In an explicit effort to build an integrated international approach to child survival, health, and development in the earliest years of life, the Center on the Developing Child has launched the Global Children’s Initiative as the centerpiece of its global child health and development agenda.
Global Children's Initiative Fact Sheet: Mission & Activities (PDF) >>
The Center’s commitment to global work represents both an acknowledgement of moral responsibility to meet the needs of all children and a critical investment in the roots of economic productivity, positive health outcomes, and strong civil society in all nations, from the poorest to the most affluent. One essential, cross-cutting aspect of the Center’s approach is its commitment to work collaboratively across disciplines and institutions, drawing together the best and most creative expertise available to achieve the Initiative’s goals.
Drawing on lessons from our work in the United States, the Global Children’s Initiative seeks to advance the Center's core mission globally by implementing a compelling research, public engagement and leadership development agenda in child health and development that is grounded in science and engages researchers, public leaders, practitioners, and students from a wide range of institutions around the world. Specifically, the global program will focus on three strategic areas:
- reframing the discourse around child health and development in the global policy arena by educating high-level decision-makers about the underlying science of learning, behavior, and health, beginning in the earliest years of life;
- supporting innovative, multi-disciplinary research and demonstration projects to expand global understanding of how healthy development happens, how it can be derailed, and how to get it back on track; and
- building leadership capacity in child development research and policy—focused on both individuals and institutions—in low- and middle-income countries to increase the number and influence of diverse voices and perspectives that are contributing to the growing global movement on behalf of young children.
Guided by these strategic objectives, the Global Children’s Initiative has begun to build a portfolio of activities in three domains:
- early childhood development;
- child mental health; and
- children in crisis and conflict situations.
Each of these domains is being guided by a designated faculty working group that will facilitate continuing cross-disciplinary collaboration; design and implement new projects; and engage additional faculty, students, and collaborators beyond the Harvard community.
Read more about the Global Children's Initiative's activities >>
GLOBAL PEDIATRICS ARTICLE
New Scientific Knowledge Can Inform Innovative Global Strategies
International discussions of child-related policies and practices often fail to make the vital connection between child survival, one of the developing world’s most pressing issues, and child development, an equally important prerequisite for productive and harmonious societies. However, an article in the February issue of
Pediatrics co-authored by Center Director Jack P. Shonkoff posits that new knowledge in the biological and social sciences offers a unifying framework that can inform innovative strategies to improve both child survival and early development as well as adult outcomes in health, learning, and behavior. The article also calls for greater synergy across policy sectors related to child health and well-being, schooling, and economic development. The co-authors are
Linda Richter of the Human Sciences Research Council and the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa;
Jacques van der Gaag of the Center for Universal Education, Brookings Institution, and the Amsterdam Institute for International Development, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands; and
Zulfiqar A. Bhutta of the Division of Women and Child Health, Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan.
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