Early Childhood Development: Identifying Successful Interventions and the Mechanisms behind them
Lead Research Organisation:
Institute for Fiscal Studies
Department Name: IFS Research Team
Abstract
Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.
Publications
Attanasio O
(2013)
Early Childhood Matters
Andrew A
(2016)
Why is multiple micronutrient powder ineffective at reducing anaemia among 12-24 month olds in Colombia? Evidence from a randomised controlled trial.
in SSM - population health
Rubio-Codina M
(2016)
Concurrent Validity and Feasibility of Short Tests Currently Used to Measure Early Childhood Development in Large Scale Studies.
in PloS one
Skordis J
(2019)
Family networks and healthy behaviour: evidence from Nepal.
in Health economics, policy, and law
| Title | Set of books for children and puzzles |
| Description | A set of 8 children's books, designed by Prof Sally Grantham McGregor in collaboration with a local artist, was produced for each family in the programme. Additionally, age-appropriate pedagogical materials were produced for the programme including puzzles, pictures to talk about and form boards. |
| Type Of Art | Image |
| Year Produced | 2010 |
| Impact | These materials were a core part of the home visiting stimulation programme, which we estimated had a moderate effect on children's cognitive development. |
| Description | Influence and advise the design and implementation of the parenting component of Cuna Mas, Peru's national ECD flagship programme |
| Geographic Reach | South America |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| Impact | Our work has influenced the design and implementation of the parenting component of Cuna Mas, Peru's flagship ECD programme. In 2016, the Programme was servicing 83,000 families with children 0-36 months of age in rural areas of the country. Members of the research team were invited to provide technical assistance to the Government of Peru in the design of Cuna Mas, as well as of its implementation and evaluation strategy. Preliminary results of the evaluation of the Programme, using a cluster randomised controlled trial design, on a sample of ~5,600 children show positive impacts on child development (Dec 2016). |
| Description | Inter-American Development Bank Grant |
| Amount | $250,000 (USD) |
| Organisation | Inter-American Development Bank |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United States |
| Start | |
| End | 03/2012 |
| Description | International Growth Centre (IGC) Research Award |
| Amount | £70,600 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | RA-2009-06-001 |
| Organisation | International Growth Centre (IGC) |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 08/2009 |
| End | 03/2012 |
| Description | Strategic Impact Evaluation Fund, World Bank/DfID |
| Amount | $600,000 (USD) |
| Organisation | World Bank Group |
| Department | Strategic Impact Evaluation Fund |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United States |
| Start | 01/2013 |
| End | 12/2014 |
| Description | The World Bank Research Support Budget Grant |
| Amount | $99,000 (USD) |
| Organisation | World Bank Group |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United States |
| Start | 01/2011 |
| End | 12/2011 |
| Title | Data base at UKDS |
| Description | Data collected as part of home visiting randomised controlled trial in Colombia. Data includes detailed household survey, alongside measured cognitive, language, motor and physical development of a sample of preschool children. Two rounds, 18 months apart: baseline (2010) and follow up (2011) |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2014 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Data are available at UKDS to other researchers, and are already being used by various other researchers |
| Description | Peterborough Early Childhood Intervention |
| Organisation | Institute for Fiscal Studies |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | Responsibility for formulating the data collection plan, selecting measures to pilot and overseeing the piloting of assessments in Peterborough (part of feasibility study funded by Nuffield Foundation) |
| Collaborator Contribution | Submission of bid to Nuffield Foundation for feasibility study; scientific leadership of the feasibility study |
| Impact | One day workshop at Peterborough in May 2017, including early years providers and other stakeholders in Peterborough, with the aim of introducing the intervention and soliciting advice and suggestions from local practitionersincluding policymakers and practitioners. This is a collaboration amongst economists, psychologists and early childcare providers |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Description | 3ie talk |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Supporters |
| Results and Impact | Presentation on 'The Effects of Stimulation and Supplementation on Child Development: Evidence from a Randomized Intervention in Colombia' at 3ie-LIDC seminar series |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| Description | A Production Function for Child Development |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Participants in your research and patient groups |
| Results and Impact | IFS Seminar Series A deep understanding as to why the Colombian home visiting intervention achieved positive impacts on children's development, in other words the mechanisms underlying observed impacts |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| Description | Bonn Presentation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | presentation on 'Estimating the Production Function for Human Capital: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial in Colombia', at University of Bonn |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Desarrollo Infantil Temprano : Visitas Domiciliarias y Nutrición |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Two co-investigators, Orazio Attanasio and Marta Rubio-Codina, presented details of the intervention to Mexican and Colombian government officials and policymakers (Ministry of Health Mexico, Oportunidades, Ministry of Education Colombia, Familias en Accion, IADB). The video-conference was initiated by the Mexican Ministries of Social Protection, Health and the Oportunidades programme, who were very keen to find out more about how to develop an ECD programme within an ongoing conditional cash transfer programme. They contacted the Colombian CCT programme board and the IADB to initiate contact with us. Further collaborations with Colombian policymakers in evaluating their new and ongoing social programmes |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2010 |
| Description | DfID talk |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Meeting with DfID, in which we presented work on 'The Design and Impact of Early Childhood Interventions: Evidence from a Randomized Intervention in Colombia', followed by round table discussion |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | Early Childhood Development in Colombia: Launch of Findings to Policymakers |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | This was a conference held in Bogota, Colombia on 26th March 2012. It was organised jointly by the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) and the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS). It was an all-day event at which IFS researchers presented the main impact evaluation findings of the Early Childhood Development programme funded under this grant. It was attended by Colombian policymakers. Requests from policymakers and practitioners for further information, and for help in design of early years programmes in Colombia |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | Early childhood development : home visiting & nutrition |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | Presentation on the beginnings of the project, IFS workshop October 2009 Received ideas for improving the design and methodology of the research |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2009 |
| Description | Early childhood development : home visiting & nutrition |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Participants in your research and patient groups |
| Results and Impact | Presentation at EDePo workshop Suggestions for improving the research design and methodology |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2010 |
| Description | Essex Conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Presentation on 'Estimating the Production Function for Human Capital: Results from a Randomized Controlled Trial in Colombia', at 'Health and Skills Formation Conference', University of Essex |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Evidence-Based Education: Policy Making and Reform in Africa |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA), and the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) in collaboration with the Ghana Educational Service (GES) and support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) present the Evidence-Based Education:Policy-Making and Reform in Africa Conference bringing African education practitioners, government policymakers, and researchers together to listen to and discuss current evidence on what works in education. Much discussion around strategies to improve the early years for children |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2010 |
| Description | Home Visiting from Program to Scale: A Global Perspective |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Event: Seventh National Summit on Quality in Home Visiting Programs - January 31 - February 2, 2018 SESSION DETAIL While we have seen important advances in child survival around the world, an estimated 250 million children under the age of 5 are at risk for not meeting their developmental potential. (Lancet, 2016) Home visiting has become a global strategy for reaching families in their efforts to support their young children. This movement is being fueled by a combination of neuroscience; increased awareness of the importance of the early years to long-term development; and emerging studies of effective interventions, including those in low and moderate income countries. This session will focus on implementation issues as home visiting is scaled around the world. Panelists will report on the results from the long-term evaluation of the Jamaica Intervention and the efforts to scale home visiting in Colombia and Peru. SPEAKERS Joan Lombardi Ph.D. + See Bio Jon Korfmacher + See Bio Marta Rubio-Codina + See Bio M. Caridad Araujo + See Bio Christine Powell + See Bio https://www.theounce.org/sessions/home-visiting-program-scale-global-perspective/ This article is an outcome of the event https://qz.com/1207158/the-key-to-fighting-inequality-starts-with-moms-according-to-a-landmark-study/ |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://qz.com/1207158/the-key-to-fighting-inequality-starts-with-moms-according-to-a-landmark-study... |
| Description | Invitation to NHH School of Economics two day workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The Childhood Gap is one of the key projects at the Centre for Experimental Research on Fairness, Inequality and Rationality (FAIR), at the NHH Norwegian School of Economics in Bergen. It was established as a Centre of Excellence (CoE) in 2017 with funding from The Research Council of Norway, and I was invited to the first two-day workshop in the project to brainstorm ways forward and lay the groundwork for focus areas of the project. All the guests presented important insight on childhood development, experimental design and large cohort studies and many important discussions were initiated by the presentations. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | https://www.nhh.no/en/research-centres/fair/about/ |
| Description | LACEA Conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Presentation of findings at the Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association, Lima, Peru Nov 2012 |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | Lunch hour lecture |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | UCL lunch hour lecture on 'Child Development in Developing Countries'. In this lecture Professor Attanasio talks about the recent interest in child development in developing countries through intervention in early years, and describes a pilot intervention programme that his research team has been developing in Colombia and India. Early years intervention has proved to be very effective in having long lasting impacts on individual development, and this lecture discusses the challenges of identifying modalities that can be delivered at low cost and therefore scaled up in developing countries, and understanding the mechanisms through which these interventions work. The lecture has had over 3,000 views on youtube. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |
| URL | https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lhl/Autumn2011/10_22112011 |
| Description | Meeting with council officials in Peterborough |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Researchers met with council officials in Peterborough to discuss the possibility of an early childhood intervention, based on our experience of analysing interventions elsewhere. The officials were able to use our advice when considering the nature of the intervention. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| Description | Modeling and Improving Development in the Early Years: Evidence from a Stimulation Intervention in Colombia |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | This was a talk about an early childhood intervention in Colombia. There was discussion about the methodology and findings. Feedback from used to improve the study and contacts were made with academics carrying out studies in the field. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| Description | NBER presentation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Presentation of findings at NBER, a highly selective annual economics conference |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| Description | NBER presentation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Presentation at the NBER summer conference, an annual highly selective economics conference |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | Oxford presentation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Presentation on 'Estimating the production function for human capital:Results from a randomized control trial in Colombia' at Oxford University |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| Description | Press releases and resulting media coverage related to the impact and research |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | This provides a lost of press releases and resulting media coverage, and associated links, related to the impact and research List of press releases and resulting media coverage related to the impact and research |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| Description | RAND presentation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Presentation on 'The Design and Impact of Early Childhood Interventions: Results from Colombia' at RAND, California |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | The Effects of Stimulation and Supplementation on Child Development: Evidence from a Randomized Intervention in Colombia |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | Presentation and the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) Summer Labor Workshop High profile conference; very good for dissemination |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |