Early childhood development

A mother’s first-hand account

Children get a better start in life and parents are better able to balance work and home commitments in countries that have family-friendly policies – paid parental leave, support for breastfeeding and affordable, high-quality childcare and preschool education. This report looks at family-friendly policies in 41 high- and middle-income countries…

Discover which countries are helping parents find the right balance between commitments at work and at home

NEW YORK, 13 June 2019 – Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Estonia and Portugal offer the best family-friendly policies among 31 rich countries with available data, according to a new UNICEF report . Switzerland, Greece, Cyprus, United Kingdom and Ireland rank the lowest. Produced by UNICEF’s Office of Research – Innocenti the report ranks countries across…

HAVANA, Cuba – When Juan Carlos and María decided to start a family three years ago, they knew that there was only one way they would raise their children. “In order for a family to work it needs to be a team, and that means sharing all the tasks and responsibilities,” says Juan Carlos. As a first-time father, Juan Carlos didn’t yet know the ins…

NEW YORK, 5 June 2019 – Only 6 per cent of children in Africa live in areas where air pollution is reliably measured at ground-level, leaving half a billion children across the continent living in areas with no reliable means of measuring air quality, according to a new UNICEF report released on World Environment Day. For babies and young children…

“I play with her whenever I can. We play ball or sometimes just draw flowers in the dirt with a stick,” says Mohammad Jahirul Islam, 28, dressed in his fire suit, as his daughter Jisha, 3, plays in his other fire protection gear. Jahirul works long hours as a firefighter at a garment factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh, but says the highlight of his day…

We, the Heads of UNICEF, UN WOMEN, UNDP and UNFPA, representing over 37,000 UN staff members under the United Nations Common System, are committed to strong gender-responsive, family-friendly policies for all United Nations staff. We are committed to achieving, inter-alia, paid parental leave for all parents regardless of gender, including parents…

Parents need time and support to give their children the best start in life

The evidence is clear: Early childhood development must be a global and national priority. Governments already have pledged to achieve the early childhood development targets in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). But they need to back up this pledge with action and place early childhood development at the top of their economic and political…, UNICEF calls for governments and partners to:, 1. Invest urgently in services that give young children, especially the most deprived, the best start in life. Increasing the overall share of budgetary allocations for early childhood development programming is a critical step governments can and should take. For example, allocating 10 per cent of all national education budgets to pre-primary…

Investing in family friendly policies is good for families, businesses and economies. But for too many parents around the world, policies, such as paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks, childcare and child grants, are not a reality.  The lack of such policies compromises parents’ ability to securely bond with their babies in the first critical…, Call to action: Investing in family-friendly policies , UNICEF calls on governments and businesses to redesign the workplaces of the future, to enable parents to give their children the best start in life, while boosting productivity and women’s empowerment.  Sufficient paid leave to all parents and guardians, in both the formal and informal economies, to meet the needs of their young children. This…, Investing in family-friendly policies: good for everyone  , Good for children Investing in early childhood development is one of the most effective ways to improve children’s skills, abilities and, ultimately, productivity. Yet, 43 per cent of children under 5 years of age – or 250 million children – are at risk of not achieving their potential due to poverty, poor health and nutrition, and lack of early…, UNICEF’s vision, UNICEF advocates for an increase in the provision of adequate parental leave, paid breastfeeding breaks, affordable, accessible, quality childcare, and child support benefits by governments and businesses. UNICEF’s family-friendly policies agenda aims to create the following shifts: From ‘maternal’ to ‘parental’ leave: Time and support from all…

The first years of life have a profound effect on a child’s future – on her brain development, her health, her happiness, her ability to learn in school, her well-being and even the amount of money she can earn as an adult. In this formative stage of life, a baby’s brain can form more than 1 million new brain connections every single second – a…, It’s About Time: Family-friendly policies, Being a parent is the most important job in the world. But many parents don’t get the time and support they need to be with their children. Family-friendly policies – such as paid parental leave, paid breastfeeding breaks and childcare – are not a reality for most new parents around the world. That’s why UNICEF is calling on governments and…, Building brains, building futures: A six-point call to action, The evidence is clear: Early childhood development must be a global and national priority. Governments have already pledged to achieve the early childhood development targets in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). But they need to back up this pledge with action and place early childhood development at the top of their economic and political…, UNICEF Parenting, UNICEF understands that every new parent has thousands of questions. That’s why we launched UNICEF Parenting : to support parents and caregivers who do the most important job in the world. UNICEF Parenting brings together some of the world’s leading baby experts to help parents raise healthy and happy children. Information parents can trust.…