HARNESSING GLOBAL DATA

The Harnessing Global Data Project brings together researchers, policymakers, and implementers from around the world with a focus on available data on young children in LMICs. The goal of the project is to improve child development, early learning, and pre-primary education through better understanding of the determinants of and risks to children’s development, the economic consequences of inaction, and policy and legal frameworks to address challenges.

Funded by the UKRI’s Global Challenges Research Fund, and led by Distinguished Professors Linda Richter (CoE-HUMAN) and Alan Stein (University of Oxford) the Project is in its 3rd year. Like many other sectors, research was impacted by the COVID-19 pan-

On average, 19.4% of young children in the 56 countries lived in households prepared for COVID-19, ranging from 0.6% in Ethiopia in 2016 to 70.9% in Tunisia in 2018.

Conclusion:

demic and shifts in political agendas directly or indirectly due to the pandemic. The Project was affected by the UK’s controversial aid cuts prompting a critique published in the Lancet from Prof. Richter outlining the direct economic and social damage the cuts might do to research institutions, scientists, civil society groups, government programmes, and the people in low-income countries who ODA research funding intends to benefit.

In response to the pandemic, the Project also published estimates of the proportion of young children in 56 LMICs who live in households that could be defined as prepared for COVID-19 given their hygiene, sanitation, media exposure, and communication capacity.

In close to 90% of countries (50), fewer than 50% of young children lived in prepared households.

The global response to the COVID-19 pandemic was driven largely by confining children and families to their homes. However, a large portion of young children under the age of five in LMICs were living in households that did not meet all preparedness guidelines for preventing COVID-19 and caring for patients at home. More needs to be done to ensure these families have the means to prevent the spread of communicable illnesses and to protect themselves and their children at home.

Young children in rural areas or in the poorest households were less likely to live in prepared households than their counterparts.

CONNECT WITH US:

The Project continues to leverage available data on young children to advance their learning and development. Connect with us on Twitter @GlobalData4Kids and visit our website globaldata4kids.com

Harnessing Global Data (GlobalData4Kids) report and publications:

Fredman S, Donati G, Richter LM, Naicker SN, Behrman JR, Lu C, Cohrssen C, Lopez Boo F, Raghavan C, Devercelli A, Heymann J. Recognizing Early Childhood Education as a Human Right in International Law. Human Rights Law Review. 2022 Dec;22(4):ngac024. https://doi.org/10.1093/hrlr/ngac024

Lu C, Luan Y, Naicker SN, Subramanian SV, Behrman JR, Heymann J, Stein A, Richter LM. Assessing the prevalence of young children living in households prepared for COVID-19 in 56 low-and middle-income countries. Global Health Research and Policy. 2022 Dec;7(1):1-2

Naicker SN, Richter LM. Parenting amid COVID-19: Challenges and supports for families with young children in South Africa. South African Journal of Child Health. 2022;16(1):1-7.

Rao N, Su Y, Gong J. Persistent Urban–Rural Disparities in Early Childhood Development in China: The Roles of Maternal Education, Home Learning Environments, and Early Childhood Education. International Journal of Early Childhood. 2022 Apr 13:1-28.

Conferences & workshops

Prof. Richter

Nurturing Care: An Opportunity for DOHaD Impact?

12th DOHaD World Congress, Vancouver, 27-31 August 2022

African Regional Convening to Support Parents and Caregivers; Supporting parents and caregivers: From science to scale, 21 to 23 June 2022

2022 Asia-Pacific Regional Virtual Conference on Early Childhood Development hosted by ARNEC; From Data to Action: Monitoring ECD in Asia and Pacific; 5 July 2022

Sara Naicker – Novel child development Research in African Settings: Exploring measurement opportunities and supporting capacity-building for African researchers; Stellenbosch University & Cambridge University; 15-17 September 2022

Webinar: Co-hosted – “Can cash payments for vulnerable families impact brain function in babies?” Joint webinar with Harnessing Global Data, ECDAN, IDB, and others, 22 February 2022