This document consists of the three 1998 issues of The Bernard van Leer Foundations'"Early Childhood Matters." This periodical, addressed to practitioners in the field of early childhood development, evolved from an in-house publication directed to projects funded by the Bernard van Leer Foundation. Articles in the February 1998 edition include: (1) "Effectiveness: The State of the Art" (Evans); (2) "Alternative Perspectives on ECD: Communities at the Forefront" (Wood); (3) "Spain: Playing My Part" (Paz); (4) "Standing Up for Fairness: Activism with Young Children" (Derman-Sparks); (5) "Developing a Culturally Appropriate Curriculum" (Mitchell); (6) "Mexico: Educational Experience with Women and Girl Children in Rural, Indigenous Communities" (Garcia); and (7) "Venezuela: Developing Inter-Sectorial Networks" (Yanez). The June 1998 issue includes the following: (1) "Culturally Appropriate Approaches in ECD" (Smale); (2) "Trinidad and Tobago: Violent Parenting Violent Children" (Pantin); (3) "Young Children in Complex Emergencies: Field Notes" (Felsman); (4) "Guatemala: Working with the Mayan-Ixil People"(Tzay); (5) "A Culturally Oriented Approach for Early Childhood Development" (Bram); (6) "Building on an African Worldview" (Callaghan); (7) "The Basis of Human Brilliance" (Adamson); and (8) "A Turkish Father in the Netherlands" (Cetin). The October 1998 issue focuses on culturally relevant approaches in early childhood development. The articles are: (1) "Culturally or Contextually Appropriate?" (Smale); (2) "Cultural or Context: What Makes Approaches Appropriate?" (Hurenkamp); (3) "Samenspel: Playing/Taking Action Together" (Copier and Hurenkamp); (4) "Sesame Street: Kids for Peace Project"; (5) "Zimbabwe: The New Community Publishing" (Bond-Stewart); and (6) "Motivating in Challenging Contexts" (Brock). Each issue contains information on foundation publications and announcements related to foundation activities. (KB)