Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 2

Going through this website I was surprised of how involved Harvard University is in everything that has to do with early child education. They have the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child; their goal is bringing credible and accurate knowledge to bear on public decision-making that affects children’s learning, behavior, and health. The National Forum on Early Childhood Policy and Programs - the Forum was established to complement the Council’s work, which aims to explain why public investments should be made in the early childhood years.

The Early Childhood Innovation Partnership (ECIP) is a deeply committed and cohesive four-way collaboration among the Center on the Developing Child, the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, the National Conference of State Legislatures, and the True Point Center for High Performance and High Commitment.

The area that I found most interesting is the Global Children’s Initiative - the Center’s commitment to global work represents both an acknowledgement of moral responsibility to meet the needs of all children and a critical investment in the roots of economic productivity, positive health outcomes, and strong civil society in all nations, from the poorest to the most affluent.

the global program will focus on three strategic areas:

·         reframing the discourse around child health and development in the global policy arena by educating high-level decision-makers about the underlying science of learning, behavior, and health, beginning in the earliest years of life;

·         supporting innovative, multi-disciplinary research and demonstration projects to expand global understanding of how healthy development happens, how it can be derailed, and how to get it back on track; and

·         building leadership capacity in child development research and policy—focused on both individuals and institutions—in low- and middle-income countries to increase the number and influence of diverse voices and perspectives that are contributing to the growing global movement on behalf of young children.

Guided by these strategic objectives, the Global Children’s Initiative has begun to build a portfolio of activities in three domains:

·         early childhood development;

·         child mental health; and

·         children in crisis and conflict situations.

http://developingchild.harvard.edu/activities/global_initiative/