The ‘Think20’ Early Childhood Development, Education, and Care policy recommendations. History, critical impact evaluation, contextualisation, and outlook

• In Event: Systemic aproaches to ECD

Proposal

In this paper I offer a critical reflection on the process of coordinating the development of high-level policy briefs focusing on integrated, multi-sectoral early childhood development, education, and care systems. The briefs were written by a global group of ECD / ECEC experts (scholars and advocates) for the annual gatherings of the ‘Group of 20’ (G20) since 2018 (Urban et al, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2024). The policy briefs were developed within various Task Forces of the ‘Think20’ (T20), one of the official engagement groups of the annual G20 summits.

In 2018, Argentina held the presidency of the G20 and T20. On Argentina’s insistence, G20 added education and early childhood development to their agenda that year; it has since become a standing item.

The policy briefs 2018-2024 present a coherent body of evidence-based policy recommendations outlining pathways to more integrated, rights-based, and universal public policies for young children from birth, their families and communities. Building on the acknowledged need for systemic, whole-of-government approaches to ECD / ECEC (Britto, Yoshikawa et al, 2014; Kagan et al 2018, 2019, Urban et al, 2012) the policy brief address government and G20 responsibility for building ‘competent systems’ (Urban et al, 2012), focusing on a specific aspect of integrated ECD/ECEC systems development each year:
• 2018 (Argentina):
Competent systems: integrated early childhood policies and practices
• 2019 (Japan):
Governance: early childhood systems as common good and public/government responsibility
• 2020 (Saudi Arabia):
Resilience: post-pandemic, resilient early childhood systems
Upscaling: grassroots competent systems
• 2021 (Italy):
Data: integrated and multi-sectoral early childhood data, monitoring, and evaluation systems
• 2022 (Indonesia):
A global common good: strengthening multi-sectoral and integrated policy approaches to ECD / ECEC as a global common good
• 2024 (Brazil):
Investment: Prioritising investment in ECD / ECEC to combat inequalities, poverty and hunger

The importance and efficacy of whole-systems approaches is now widely accepted; global, regional and national ECD / ECEC policy discourses have seen a ‘systemic turn’ (Urban, 2022). This ‘systemic turn is reflected in recent policy developments, e.g. the Tashkent Declaration adopted by the UNESCO World Conference on Early Childhood Care and Education in 2022 (UNESCO 2022), the Abidjan Principles (2019) that specify state responsibility to prioritise public education from birth, and, for instance, the global Campaign for Education.

The Tashkent Declaration of the World Conference on Early Childhood Care and Education (UNESCO World Conference on Early Childhood Care and Education 2022), adopted on 16 November 2022, emphasises the importance of ensuring quality care and education for all children, prioritising those in disadvantaged situations. It calls for early childhood services to be accessible and adaptable to the living conditions of each child. It also proposes principles and strategies to strengthen education and care for children from birth up to age 8, addressing aspects such as the quality of services, staff training, innovation, investment, governance, and the development of national multi-sectoral ECD monitoring and evaluation systems.

Similarly, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean refers to five components of care: good health, adequate nutrition, responsive care, protection and security, and opportunities for early learning (https://www.cepal.org). These components are interdependent and interrelated and must be present for the unfolding of children's development potential (Castillo, C. 2023).

Since the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) by the United Nations General Assembly in 1989, states have made significant progress in recognizing children as subjects of rights, including the necessary protection during childhood to ensure optimal development and the creation of opportunities that allow them to live authentic and meaningful lives, both personally and socially. Realising these rights in meaningful ways requires moving beyond the mere preservation of existence. It implies concrete action by signatory states to create optimal affective, social and material conditions for their realisation. Following the UNCRC’s General Comment No.7, it also implies providing real and concrete opportunities for ALL children to realise and fulfil their rights, beginning from birth (UNCRC, 2007).
The paper contextualises the G20 / T20 policy briefs in the current ECD / ECEC policy landscape and the challenges facing young children and their families in what has been described as a global ‘polycrisis’. It traces the key drivers of the ‘systemic turn’, offers a critical consideration of its impact, and outlines critical questions for further debate, research, and policy development.

Author

• Mathias Urban, Dublin City University