About the Network
Web Site: Early Child Development Knowledge Network
Organizational Hub: Human Early Learning Partnership, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
Reports
Early Child Development: A Powerful Equalizer
Author(s): Lori G. Irwin, Arjumand Siddiqi and Clyde Hertzman
Published: June 2007
Summary: This report synthesizes information on the importance of early child development (ECD) to health, and suggests how ECD can be improved on a global scale. The factors influencing ECD are considered, from the level of the individual child, to families, households, and communities, to regions, to nations, and, finally, globally. The report uses a Vulnerability Map of British Columbia to demonstrate that regional inequalities in early child development are present in resource-rich countries as well as low and middle-income countries. It then goes on to make recommendations, based on the conclusion that the most important factor in ECD tend to be the people in the environment in which a child grows up, acknowledging that these people cannot provide strong supportive environments without the help of agencies at local, regional, national and international levels. Appendix B provides an overview of several health programs targeting ECD, both nationally and internationally. Appendix C is a discussion of how ECD should be measured.
Key Findings from the Child Care Policy Study of the CHILD Project: Public Policy and Public Funding Make a Difference
Author(s): Consortium for Health, Intervention, Learning and Development
Published: November 2007
Summary: This paper provides a detailed international comparison of overall family benefits, which confirms general OECD findings that Canada’s financial support for families is weak relative to our peer nations. An analyses that examines specific child care public policy and public funding levers, and their implications for both quality services and healthy child outcomes is also included, which includes analyses of policies that impact on the quality of early childhood care and education programs and on the predictors of the stability of licensed group care and family child care homes in British Columbia over time. The authors also examine the relationship between EDI vulnerability rates and child care subsidy rates, and an examination of BC’s contribution to child care funding between 2001/02 and 2006/07, relative to other services and indicators.
Measuring Up: Family Benefits in British Columbia and Alberta in International Perspective
Author(s): Paul Kershaw, Institute for Research on Public Policy (IRPP), Investing in our children
Published: March 2007
Summary: This research program examines issues related to family policy from the perspective of lifetime investment in human capital based on in-depth empirical and analytical evidence of the strengths and weaknesses of current policies as well as evi¬dence supporting alternative strategies. The IRPP’s research in this area focuses on recent developments across the country in policies that are geared toward children.
Knowledge Network for ECD: international perspectives on early child development
Author(s): Stefania Maggi, Lori G. Irwin, Arjumand Siddiqi, Iraj Poureslami, Emily Hertzman, and Clyde Hertzman
Published: December 2005
Summary: Assessment of the social determinants of early child development, this paper looks at prenatal and perinatal periods to preschool and school age, with attention to the aggregate effects for early child development and the family, neighbourhood, and socio-political context. Overview of international ECD programs and lessons learned is also provided.