93787 EDUCATION NOTES November 2014 Investing in Young Children: An eLearning Course A child’s earliest years present a window of opportunity to web-based modules with 15 topics and a total learning time of approximately four to five hours. The three modules are improve outcomes later in life. A growing body of literature devoted to three simple questions: demonstrates that lack of investments in children in early years can have dramatic negative consequences for their (1) Why invest in ECD? future ability to learn and lead healthy and productive lives (Alderman, 2011; Naudeau et al., 2011; Walker et al., 2011; (2) What matters for ECD? Denboba et al., 2014). The opposite also holds: Investing in young children can generate very high returns, particularly (3) How should ECD interventions be implemented? when compared to equivalent investments made at later At the end of each module, participants are invited to take stages in life (for example, see Engle et al., 2011). a quiz with questions related to the materials covered in the Unfortunately, while there has been an uptake in the last module, and upon completion of the three quizzes with at decade for early childhood development (ECD) investments least 80 percent of correct answers, participants receive a (at the World Bank, see Sayre et al., 2014), resources for certificate of completion for the course. ECD remain low in many countries. This is in part because policies and programs related to ECD are complex and managed by multiple ministries, including those in charge of education, health care, and social protection. In order Why Invest in ECD? to help practitioners and policymakers learn about ECD The first module in the course takes 45 minutes to complete. and the strategies that countries can implement to help It summarizes scientific and economic arguments in favor children get a head start, the World Bank’s Education of investments in ECD. From the scientific literature, four Staff Development Program (ESDP) has produced an critical areas of development during a child’s early years are eLearning course on ECD (Wang et al., 2014). The course identified: physical, cognitive, linguistic, and socio-emotional builds on face-to-face training workshops implemented development. The course briefly reviews this evidence and over the last two years and consists of three interactive concepts. The ECD eLearning course aims to help Neurological studies have shown that synapses develop practitioners and policymakers learn about rapidly during a child’s first few years, forming the basis of ECD and the strategies that countries can cognitive and emotional functioning for the rest of a child’s life. implement to ensure children get a head start. Adequate nutrition, especially from conception to age 2, and stimulation in a child’s early years play a critical role in brain EDUCATION NOTES development. Malnutrition in the early years leads not only nine associated policy levers that support the achievement to poor physical growth, but can impede brain development; of these goals. The eLearning course provides a detailed malnutrition is also linked with delayed cognitive development description of the framework together with stylized examples and low academic achievement throughout a child’s life. of two countries and how each fares along the various levers and goals. From an economic point of view, while the specific rate of return on investments in ECD depends on a number of factors, How should ECD interventions be including the focus of a program, duration of exposure, and quality, these rates of return have been shown to be as high as 17:1 (Heckman, 2008). Just as one example, increasing preschool enrollment to 50 percent in low- and middle-income implemented? countries could result in additional lifetime earnings ranging from $15 billion-$34 billion (Engle et al., 2011). The last module takes 120 minutes to complete and is devoted to the implementation of ECD programs and policies. Six topics are included in this module. The first topic provides a summary of findings from a 11-year review of the World What Matters for ECD? Bank’s experience with ECD projects. The review documents trends in ECD operations (lending and grants), as well as The second module in the course takes 75 minutes to analytical work, and examples of projects implemented in complete and is devoted to a description of a policy countries such as Mexico, Eritrea, and Indonesia. diagnostic tool for ECD developed under the Systems Approach for Better Education Results (SABER) framework The second topic considers inter-sectoral coordination. It at the World Bank. Based on a review of the literature, discusses what a comprehensive ECD system looks like SABER ECD identifies three policy goals that matter most and how coordination helps in achieving synergies between for effective ECD systems: (1) Establishing an Enabling interventions, as well as cost savings though the combination Environment; (2) Implementing Widely; and (3) Monitoring of interventions in service delivery. Examples of coordination and Assuring Quality. Taken together, these goals form a mechanisms from Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean coherent system that addresses the constraints to achieving are provided. effective ECD policies (such as fragmented policy, limited and uneven access to services, and poor quality assurance The third topic is devoted to ECD diagnostics, whether for mechanisms). For each policy goal, a set of actions, or policy countries or projects. The topic discusses the inputs that are levers, are identified that decision-makers can act upon in needed for ECD interventions, and how such interventions order to strengthen ECD. can be funded. It reviews some of the broad indicators (for example, those related to the Millennium Development Figure 1 presents the structure of the SABER-ECD analytical Goals) that can be used to monitor ECD outcomes at the framework comprising the three core ECD policy goals and country level, as well as some of the more detailed child Box 1: How to Access the ECD eLearning Course The title of the ECD eLearning course is “Early Childhood Development for Policymakers and Practitioners.” The course is available free of charge on the website of the World Bank’s e-Institute. It is self-paced. To access the course, please go to: http://einstitute.worldbank.org/ei/course/education-staff-development-program-early-childhood-development- policymakers-and-practitioner November 2014 assessment tools that can be used for more detailed implementation, and monitoring and evaluation. The evaluations. discussion is based in part on a case study for a large project implemented in Indonesia. After providing a These assessment tools are then described in more detail snapshot of the project, the concepts of results chain in the fourth topic in order to help practitioners choose and results framework are introduced to link inputs with the right type of child assessment for the outcome they outputs and intermediate as well as final outcomes. are trying to achieve or influence. The issue of how to adapt such assessment tools to local conditions is also discussed. Finally, the topic briefly describes ongoing impact evaluations being implemented in 10 countries in Target Audience Africa, Latin America, East Asia, and South Asia. This course was designed for World Bank task team The fifth topic examines the cost of ECD interventions leaders in education, health, and social protection and their financing in more detail. It explains how to who are involved in the design and implementation estimate the overall cost of specific interventions, as of ECD projects or are involved in policy dialogue on well as the cost per beneficiary. While some costs may ECD with governments and other organizations. While be borne by families, many of the costs should be paid these staffs have broad-based program and project- for by governments and/or other funders, especially related responsibilities, they may not be familiar with when programs target low-income beneficiaries. This some aspects of ECD interventions and policies. The topic provides guidelines on how much countries should introductory eLeaning course provides them with a invest in ECD programs and documents examples from resource to broaden their knowledge. But it is also hoped Columbia, Denmark, and Indonesia of combinations of that the course, which is available free of charge, should funding sources, allocation mechanisms, and coverage be of interest to policymakers in countries and staff from rates for different types of ECD interventions. donors and other agencies, including non-governmental The last topic considers issues related to project design, organizations, as well as graduate students. Figure 1: SABER-ECD Policy Goals and Levers Source: Neuman and Devercelli (2013). February 2012 EDUCATION NOTES References Alderman, H., editor, 2011, No Small Matter: The Impact of Poverty, Shocks, and Human Capital Investments in Early Childhood Development, Washington, DC: The World Bank. Denboba, A., R. Sayre, Q. Wodon, L. Elder, L. Rawlings, and J. Lombardi, 2014, Stepping up Early Childhood Devel- opment: Investing in Young Children for High Returns, Washington, DC: The World Bank. Engle, P. L., L. C. H. Fernald, H. Alderman, J. Behrman, C. O’Gara, A. Yousafzai, M. Cabral de Mello, M. Hidrobo, N. Ulkuer, and the Global Child Development Steer Group, 2011, Strategies for reducing inequalities and improving developmental outcomes for young children in low-income and middle-income countries, The Lancet 378(9799): 1339-53. Heckman, J. J., 2008, The Case for Investing in Disadvantaged Young Children, in Big Ideas for Children: Investing in Our Nation’s Future, Washington, DC: First Focus. Naudeau, S, N. Kataoka, A. Valerio, M. J. Neuman, and L. K. Elder, 2011, Investing in Young Children: An Early Child- hood Development Guide for Policy Dialogue and Project Preparation, Washington, DC: The World Bank. Neuman, M. J., and A. Epstein Devercelli, 2013, What Matters Most for Early Childhood Development, SABER Work- ing Paper Series, No. 5, Washington, DC: The World Bank. Sayre, R., A. E. Devercelli, M. J. Neuman, and Q. Wodon, 2014, Investing in Early Childhood Development: Review of the World Bank’s Recent Experience, Washington, DC: The World Bank. Walker, S. P., T. D. Wachs, S. Grantham-McGregor, M. M. Black, C. A. Nelson, S. L. Huffman, H. Baker-Henningham, S. M. Chang. J. D. Hamadani, B. Lozoff, J. Meeks, J. Gardner, C. A. Powell, A. Rahman, and L. Richter, 2011, Inequal- ity in early childhood: risk and protective factors for early child development, The Lancet 378(9799): 1325-38. Y. Wang, A. Denboba, M. McLin, M. Neuman, R. Kraft Sayre, and Q. Wodon, 2014, Early Childhood Development for Policymakers and Practitioners: eLearning course, Washington, DC: The World Bank. Education Notes is a series produced by the World Bank to share lessons learned from innovative approaches to improving educa- tion practice and policy around the globe. This note was prepared with generous support from the Children Investment Fund Founda- tion. For additional information or hard copies, please go to www.worldbank.org/education or contact the Education Advisory Service: eservice@worldbank.org. Authors: A. Denboba, M. McLin, M. Neuman, R. Sayre, Y. Wang, and Q. Wodon. Photo Credit: © Deshan Tennekoon / World Bank