From Child Development to Human Development

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FromChild Developmentto Human Development
Jordan December 2002
Jacques van der Gaag
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MENA Region

• Under 18 years of age 300 million
• Urban population 50 per cent
• Urban children and youth 60 per cent
• In poverty 65 per cent

Source this conference
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RISK FACTORS

• Poor environmental conditions
• Poor housing
• Lack of sanitation and drinking water
• Lack of health care
• Lack of nutritional services
• Lack of education services
• Limited child care options
• Unsafe neighbourhoods

Source this conference
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YOUTH PROBLEMS

• Slow learning
• School dropout
• Unemployment
• Substance abuse
• Delinquency Crime
• Teenage pregnancy
• Child labor
• Child homelesness

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• REMEDIAL ACTION
• (Youth programs)

versus
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• REMEDIAL ACTION
• (Youth programs)

versus
PREVENTION (ECD programs)
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Critical periods for early development
Source Early Years Study

• Binocular vision
• Emotional control
• Habitual ways of responding
• Peer social skills
• Language
• Cognitive Symbols
• skills
• Relative quantity

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2
3
4
5
6
7
Age (years)
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Manifestations of Poor Experienced Brain
Development in the Early Years

• lower IQ
• poor verbal skills (literacy)
• behavioural problems
• physical and mental health problems

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experiences in infancyare too often the source
of violence in children and adults...

• SourceGhosts from the Nursery

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Early Child Development

• Four pathways to development
• Education
• Health
• Social Capital
• Equity

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ECD
EDUCATION
private
PROSPERITY
public
ECONOMIC GROWTH
HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
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Immediate benefits of ECD
Cognitive development

• Higher IQ
• Practical reasoning
• Eye and hand coordination
• Hearing and speech
• Reading readiness

• Psychosocial stimulation
• Nutritional supplementation
• Health care
• Parental training

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Long term benefitsChild experiences ? Adult
outcomes
Education

• Earlier schooling
• Better schooling
• More schooling
• More employment
• Higher income

• Cognitive development

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EDUCATION BENEFITS FOR SOCIETY

• Economic Growth
• Reduced Poverty
• Reduced Inequality
• Improved Environmental Practicies
• Reduced Crime
• Reduced Substance Abuse
• Improved Gender Equality
• Stronger Democratic Processes
• Higher Value on Human Rights
• More Stable Political Systems

Source Walter W. McMahon
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Long term ECD benefitsChild experiences ? Adult
outcomes
Health

• reduced adult stature
• diabetes

Infant malnutrition

• Infection in early life

• chronic bronchitis
• acute appendicites
• asthma
• parkinson
• multiple sclerosis

• raised blood pressure
• chronic pulmonary disease
• cardiovascular disease
• coronary heart disease
• stroke

Low birth weight
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Adult outcomes ? ECD Individual prosperity
Health

• Better health
• Higher life expectancy
• Better weight and height

• higher productivity
• less absenteeism
• higher income

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Long term ECD benefitsChild experiences ? Adult
outcomes
Social development

• self-esteem
• social competence
• social relationships
• motivation
• norms/values
• less delinquency

• More social behavior
• Better peer-relationship
• Better parent-child rel.
• Better teacher-child rel.

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ECD
Health
Social Capital
Education
Equality
Economic growth
Human Development
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NUMBER OF ARRESTS
4.6
2.3
No program
Program
Source Perry/Preschool
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Policies to Foster Human Capital
We cannot afford to postpone investing in
children until they become adults nor can we
wait until they reach school a time when it may
be too late to intervene.
Heckman, J., 2001 (Nobel Prize Economics, 2000)