International Early Childhood and Child Development

In low- and middle-income countries, children’s survival rates and access to primary education have both increased dramatically. Attention is now turning to improving children’s early development, and their preparation to enter primary school on time and ready to learn. Our work focuses on early stimulation and nutrition, quality of early care and education, and the use of innovative strategies to promote school readiness in places where comprehensive pre-primary education is largely unavailable. 

Latest Work

Image of smiling girl in Bangladesh
20 Oct 2020
In the Field

Effective Pre-Primary Education Programs: Lessons Learned from Bangladesh and Mozambique

Countries such as Bangladesh and Mozambique have made universal access to pre-primary education a priority in recent years. Other countries hoping to improve their pre-primary education programs can learn from the experiences of Bangladesh and Mozambique; specifically, some of the necessary conditions to make pre-primary education programs effective.
Image of mother in Zambia with young child
3 Dec 2018
Q & A

A Quick Word With: Hannah Ring, Senior Researcher

The First 1000 Most Critical Days program was designed to provide women in Zambia with a host of maternal and infant health supports. In this Q&A, Hannah Ring provides insight into how the program worked and the challenges of bundling multiple interventions.
Image of UNICEF Think Piece report cover
31 Jul 2018
Brief

Quality and Equitable Access Grounded in Local Knowledge: Bringing Pre-primary Education to Scale

The authors of this UNICEF Think Piece explain why focusing on quality and equitable access to pre-primary education is imperative in Eastern and Southern Africa and why it unfortunately does not happen, and explore the implication of the increased focus on access on the provision of quality pre-primary education.
30 Jul 2018
Report

Study on Traditional Parenting and Child Care Practices in Zambia: Final Report

Recognizing the importance of early childhood development, the Zambian government has committed to scaling up programs that support health, nutrition, and early learning/stimulation for children. UNICEF partnered with AIR and researchers from the University of Zambia to gather data on traditional parenting and child care practices across diverse cultures in Zambia and assess these data against current scientific evidence to determine which traditional parenting practices may contribute or be detrimental to children’s development.
30 May 2018
Report

Evaluation of Zambia’s First 1,000 Most Critical Days Program: Final Report

The First 1,000 Most Critical Days Program was designed to offer mothers and babies in Zambia a suite of interventions to improve their health and development. This report is the result of an evaluation of the efficacy of this program.
Image of two women in Zambia
17 May 2018
Spotlight

AIR in Zambia

Since 2001, AIR has been working in Zambia, conducting multi-method impact and process evaluations across many sectors such as health, WASH, social protection, early childhood development, nutrition, and education. Explore our projects and read about our regional office.
Project

Children and Society: A Global Scan of Child Well-Being

All children deserve to live healthy lives and experience positive well-being. 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.
1 Oct 2017
Report

The Effects of Mainstreaming Nutrition and Early Childhood Development Under BRAC’s MNCH Programme

To combat malnutrition, BRAC Bangladesh has implemented Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health programming focused on nutrition and early childhood development. This programming is designed to combat malnutrition in pregnant-lactating women and young children, as well as to implement multiple strategies to establish better practices for breastfeeding and child feeding, build capacity for community health workers, and create nutrition service deliveries within communities.
Project

Accelerated School Readiness in Mozambique

Despite efforts by the Mozambican government to improve access to pre-primary education, many challenges remain in the education system overall and in pre-primary education. AIR conducted a mixed-methods experimental evaluation of a pilot program being implemented to improve children’s educational outcomes through a pre-primary intervention in target districts and communities in the Zambézia province.
15 Jan 2017
Report

Landscape Report on Early Grade Literacy

Millions of children across the world are unable to read a single word even after up to four years of schooling. The goal of this landscape report is to review and summarize available empirical evidence on early grade literacy acquisition and instruction in developing countries.
24 Oct 2016
Report

Connecting All Children to High-Quality Early Care and Education: Promising Strategies From the International Community

High-quality early care and education (ECE) provides an important foundation for young children’s success in school and in life. With support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, AIR conducted a scan of efforts to improve access to quality ECE for low-income, minority families in other countries that might inform learning and practice in the U.S. context.
Project

Impact Evaluation of the Early Years Primary Program in Bangladesh

Bangladesh has been recognized for its great success in improving educational and health outcomes during the past few decades. AIR is investigating the impacts of offering an additional year of preschool education in Bangladesh on child development outcomes (cognitive and social emotional), and will examine the benefits relative to the costs of the program.
Project

Ethiopia Accelerated School Readiness Evaluation

The Ethiopian government has made a firm commitment to supporting early childhood development and school readiness support nationally. However, the creation of (Grade 0) kindergarten classes in all primary schools cannot be achieved overnight. UNICEF Ethiopia received a challenge grant to test the effectiveness of two accelerated school readiness programs that may serve as a stop-gap measure until Grade 0 can be rolled out nationally.
1 Dec 2014
Report

Zambia’s Child Grant Program: 36-Month Impact Report

A cash grant program for households with children under five in three districts in Zambia generated positive impacts, both in terms of immediate needs of the family and children's health, and in longer term productivity. This third report builds upon the results of the 24- and 30-month reports.
Project

Impact Evaluation of BRAC’s Nutrition and Early Childhood Development Program

Malnutrition is one of the most serious global health problems. Advancing the knowledge base about the effects of nutrition and early childhood development programs on nutrition outcomes is particularly important in Bangladesh. AIR is evaluating a large-scale nutrition program and a pilot program to combat malnutrition in the country.
Project

Zambia 1,000 Days: Evaluation of the “Tackling Maternal and Child Undernutrition in Zambia” Program

Large numbers of Zambian children suffer from nutrition-related disorders such as low birth weight, wasting, being underweight, chronic malnutrition, and various nutrient deficiencies. AIR and its partners are evaluating the First 1000 Most Critical Days Program, which addresses these issues by targeting households with pregnant women or children under two for maternal and child nutrition and health services.
Project

Synthesis Review of and Evaluation Strategy for UNICEF’s Basic Education Interventions

Between 2007 and 2013, UNICEF commissioned 133 evaluations of UNICEF-supported basic education interventions. AIR conducted a synthesis review to determine their effectiveness, efficiency, relevance, and sustainability, and advised UNICEF on how, when, and for what to invest limited resources in rigorous evaluations of the impact of basic education interventions.
Project

Building Parental Capacity to Improve Child Development in Bangladesh

Twenty-two percent of infants in Bangladesh have low birth weight, and 41% of children under age five have stunted growth; the majority of these children lack appropriate stimulation and early learning opportunities. This project evaluates the Save the Children Early Childhood Stimulation Program, which targets very poor, rural families with young children in Bangladesh.
Project

Impact Evaluation of the Early Education Improvement Program in the areas of Ayacucho, Huancavelica, and Huánuco

Approximately 135,000 children between three and five years of age live in the departments of Ayacucho, Huancavelica, and Huánuco in Peru, where total poverty and extreme poverty rates far exceed the national averages. AIR is evaluating the impact of a preschool program which aims to improve the quality of early childhood services in these areas.
Project

UNICEF: Child-to-Child Pilot Evaluation

Although increasing numbers of children are enrolling in primary school in low- and middle-income countries, many enter late, fail to progress, and drop out. A child-to-child approach to enhancing learning in developing countries is designed to provide preschool-aged children with early learning opportunities in their homes and their communities at very low cost. AIR evaluated this approach in Bangladesh, China, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Tajikistan, and Yemen.