What we do

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) supports quality Early Childhood Development (ECD) and readiness to learn interventions throughout the Region. Targeted towards young children and their families, these ECD interventions tend to cut across sectors - from education, to health, social investment and community development – and seek to provide cost-effective and appropriate responses that support overall child development (cognitive, communications, gross and fine motor skills, socio-emotional, and general health and well-being).

Objective

Ensure that all children, regardless of their socio-economic status, race, ethnicity, sex, or other characteristic enter first grade ready to learn and have the basic competencies required to benefit from a full cycle of schooling.

Why ECD?

Striking disparities in what children know and can do are evident well before they enter school, and these disparities are predictive of subsequent academic performance and life achievement. Children from poor families disproportionately enter primary school less ready to learn – for example, with cognitive abilities and vocabularies far below the learning levels of children from families with higher incomes. These children achieve less in school, repeat more, and eventually drop out. As adults, they earn lower wages and have higher rates of delinquency and crime. The region’s economic competitiveness and growth, dependent on a strong, educated, and productive labor force, is weakened as a result. 

Investing in quality ECD programs yields high rates of return, with gains sustained over time. Data from High Scope Perry (United States) indicate that returns can be as high as $17 for every $1 invested.