Forum on Innovations in Investing in Young Children Globally

Forum on Innovations in Investing in Young Children Globally October 20, 2016 - October 21, 2016 Abidjan, Ivory Coast The Forum on Investing in Young Children Globally, in partnership with the Jacobs Foundation, the Institute for Human Development at Aga Khan University, and the Bernard van Leer Foundation, convened its ninth and final workshop to explore topics related to innovations in investing in young children globally. During the course of the 2-day workshop, researchers, policy makers, program practitioners, industry partners, funders, and other experts came together to highlight innovative research, policy, business models, and implementation strategies occurring in West Africa and around the world that positively affect investments made in young children. Innovations ranged from prioritizing the needs of children in national agendas to unique partnerships that enable services to reach children in remote contexts. More broadly, the workshop sought to accomplish the following three goals: Explore the costs and financing of quality early childhood development programs and policies with a focus on innovative financing tools, models, or ideas, including views from outside the traditional child health and development fields that may be complementary to strengthening investments in young children’s health, education, nutrition, and social protection. Highlight innovations from research, program development and evaluation, and technology and product development that seek to improve children’s health, education, nutrition, and social protection. Innovations included long-standing successes or ideas that had not yet been launched or scaled. Discuss the challenges and historical and sociopolitical barriers to investing in Francophone countries, and explore opportunities to build on existing promising investments and innovations.