Taking into Account COVID-19 and Culture to Support Early Childhood Development in Humanitarian Contexts

• In Event: Implementing Early and Middle Childhood Interventions for Population Impact Around the Globe

Abstract

COVID-19 has altered the landscape of child development in humanitarian contexts, exacerbating inequality and intensifying forced displacement, poverty, and other contexts that threaten the entire life course. This presentation will focus on both COVID and culture as dynamic macro contexts that influence child development. The question of how early childhood development programs may take into account both COVID and culture to map the future of response on humanitarian settings is the focus of this presentation. Examples from initiatives in the Middle East and South Asia will illustrate the global response to the pandemic and potential ways forward that take into account cultural specificity in early human development.

Authors

• Hirokazu Yoshikawa, New York University
  Presenting Author

• Alice Wuermli, New York University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Anaga Ramachandran, Centre for Learning Resources
  Non-Presenting Author

• Joyce Rafla, New York University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Yeshim Iqbal, New York University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Sakila Yesmin, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh
  Non-Presenting Author

• Phoebe Sloane, International Rescue Committee
  Non-Presenting Author

• Kimberly Foulds, Sesame Workshop
  Non-Presenting Author