Encouraging better financing of early childhood development programs

Early Childhood Development (ECD) costs are often complex and there is an urgent need for accurate cost data of ECD services across different interventions across the world. On September 5, the Center for Universal Education (CUE) at Brookings launched a report on the standardized ECD costing tool (SECT), a tool developed in collaboration with the World Bank Strategic Impact Evaluation Fund. SECT can be utilized to encourage both more and better financing for ECD, by allowing stakeholders to budget, plan for implementation at scale and perform cost-effectiveness analyses on ECD interventions. It also has the capacity to cost a range of ECD interventions from parenting to pre-primary programs as well as integrated programs including nutrition. The tool has been piloted in Bangladesh, Malawi, Mali, Mexico, and Mozambique.

The event included two panels. The first panel convened stakeholders from the first round of pilot countries where the tool has already been tested. Second, a group of ECD experts laid out the state of play and the opportunities and challenges for costing early childhood interventions.

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