Scaling up

Early Childhood Education

Scaling up place-based strategies to strengthen early childhood systems

This report shares the findings of a research project funded by the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation to support the expansion of place-based community approaches to early childhood development (ECD). The purpose of the research was to develop a set of evidence-based criteria for setting up and scaling up the social impact of place-based ECD interventions. The term place-based community approach is used here to describe a cross-sectoral effort to improve outcomes for young children in a specific geographic area by strengthening community early childhood systems. This research aligns with a growing movement towards early childhood service delivery models that are integrated, cross-sectoral, multi-systemic, multi-level, and community-based. Drawing insight from international literature, remote interviews with practitioners, and in-depth field studies of place-based ECD interventions in Kenya, Mozambique and Colombia, this report offers conceptual and operational frameworks to assist with scaling the social impact of place-based ECD models.