Yale Collaborative for International Early Childhood & Youth Development (Co-LEaD)

Our research group aims to promote early childhood and youth development in the global context. Our approach combines methods of systems research, policy analysis, and program development and evaluation. To achieve our goals, our work is inter-disciplinary, translational, and participatory. Our research collaborative is guided by principles of equity, social justice, and mutual learning with all project and research partners.

• Randomized controlled trial of a Youth-led School Readiness Program in Rural Pakistan: Development, Implementation, and Evaluation of the Intervention – Grand Challenges Canada and Aga Khan University (https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/leaps/)
• Mother and Teacher Support Programs designed to improve cognitive, social and communication skills of pre-school children, to improve the mother’s quality of life and to decrease domestic violence levels in Embu – a poor district outside of São Paulo, funded by the Gates Foundation - Grand Challenges Brazil – All Children Thriving.
• Cross-cultural Adaptation and Evaluation of the "Youth Leaders for Early Childhood: Assuring Children are Prepared for School" (LEAPS) program or JUNTOS program in Colombia – the Jacobs Foundation, the Yale Child Study Center and the Yale Global Health leadership institute
• Evaluation of the Early Childhood Development Program Pisotón: Strengthening the Evidence Base for Holistic Development in Fragile Contexts in Colombia – Partnership with Universidad del Norte, Colombia
• Evaluation of the 3Cs Resilience-Building Program for caregivers of young children affected by the armed conflict in Colombia – In partnership with the Fundación Saldarriaga Concha

• Development of comprehensive and integrated ECD policies and national implementation plans, national feasibility studies for ECD program implementation at scale, and an international comparative study on the mechanisms of governance and finance of ECD across the world.
• Development of an Index to Measure the Quality of Early Childhood Services in Colombia – Funded by the Office of the President and Ministry of Education in Colombia
• An Analytical Review of Governance, Provision and Quality of Early Childhood Education Services at the Local Level in Countries of Central Eastern Europe - UNICEF
• Sector-Wide Early Childhood Education in Emergencies (ECEiE) Assessment: Identifying Trends and Strategies to Strengthen Access, Equity and Quality of ECEiE - Dubai Cares
• Development of a field-facing parenting toolkit - UNICEF

• The Early Childhood Peace Consortium (ECPC) is founded on the idea that the global community must address the root causes of violence and conflict and that children and families can be key agents of change for peace through strengthening resilience of individuals and communities, and cohesion between groups (https://ecdpeace.org)
• ECPC links emerging knowledge from bio-behavioral, social and environmental sciences with existing evidence in ECD to encourage investment in the creation of local and sustainable programs, and advocacy for policies and systems that reduce violence and support peacebuilding. To help achieve this goal an interactive website has been developed to serve as an online interactive-communication hub of ongoing ECD/peacebuilding programs across the globe, sharing research findings, podcast/webinars, and blogs.

Documenting the impact of early childhood development (ECD) interventions to build a robust and objective evidence base internationally through the implementation and assessment of ECD programs across the globe including in Lebanon, Jordan, Canada, Colombia, Brazil, Pakistan, and Timor-Leste. Advancing methods to assess ECD and youth development systems to strengthen their quality, access, and equity.