Early Childhood Development (ECD. According to the State of the World’s Children Report, Early Childhood Development refers to a “comprehensive approach to policies and programs for children from birth to eight years, their parents and caregivers.” [20] ECD’s primary objective is to protect a child’s right to develop his or her full cognitive, emotional, social and physical potential. This is made possible through a series of partnerships between caregivers, community resources and government support. Ultimately, ECD must include community-based services that address health, nutrition, education, sanitation, and economic support and child safety [21]. Development is a pattern of changes that occurs throughout the lifespan. Early childhood, which spans from the prenatal period to eight years of age, is the most rapid period of development in a human life.[22] Children develop as they grow older, bigger, stronger and more mature. Although individual children develop at their own pace, all children move through an identifiable sequence of physical, cognitive, and emotional growth and change. For instance, between birth to 3 months, children begin to smile and track movements with their eyes. Between 4-6 months, they repeat actions and respond when spoken to, between 7-12 months, children identify themselves and say their first meaningful words. The other stages are normally 1-2 years, 2-3.5 years, 3.5-5 years and 5-8 years of age. Each of these stages have their characteristic milestones, yet children will develop at their own pace, reaching these milestones at their unique rate. [23] Early childhood development occurs in several interconnected domains: social, emotional, intellectual, language and motor, with each dependent on and influencing the other. [24] [22] Therefore, programs and goals should be focused on holistic approaches to development, as to address all the interconnected pieces that jointly contribute to the healthy growth of a child. Programs focused on early childhood are critical in mitigating the effects of poverty, deprivation and disadvantage, creating opportunities to improve life chances for children from underprivileged and marginalized environments. Research around the world has shown that programming for ECD has maximum impact when informed by three tenets of child development. [25] [26] The first xxxxx states that child development is a continuous and cumulative process. The second says that the child’s health, nutrition and psychosocial development are synergistica...
