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Early childhood care and development (ECCD)
The first six years of a child’s life is a time of great promise and rapid change, when their developing brain is most open to the influence of relationships and experiences. However, millions of children across the world are at risk of not reaching their full potential because they do not get the care and stimulation they need in the early stages of life.
To achieve the SDGs and ensure that all girls and boys, especially the most deprived, are developmentally on-track we need to start early. Save the Children works with families and communities to help children to develop foundational learning skills in the years leading up to school. Save the Children also works with communities and partners to advocate for policies and practices that recognise the value of starting early and investing in cost-effective, inclusive quality approaches to ECCD.
Our goal is that all children will access quality inclusive early childhood care and demonstrate improved child development outcomes.
Save the Children’s experience shows that to reach the most vulnerable children, we need to go beyond preschools. High quality caregiving must be supported both in homes and in early learning centres to build strong foundations for young girls and boys. Moreover, rural, linguistic minority and refugee children need urgent support as they are falling behind. Save the Children works to address these gaps through targeted interventions, such as early learning programmes that support children’s learning at home in emergency and post-disaster settings, among remote and nomadic communities, and in areas where preschools are not available or accessible.
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Children's Multidimensional Health and Medium-Run Cognitive Skills in Low- and Middle-Income Countries
This paper examines the effects of children’s health on their education in later life stages in low- and middle-income countries. It has the following four objectives: To explore whether the positive relationship between children’s height and cognitive sk
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Understanding children’s work and youth employment outcomes in Laos: Country Report
The report examines the related issues of child labour and youth employment in Laos. Guided by observed outcomes in terms of schooling, work activities and status in the labour market, the report considers the economic as well as the social determinants o
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Understanding children’s work and youth employment outcomes in Laos: Summary Report
The report examines the related issues of child labour and youth employment in Laos. Guided by observed outcomes in terms of schooling, work activities and status in the labour market, the report considers the economic as well as the social determinants o
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Early Language Delays in the UK
Between birth and the age of two years, babies and toddlers develop their communication skills. Not only do these skills allow children to start speaking their first words and making simple sentences, they also equip them with the ability to express feeli
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ECCE Pakistan LB End of Year One Report 2013
During the 2012-2013 school year, Save the Children (SC) began implementing the first year of the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) program. The program, designed to improve reading skills for early grade students and prepare young children for sc
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Emergent Literacy and Math (ELM) Intervention Endline Report November, 2013
Ethiopia is progressing well in education over the last two decades and the country is also at the vanguard of Africa’s move toward improving access to education. Enrollment in primary education has increased from less than 30% twenty years ago to 95.4% (
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Literacy Boost El Salvador: Baseline Report 2013
This report examines the results of a student background survey and reading assessment conducted in April and May 2013. The survey and reading assessment covered 875 grade 2 learners throughout 57 schools in the 3 areas of El Salvador. The 57 schools are
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Are Cash Transfers a Silver Bullet? Evidence from the Zambian Child Grant
How effective can cash transfers be in combating poverty and social inequality in developing countries? This study is one of the first to demonstrate both protective and productive impacts of a national unconditional cash transfer program. The Zambian Gov
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Advancing the Right to Read in Rwanda: Programme baselines and studies- Summary Report
In 2013, Save the Children launched an education signature programme, Advancing the Right to Read (ARR), which is now operational in five districts in Rwanda. The programme aims to contribute to addressing the global crisis in learning by providing a cont
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Measuring and Improving Quality in Early Childhood Environments
ISSA, UNICEF, UNESCO, and the Bernard van Leer Foundation, in partnership with the World Bank and the Brookings Institution, joined forces to call attention to the importance of measuring and improving quality in early childhood environments. An internati
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Promoting Emergent Literacy in the Revised Rwandan Pre-primary Curriculum
Emergent literacy is one of the most important foundational abilities children must develop before beginning primary school. The process of becoming literate begins very young, and many early experiences can contribute to emergent literacy. If children do
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Zambia School Readiness and ECCD Baseline Report: November 2013
This baseline report presents the results of a school readiness assessment administered to children ages 3-5 in new sponsorship areas of Lufwanyama, Zambia, as well as a survey of their caregiver and a more general community questionnaire, focused on Ear