The first three years of a child’s life mark the most significant period for early childhood development (ECD). Research consistently shows that developmental and growth delays during this critical stage are irreversible, and can have serious implications into adulthood. Today, roughly 13 million children aged 0-3 years in rural China experience either cognitive, language, or social emotional delays – or a combination. Such delays are often influenced by inadequate early nutrition, a lack of psychosocial stimulation by caregivers, the home language environment, and caregiver mental health.
For over a decade, our team has been at the forefront of the research on ECD in rural China. Collaborating with public and private partners, our work includes identifying the scope of ECD delays and their contributing factors, testing the effectiveness of interventions to improve ECD in rural China, upscaling effective interventions, and promoting policy changes in China that support ECD programming in rural communities.
