All children deserve to live healthy lives and experience positive well-being. Because well-being is dynamic, it is useful to draw on different contexts and experiences throughout the world to develop a comprehensive understanding of how well-being occurs and is sustained for all children, especially those who are disadvantaged and vulnerable because of poverty, immigration status, and discrimination.

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 purpose of the project is to focus on the “why” and the “how” of child well-being. This work builds on the vision of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Global Ideas for U.S. Solutions portfolio. Using an ecological, historical, and cross-national lens, the AIR team is reviewing international data sources, literature, and research findings to produce knowledge to be utilized by the foundation, the foundation’s partners, and other human development organizations to advance equity and child well-being.