This brief distills three key points from the Harvard Center for the Developing Child’s Working Paper 15: Connecting the Brain to the Rest of the Body.Read More →
This fourth thematic brief from MMA explains how early childhood development contributes to gender equality. They focus on how ECD services prevent gender-based violence in emergencies and how they close the gender gap in parental care.Read More →
In this thematic brief Moving Minds Alliance looks at integrating early childhood development in emergencies within nutrition sector response plans and programs. They share evidence from various contexts of the positive effects that integration of ECDIE and nutrition has on both children and their caregivers. They include some existing entry points for integration and examples of different nutrition and responsive caregiving programs.Read More →
Moving Minds Alliance dives deeper to understand our brain and how it responds to stress. They consider threats faced by young children in crisis, such as being exposed to prolonged stress and adversity, and discuss how to mitigate the impact on their brain development. They also share how the humanitarian sector can incorporate early childhood development programs in their emergency response plans and programs through the nurturing framework lens.Read More →
Following the launch of the Nurturing care framework in 2018, numerous resources have been developed to support advocacy and implementation of the Framework. This brochure introduces them, with a general background and links to the nurturing care handbook, practice guide, advocacy toolkit, thematic briefs, country profiles and more.Read More →
This brief defines early childhood development and why it is important to understand, especially in crisis contexts. It also explains the Nurturing Care Framework and how to use it to mitigate risks for young children in crisis settings and supporting them to have a healthy development. The fact sheet also provides simple recommendations on how to support early childhood development programming, financing and research in supporting young children in crisis and their caregivers.Read More →
This Thematic Brief summarizes the evidence regarding the benefits of men’s engagement on outcomes for women, children, and even men themselves. It consolidates the learnings thus far regarding designing and adapting services to engage men in providing nurturing care. Finally, it recommends practical actions for policymakers and programme designers across four enabling environments: policies, services, communities and caregivers – all illustrated with case studies. It focuses particularly on what health services can do, while also covering education, social protection and other sectors. Read More →
The WHO has commissioned a systematic review and meta-analysis of 102 randomized controlled trials of parenting interventions for children during the first 3 years of life that were implemented across a total of 33 countries. Among the findings, the review found greater effects on child cognitive development, parenting knowledge, parenting practices, and parent–child interactions for programs that focused on responsive caregiving compared to those that did not.Read More →
This publication provides a brief overview on the science of ECD, the components of nurturing care, and specific, actionable ways paediatricians can champion ECD in their clinics and communities. The issue brief was developed as part of the Academy’s ECD grant from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, which focused on strengthening the capacity of paediatric societies in promoting ECD in Kenya and Tanzania.Read More →
Men caregivers play an important role in ensuring all children receive nurturing care. From supportive services to enabling policies and beyond, this infographic from MOMENTUM Country and Global Leadership shows how men can be supported to provide nurturing care for their children from pregnancy to early childhood.Read More →
Multisectoral national policies for early childhood development have been developed since 1979, yet until now the number of countries adopting them has not been systematically documented. This is a descriptive study conducted to assess historical trends in policy adoption, regional coverage, income levels, governance categories, and crisis countries. Read More →
UNICEF’s vision for integrated, multilevel programming moves beyond approaching parents as recipients of information or education, to a more collaborative partnership where there is a co-construction of support for the child as well as for/with the parents themselves. Read More →
While there has been increasing attention in global public health towards designing and delivering programs, services, and policies to promote nurturing care, measurement has focused more on the components of health and nutrition, with less attention to early learning, responsive caregiving, and safety and security. This study provides a comprehensive review of the current state of measurement of nurturing care.Read More →
Published by the WHO Regional Office for Eastern Mediterranean, this operational guide is a step-by-step, action-oriented programmatic tool that complements existing resources and provides a clear approach to child and adolescent health in emergencies.Read More →
This publication summarizes results of an international survey conducted by ECDAN in December 2021 to identify pressing research priorities, with a specific focus on low- and middle-income countries. The survey identified components of nurturing care (i.e., health, nutrition, child protection, opportunities for learning, and responsive caregiving) that should be prioritized in the next 12 months. Read More →
The research round up describes the nature and scope of 411 peer-reviewed, publicly available scientific research studies published during January 2020 and October 2021 (an average of 30 articles per month) related to early childhood development (ECD). The authors summarize who the studies have been conducted with; where the studies have been conducted; how they have been conducted in terms of research design; and priority research topics addressed so far. Nearly 85% of the included COVID-19 studies address themes of maternal and child health or nutrition. In contrast, 9% of the studies focus on themes of early learning or responsive caregiving. Lastly, 7% of the COVID-19 studies focus primarily on children’s safety and security. Read More →
UNICEF’s Community-Infant and Young Child Feeding Counselling Package is used globally for infant and young child feeding counseling. This study aimed to: 1) identify and map existing nurturing care content; 2) identify gaps related to nurturing care or feeding elements; 3) identify country level nurturing care adaptations; and 4) identify best practices and lessons learned from country adaptations that can be recommended for inclusion.Read More →
This 5-minute recorded presentation describes barriers to and strategies for including men in MNCH services. The lessons learned are derived from Plan International Canada’s Strengthening Health Outcomes for Women (SHOW) project in Bangladesh.Read More →
This 5-minute recorded presentation provides examples of multipronged mass media campaigns in Zambia, Serbia, Oman and Jordan. It is part of a series of presentations developed by the World Health Organization and UNICEF in preparation for a three-day virtual meeting in April 2021.Read More →
This 5-minute recorded presentation provides a brief description of the Caring for the Caregiver (CFC) module. CFC aims to build front-line workers’ skills in strengths-based counselling to increase caregivers’ confidence and help them develop stress management, self-care and conflict-resolution skills to support their emotional well-being.Read More →
