World Bank's Early Childhood Initiative

Latin America and the Caribbean: Five Million Will Benefit From Early Childhood Initiative: An Investment for Life

By S. Coward

Caribbean Press Releases

February 28, 2012

Citation: http://tinyurl.com/7hljh3m

Five million mothers, and children ages 0 to 6, are benefiting from World Bank (WB) programs developed throughout the Latin American region, under the Early Childhood Initiative: An investment for Life, the multilateral bank announced today.

After two years of operation, the initiative has approved US$400 million worth of projects, doubling the initial projected funding, and surpassing the original total commitment of US$300 million for the period 2010-2013. It has also expanded the number of targeted children who were able to benefit in the first year of operation.

(Article clipped, see link for full version)

After two years the Early Childhood Initiative, a partnership between the World Bank and Shakira's ALAS Foundation, is finally being launched, with US$400 million worth of funding. This initiative is meant to impact mothers and children aged 0-6 in Latin America and the Caribbean. Early Childhood development, an up and coming topic in development discourse, advocates investing early in order to get higher rates of return down the road, which would impact not only children but larger aspects of society and the economy. The ECI package will include services relating to health, nutrition, education; the Bank will work alongside Latin American governments to use the ECI to reduce inequality for children, and provide vital services to children from ante-natal care until they reach primary school. Each initiative will address concerns specific to each country. For example, initiatives in Argentina will focus on lowering maternal mortality, while the Honduras initiative focuses on nutrition and health in some of the country's poorest communities.

Everyone' favorite organization (or not) and endorser of quantitative research methods, the World Bank teams up with Latin American singer/celebrity Shakira and the Earth Institute to fund the Early Childhood Initiative in Latin America and the Caribbean to fight inequity and invest early in children to yield better returns. After a short two years of planning (see the original article from 2010: http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/LACEXT), the ECI is finally ready for launch (I'm still wondering what exactly took it so long to get off the ground, since apparently ECI is SO important). Considering the agenda of the MDGs (Millennium Development Goals- check them out if you're interested!), ECD is now being seen as a "smart investment" because it impacts children now and allows them to also have better lives in the future.

For now, my skepticism will be kept in check because the project advocates unique, context specific projects and initiatives that will address problems in individual countries, rather than prescribing a one-size-fits-all solution for the entirety of the region. Context specific initiatives are definitely my cup of tea. This is certainly a step in the right direction. Moreover, I think the initiative will benefit from its collaborative partnerships with different levels of government, NGO's and civil society. The entire project is indicative of increased collaborative efforts to combat poverty and inequality in Latin America. Yet, I am a little critical on Shakira's role in the project; despite her obvious good intentions and her personal motivations as a citizen of the region, I tend to shy away from celebrities in the arena of development, and for good reason I think.

Moreover, both this article and the original article from the World Bank dated February 2010 indicate several specific country initiatives, such as those in Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru, El Salvador, Bolivia, Belize, Honduras, Colombia, and the Dominican Republic. I noticed that Nicaragua, the second poorest country in all Latin America (right after Haiti) failed to make either list. I wonder why this is; I'm sure the initiative will have some impact in Nicaragua, but I was a little surprised that in a place with so much need, especially concerning maternal mortality, poverty, and child development, that a Nicaragua project wasn't specifically highlighted.

Finally, given the current situation in Honduras (see Jaime's post: Peace Corps Pulls Volunteers Out of Honduras), I'm not sure how successful this WB initiative will be. According to the article, "the nutrition and social protection project in Honduras is a community based initiative...the program employs NGOs to train community volunteers who in turn work with local mothers to teach them about proper hygiene." I imagine that finding NGOs that are still operating in what has recently been labeled "the world's deadliest country" will not be easy. After all, may NGOs and international organizations, like the Peace Corps, are pulling out, leaving no one to carry out these initiatives. I am interested in seeing how this particular initiative will be implemented given this developing situation in Honduras.