programs of varying scale
We selected large-scale programs, or smaller scale programs, most of which have been rigorously evaluated
We analized design and implementation characteristics
Three countries in the region have national ECD policies: Chile, Colombia and Jamaica

16. Eleven programs were reviewed
Country
Program(s)
Chile
Junta Nacional de Jardines Infantiles (JUNJI)
Fundación Educacional para el Desarrollo Integral del Menor (INTEGRA)
Conozca a su Hijo (CASH)
Colombia
Hogares Comunitarios
Familias en Acción
Honduras
Atención Integral a la Niñez Comunitaria (AIN-C)
Proyecto Nutrición y Protección Social
Madres Guías
México
Oportunidades
Educación Inicial no Escolarizada
Perú
Proyecto de Atención Integral a Niños y Niñas Menores de Seis Años de la Sierra Rural (PAIN)

17. Policy implications
National policies help scale up investments in ECD programs
Multisectoral and inter-institutional coordination
Core “building blocks” for a national ECD policy include:
Defining an institutional anchor and achieving intersectoral coordination
Ensuring adequate funding
Defining core priorities, including target populations
Building on evidence of what works from rigorous evaluations
Ensuring coherence with related policies

18. 5. Concluding Remarks
ECD has important consequences for individuals and society
Substantial evidence from developed and developing countries
In Latin America and the Caribbean, it is especially important to invest in ECD:
To reduce initial disadvantages
To maximize all children´s potential
Financial, coordination and cultural challenges remain for expanding coverage of ECD programs
More rigorous evaluations, especially on cost-effectiveness of alternative policies, are needed