This paper provides evidence on the predicted benefits of maternal education, in terms of reduced child malnutrition at ages 1 and 5, focusing specifically on the complementarities with early life interventions across contexts. Using data from the Young Lives Longitudinal Study for Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam, results show the expected…

Assessment of progress toward UN Sustainable Development Goal 4 requires measurement of the proportion of children aged 24 to 59 months developmentally on track in health, learning, and psychosocial well-being (Indicator 4.2.1). UNICEF's methodological work culminated with the development of the Early Childhood Development Index 2030 (ECDI2030) to…

Throughout her career, Dost Education's co-founder and CEO Sneha Sheth met many parents across varying global contexts and was always amazed by the grit and determination of under-resourced parents to see their children thrive. In 2016, Sneha conducted a focus group on early childhood development with 80 parents from Dharavi. She already knew…

There is near consensus that early childhood education and care (ECEC) is essential to children's early development. A common corollary is that early learning will be pivotal to helping redress inequities in educational outcomes. We examine whether this is true among rural communities in the Indian states of Assam, Rajasthan, and Telangana.…

There is a growing need to understand the global impact of poverty on early brain and behavioural development, particularly with regard to key cognitive processes that emerge in early development. Although the impact of adversity on brain development can trap children in an intergenerational cycle of poverty, the massive potential for brain…

Very few studies have given attention to parental support for children's play-based conceptual development in a home setting. The key aspect of this paper is to investigate how parental support aids development of children's mathematical and science concepts in collective play in the home context and what happens to the play during parent-child…

Economic inequities are common in low and middle-income countries (LMIC), and are associated with poor growth and development among young children. The objectives are to examine whether maternal education and home environment quality: 1) protect children by attenuating the association between economic inequities and children's growth and…

Children who have not developed speech tend to use gestures to communicate. Since gestures are not encouraged and suppressed in the Indian traditional context while speaking, this study focused on profiling the developing gestures in children to explore whether they use the gestures before development of speech. Eight normally developing…

To do research that really makes a difference--the authors of this book argue--social scientists need questions and methods that reflect the complexity of the world. Bringing together a consortium of voices across a variety of fields, "Methods that Matter" offers compelling and successful examples of mixed methods research that do just…

Background: Previous research has indicated positive effects of early developmental intervention (EDI) on the development of children in developing countries. Few studies, however, have examined longitudinally when differential treatment effects may be observed and whether differential outcomes are associated with exposure to different risk…

Background: Postpartum period is associated with higher rates for depression, blues and psychosis. Anxiety is also significant. These disorders may have serious implications in the cognitive development of the infant. There is relative lack of data in this area. So we tried to estimate postpartum anxiety and depression in a group of women and…

The Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME) scale has been shown to be a significant predictor of later cognitive outcomes in many cultures. Therefore identifying factors associated with HOME could be used to promote child development. Maternal psychological well-being is often overlooked although critical in the creation of…

Based on the fact that many women in the Tamil Nadu state of India were performing triple roles as mother, worker, and homemaker, this descriptive study attempted to provide information which would portray the real situation about the child care needs and strategies of women working in the state's unorganized sector. The objectives of the study…

Background: Physical surroundings and child rearing practices play important roles in the development of children. Preschoolers who develop well intellectually have homes rich in toys and books. There is a need to understand environmental influences upon children's behavior. In view of the need and importance of a Home Inventory in simple Hindi…

Part of UNESCO's Action Research in Family and Early Childhood series, this monograph is based upon a technical report on the Early Childhood Education (ECE) component of the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) program in India. This document overviews the ICDS and how better use could be made of World Food Programme (WFP) food aid along…