Most Vulnerable to Most Valuable—Early Childhood Policies as a Fundamental Building Block of Resilience, Climate Adaptation and Sustainable Development

Transcript

• 00:03Alright. Welcome,
• 00:04everyone.
• 00:06Before we begin, I would
• 00:08just wanna do a plug
• 00:10in for next week's grand
• 00:12rounds with,
• 00:14doctor Catherine Nelson Coffey,
• 00:16Flourishing Families, Exploring the Correlates,
• 00:19Causes, and Consequences
• 00:21of Parents' Well-being.
• 00:23Right. So
• 00:25I am very
• 00:27excited to introduce
• 00:29today's grand round speaker.
• 00:32I was fortunate enough to
• 00:33call him a friend. And
• 00:35we had worked together way
• 00:37back, like,
• 00:38more than a decade ago
• 00:40with doctor Pia Brito, who's
• 00:42now at UNICEF.
• 00:44And we would work on
• 00:45early childhood development
• 00:47policies internationally, and I was
• 00:50asking myself why was I
• 00:51in the same room with
• 00:53an environmental scientist.
• 00:55And so after getting to
• 00:57know Doctor. Cerezo,
• 00:59I understood,
• 01:00like,
• 01:01you know, how we can
• 01:03connect with
• 01:05different areas of early childhood
• 01:07that seem
• 01:09disconnected and that's what he's
• 01:10trying to do to connect
• 01:11all the dots.
• 01:13And also some
• 01:16exciting, not exciting, but interesting
• 01:18trivia,
• 01:19if you were to at
• 01:20the end of today's
• 01:22talk, if you were to
• 01:23Google Adrian Cerrezzo
• 01:25and missing kayaker, that would
• 01:27be really interesting.
• 01:30So Doctor. Cerrezzo is a
• 01:32senior research fellow at the
• 01:32University of Maine, and he's
• 01:32also a
• 01:36social ecology of ECD fellow,
• 01:38with a child program here
• 01:39at the Child Study Center.
• 01:41His transdisciplinary
• 01:43work explores the fundamental role
• 01:45of early childhood development and
• 01:47the achievement
• 01:48of the sustainable development goals.
• 01:51Doctor. Cerezo holds a PhD
• 01:52in MESC from Yale University
• 01:55with a focus on social
• 01:56ecology,
• 01:57child development,
• 01:58complex systems and global policy,
• 02:01experience in environmental and community
• 02:02based policy and practice. He
• 02:03currently serves as senior advisor
• 02:04on early childhood development,
• 02:06climate change and sustainable development
• 02:08to UNICEF
• 02:09Pacific,
• 02:15the government of the Republic
• 02:16of the Marshall Islands and
• 02:18the Dominican Republic.
• 02:20Since November of twenty twenty
• 02:21two, he has been part
• 02:22of the delegation of the
• 02:24Republic of the Marshall Islands
• 02:25at the United Nations Climate
• 02:27Change Conference. He He is
• 02:29also co founder of the
• 02:31Early Years in Sustainable
• 02:32Development Research
• 02:34Initiative
• 02:35at the University of Maine.
• 02:37This institution fosters transdisciplinary
• 02:40collaboration to expand the knowledge
• 02:42base, policies, programs, and practices
• 02:44at the intersection of the
• 02:46early years and sustainable development.
• 02:48So without further ado, doctor
• 02:49Cerezo.
• 02:57This is so exciting.
• 03:00I did my PhD here,
• 03:01but at the school of
• 03:02forestry, and I normally speak
• 03:04at the school of forestry.
• 03:05So being able to extend
• 03:07beyond
• 03:08there and work here,
• 03:11where I have such,
• 03:13warm memories of working with
• 03:14doctor Piaverito
• 03:16and, in fact, doctor Lichtman.
• 03:19It it's it's a real
• 03:21honor.
• 03:22And speaking of kayak accidents,
• 03:23this is a photo of
• 03:25seashells from the island that
• 03:28I used to live in
• 03:29in Maine. I now live
• 03:30on another island in Maine.
• 03:32Less kayak accidents.
• 03:35So,
• 03:37so what I'm going to
• 03:39try to do today is,
• 03:41like Chin said and thank
• 03:42you, Chin, and thank you
• 03:44for the invitation
• 03:45connect some dots.
• 03:47That's sort of what I
• 03:48spend a lot of my
• 03:49time doing,
• 03:51because I come into the
• 03:53field of early childhood development
• 03:54from the field of environmental
• 03:56policy.
• 03:57And so I'm going to
• 03:58try to explain the rationale
• 04:00for this conjunction.
• 04:02And
• 04:02I realized as I was
• 04:04putting together this slide show,
• 04:07thirty minutes ago,
• 04:08that,
• 04:10I get the luxury of
• 04:11doing something that I don't
• 04:12usually get to do because,
• 04:14normally,
• 04:15I I get I get
• 04:16to speak to,
• 04:17decision makers in government.
• 04:20And, you know, those are
• 04:21conversations that take five minutes
• 04:23to seven minutes.
• 04:24Here, I have, like, the
• 04:25luxury
• 04:27of more than five minutes.
• 04:29So I I thought today
• 04:30I would do rather than
• 04:32little bits and pieces, put
• 04:34together a full symphony.
• 04:36It reminded me of this
• 04:37quote by
• 04:38Gustav Mahler, which is one
• 04:39of my favorite when thinking
• 04:41about complex systems, that the
• 04:43symphony must be like the
• 04:44world. It must
• 04:46embrace everything.
• 04:47So I'm going to put
• 04:48together for you a symphony
• 04:50in four movements.
• 04:51The first movement
• 04:52is going to be the
• 04:53complex agenda of sustainable development
• 04:55with a ballad on the
• 04:57evergreen,
• 04:58if ever given.
• 04:59Then a second movement on
• 05:01the complex network of early
• 05:03childhood development with a little
• 05:04riff on child mortality history,
• 05:07like people do.
• 05:09The complex, then the third
• 05:11movement, which is a complex
• 05:12intersection of ECD, climate, and
• 05:14sustainable development, and then
• 05:17a final movement in on
• 05:19practical policy applications with the
• 05:21saga of the small island
• 05:23states and encoder
• 05:25as
• 05:26with every good symphony.
• 05:28So we're going to begin
• 05:29with a very average history
• 05:31of the sustainable development goals
• 05:33because I think it's a
• 05:34topic
• 05:35that doesn't get discussed enough
• 05:37in the United States. And
• 05:38so we need some framing
• 05:40concepts to have the other
• 05:42conversation.
• 05:43And it has to begin
• 05:44with a conversation about the
• 05:46history of how we think
• 05:47about environmental
• 05:48policy
• 05:49because particularly in the US,
• 05:51it's very biased towards certain
• 05:53things because of that history.
• 05:55So without further ado, first
• 05:57movement
• 05:58begins with the wilderness.
• 06:01And this is the moment
• 06:02in nineteen oh three,
• 06:05where Teddy Roosevelt and John
• 06:08Muir get together, and they
• 06:09think about this idea of
• 06:11cathedrals of democracy, like John
• 06:12Muir called them,
• 06:14this park system where we
• 06:16are going to exclude humans
• 06:18because this is expressions of
• 06:19the Garden of Eden,
• 06:21and people are just like
• 06:22an like a problem there.
• 06:24So we take them out.
• 06:25They, in fact, ended up
• 06:26taking out then,
• 06:28American native populations that lived
• 06:30in these
• 06:31protected
• 06:32what are now protected areas.
• 06:34Okay? But at that moment,
• 06:36when we were thinking about
• 06:37sustainable development or what will
• 06:39become sustainable development, we were
• 06:41really thinking about
• 06:42wildlife conservation.
• 06:44How do we take care
• 06:45of the plants and the
• 06:46animals, etcetera, etcetera.
• 06:48Fast forward to the 1950s,
• 06:52and we started really becoming
• 06:54aware of the impacts of
• 06:55our actions on the world.
• 06:58And and it moves from
• 07:00this protection of wilderness to
• 07:02what we're calling it what
• 07:03we're still call environmentalism.
• 07:06This is the famous photo,
• 07:08like the iconic photo of
• 07:10the Cuyahoga River.
• 07:12I'm gonna say it's in
• 07:13Cleveland,
• 07:14one of those sent center
• 07:16states,
• 07:17that famously caught on fire
• 07:19several times, and it became
• 07:21a a rallying cry around
• 07:23environmentalism.
• 07:24Later on in the same
• 07:26spirit,
• 07:27we got to the first
• 07:29Earth Day, which was in
• 07:30nineteen seventy.
• 07:32And I chose this photo
• 07:33very deliberately
• 07:34because
• 07:36here it is the globe
• 07:37saying help.
• 07:38And Earth Day is about
• 07:40the Earth.
• 07:41And at that time, we
• 07:42were still talking about how
• 07:44do we make sure that
• 07:45beyond protecting wildlife, we're making
• 07:48sure that water is clean,
• 07:50that we are not polluting
• 07:52with with waste,
• 07:53and that the air is
• 07:54clean. So
• 07:56it is really in nineteen
• 07:58seventy two when the first
• 08:00conference on the human environment
• 08:03happens in Stockholm
• 08:04that this statement is made.
• 08:06And it's the first movement
• 08:08towards what we are thinking
• 08:10more of as sustainable development.
• 08:12Both aspects of man's and
• 08:14human's environments, the natural and
• 08:16the human made, are essential
• 08:19to hisher well-being, their well-being,
• 08:22and the enjoyment of basic
• 08:24human rights, even the right
• 08:25of life itself.
• 08:27The statement
• 08:28basically says, we don't take
• 08:30care of the other thing.
• 08:31We don't take care of
• 08:32the nature thing if we
• 08:35don't take care of the
• 08:36human thing.
• 08:37And so now we're thinking,
• 08:40how do we deal with
• 08:40nutrition? How do we deal
• 08:42with health? How do we
• 08:43deal with education?
• 08:45And in fact, out of
• 08:46this conference comes the first
• 08:47conference of
• 08:49environmental education
• 08:51that creates
• 08:52the idea of environmental education
• 08:54that has been followed on
• 08:56later on.
• 08:58It is really in nineteen
• 08:59eighty seven
• 09:00when the term sustainable development
• 09:02is used for the first
• 09:04time.
• 09:05This is the document called
• 09:07the Our Common Future or
• 09:09also known as the Brundtland
• 09:10Report.
• 09:11And basically,
• 09:12the definition of sustainable development
• 09:14at that point
• 09:15is sustainable development is development
• 09:18that meets the needs of
• 09:19the present without compromising the
• 09:21ability of future generations
• 09:24to meet their own needs.
• 09:27Around that time also,
• 09:29in this very abridged history,
• 09:31we got to the first
• 09:33conference on climate change,
• 09:35and the questions of climate
• 09:37action. And so again,
• 09:39now we're talking about how
• 09:40do we use resources?
• 09:42How do we make cities
• 09:43sustainable?
• 09:45How do we deal with
• 09:46innovation in technology?
• 09:48And again, the topic of
• 09:50air, but now in the
• 09:51context of meteorology and what
• 09:53is happening to the climate,
• 09:54which we knew
• 09:56from the beginning of the
• 09:57twentieth century, the end of
• 09:59the nineteenth century. That was
• 10:00an issue, but now it's
• 10:01coming to the fore as
• 10:02something we need to deal
• 10:03with.
• 10:04It is really in twenty
• 10:06fifteen
• 10:07that
• 10:09we expand this discussion about
• 10:11what is the human part
• 10:13of the sustainable development
• 10:15discussion. This is the moment
• 10:16where the adoption of the
• 10:18sustainable development goals happened,
• 10:21in twenty fifteen.
• 10:22And now we're talking about
• 10:24we can't do this if
• 10:26we don't move people away
• 10:28from poverty. And the sustainable
• 10:29development goals goals were stated
• 10:31as zero poverty,
• 10:33not just some people need
• 10:35to do better. There cannot
• 10:38be poverty if we are
• 10:39going to be a sustainable
• 10:40planet.
• 10:41There has to be gender
• 10:42equity. There has to be
• 10:44not just work, it has
• 10:45to be decent work that
• 10:47it is product that is
• 10:48productive.
• 10:49And there has to be
• 10:51reduced inequalities
• 10:52and peace, justice, and strong
• 10:54institutions.
• 10:55So we're going beyond the
• 10:57physical,
• 10:59everyday needs of people
• 11:01to these larger needs that
• 11:03are just as important.
• 11:05And in the end,
• 11:07we end up with this
• 11:09lofty,
• 11:11super significant statement of what
• 11:13the world looks like when
• 11:14we get our shit when
• 11:15we get our act together.
• 11:17Sorry. Life in Maine makes
• 11:19for that,
• 11:22which is great. I mean,
• 11:23you're thinking this is amazing.
• 11:25But at some point, as
• 11:27we keep accumulating
• 11:28parts of the agenda,
• 11:30it starts feeling like grabbing
• 11:32sand, and it starts falling
• 11:34out of our hands. And
• 11:34it's part of the reason
• 11:36why I became intensely interested
• 11:38in complexity theory when I
• 11:40was doing my work here
• 11:42at Yale,
• 11:44which brings us to the
• 11:45Ballad of the Ever Given,
• 11:47which is the bridge that
• 11:48we're going to use to
• 11:49early childhood development.
• 11:51How many of you remember
• 11:52this during the pandemic era,
• 11:54the Ever Given boat,
• 11:56a ship that got wedged
• 11:58in the Suez Canal, and
• 11:59everybody was wondering what happened.
• 12:03I read this story in
• 12:04a very interesting way for
• 12:06me, probably hopefully for you
• 12:09too.
• 12:10Here we have this huge
• 12:11boat that is wedged in
• 12:13the Suez Canal. And everybody
• 12:14is wondering
• 12:15how the heck are we
• 12:16gonna get it out of
• 12:18that situation
• 12:19and
• 12:20allow the flow of commerce
• 12:22to happen in the Suez
• 12:23Canal again.
• 12:25Well, it wasn't a huge
• 12:26big crane or a huge
• 12:28big airplane or a huge
• 12:29big boat. It was actually
• 12:32tiny little boats
• 12:33that came to the rescue
• 12:35of the Ever Given. And
• 12:36it was
• 12:37a flotilla of little
• 12:40boats
• 12:41that on wedge
• 12:43the Ever Given
• 12:44and put it in motion
• 12:45again so that it could
• 12:46flow back into the Suez
• 12:48Canal. And this system, this
• 12:50huge system
• 12:52could get activated again. And
• 12:54so
• 12:56my proposition
• 12:57is that the nurturing care
• 12:58of the youngest children,
• 13:00the smallest of the small
• 13:02in the human
• 13:04world,
• 13:06and their caregivers is a
• 13:07powerful tool to address the
• 13:09most massive global challenges.
• 13:11And this is what I
• 13:13sort of stumbled upon
• 13:15when I was learning from
• 13:16Pia Verito about Global Early
• 13:18Childhood Development Policy here at
• 13:20Yale. And this is what
• 13:21I've been pursuing for the
• 13:22last fifteen years.
• 13:23What is this point of
• 13:25intersection
• 13:25of the issue of early
• 13:27childhood and the issue of
• 13:28sustainable development,
• 13:30but not just as a
• 13:31matter of, well, they are
• 13:33connected,
• 13:33but how can they be
• 13:35drivers? How can early childhood
• 13:37development policy can be a
• 13:38driver of sustainable development policy?
• 13:42Which brings us to movement
• 13:43number two,
• 13:44key concepts in early childhood
• 13:46development. And
• 13:48again, I know that there
• 13:49are people here from different
• 13:50disciplines and different,
• 13:52departments. So
• 13:54some of these things are
• 13:55going to be things you
• 13:57know and and talk about
• 13:58all the time for some
• 14:00of you. Oh,
• 14:08okay.
• 14:09Well, I didn't know I
• 14:11had that effect on Connecticut.
• 14:19Okay.
• 14:21Alright. It gives me a
• 14:22break to so one of
• 14:24the effects of all of
• 14:26the international travel I've been
• 14:27doing is that now I
• 14:28have vertigo.
• 14:31So if you see me
• 14:32tip over, just it's normal.
• 14:34This is normal.
• 14:37But I have to keep
• 14:38myself hydrated, so that was
• 14:39a good break. I it
• 14:41was on purpose.
• 14:43So some key concepts on
• 14:45early childhood development. Well, the
• 14:47first key
• 14:48concept is that early childhood
• 14:50development is the earliest moment
• 14:51in life.
• 14:52That's not that's what you
• 14:54would expect. But what most
• 14:55people don't expect that are
• 14:57not in our field is
• 14:58that the standard definition right
• 15:00now for organizations like UNICEF
• 15:03make that first moment in
• 15:05life actually way before that
• 15:07first moment in life because
• 15:09there are more elements,
• 15:11things that happen
• 15:13during the adolescence of people
• 15:14that could potentially become parents
• 15:16that start setting the pathways
• 15:19of what will happen with
• 15:21the life of that infant
• 15:22when they're born.
• 15:23And then that moment of
• 15:25early childhood development
• 15:27ends between
• 15:28six and nine years depending
• 15:30on the country you're in
• 15:31because the definition says that
• 15:32it's a moment of transition
• 15:34to formal schooling. So
• 15:36from at that moment, you're
• 15:38considered a child, not just
• 15:40a little a young child.
• 15:42Okay?
• 15:43It is also, as I
• 15:44found out as I was
• 15:46doing my work and I
• 15:47became even more fascinated with
• 15:49it,
• 15:50ECD is a complex early
• 15:52childhood development is a complex
• 15:53nonlinear network or system.
• 15:56And so when we think
• 15:57about young children,
• 15:59we have to take away
• 16:01from our head
• 16:03Winnicott,
• 16:04a famous child psychologist,
• 16:06famously said, there is no
• 16:08infant.
• 16:09And he said it on
• 16:11purpose so that it would
• 16:12be kind of like
• 16:14brattle people into wonder thinking
• 16:16about this. Because when we
• 16:18say infant, when we say
• 16:19early childhood development, we're really
• 16:21talking about a system
• 16:23that includes the parental care
• 16:25and the closed care community.
• 16:27But in the way that
• 16:29we think about it for
• 16:30policy, it also has to
• 16:32include the sociocultural
• 16:34environment.
• 16:35And it also has to
• 16:36include the ecological environment. And
• 16:38it's a nonlinear system in
• 16:40the sense that all of
• 16:41these elements of that all
• 16:43of those subsystems
• 16:45need to be successful
• 16:47in order for what we
• 16:48call the child to be
• 16:49successful.
• 16:50And in many ways,
• 16:52the child needs to be
• 16:54successful in order for many
• 16:55of these elements to be
• 16:57successful.
• 16:57That's how nonlinearity works. And
• 16:59so we need to stop
• 17:00thinking about
• 17:02obsessively about the baby
• 17:04as an individual. And we
• 17:05have to think more broadly
• 17:07about the baby
• 17:09as this network, as this
• 17:11system.
• 17:12It also requires a network
• 17:14of nurturing care because it
• 17:16is a network
• 17:17and it is multidimensional
• 17:19and humans are multidimensional
• 17:21beings.
• 17:22This is the statement by
• 17:23the nurturing care framework team
• 17:26that was
• 17:27a collaboration
• 17:28between the World Health Organization,
• 17:30UNICEF,
• 17:31and several other institutions
• 17:33that answered the question,
• 17:35if I am a government
• 17:36and I am going to
• 17:37do well by my children,
• 17:39by young children, what are
• 17:41the key things that I
• 17:42need to take care of?
• 17:43And the answer is, if
• 17:45you don't take care of
• 17:46anything else, you need to
• 17:47take care of these five
• 17:48dimensions.
• 17:49You need to take care
• 17:50of health, nutrition, parental care,
• 17:52safety and security,
• 17:54and provide opportunities for learning.
• 17:57It is, again, an irreducible
• 17:59system. You cannot pick and
• 18:00choose. You have to do
• 18:02all five. And as a
• 18:03government, you have to figure
• 18:05out ways of creating systems
• 18:06that take care of all
• 18:07five
• 18:08so that you can promote
• 18:11the
• 18:12risk, I mean, the potential
• 18:14and the well-being of all
• 18:15children.
• 18:16It is also a moment,
• 18:18the moment of early childhood
• 18:19development of
• 18:21what I call the architecture
• 18:23of lifelong risk or potential.
• 18:25This is not just a
• 18:27moment where things are happening
• 18:28to you immediately.
• 18:30The things that are happening
• 18:31you to you immediately, the
• 18:33things that are you're interacting
• 18:34with immediately
• 18:36are creating the conditions, the
• 18:37architecture
• 18:38of what you're going to
• 18:39be for the rest of
• 18:40your life.
• 18:41They are not damaged. It's
• 18:43not fully determined. It is
• 18:45not written in stone. But
• 18:47this creates the conditions for
• 18:49you having an easier life
• 18:51of more potential and more
• 18:53well-being
• 18:54or a riskier life of
• 18:55more vulnerability.
• 18:58And so that is so
• 18:59for brain development and cognitive
• 19:01development.
• 19:03In the corner here, I
• 19:04don't know if the pointer
• 19:05is yes. My current new
• 19:07obsession, which is the thymus
• 19:09gland, which, you know, it's
• 19:10kind of here. You're all
• 19:12colop medicine
• 19:13people, so you know it
• 19:14better than I do. But
• 19:15it is a gland that
• 19:17actually is most active doing
• 19:19what it will do for
• 19:20you at that moment in
• 19:21life. And once it's done
• 19:23doing that job, it recedes.
• 19:24And
• 19:25so
• 19:26this dialogue that is happening
• 19:28between the child and that
• 19:29whole system
• 19:30is telling the body this
• 19:32is the immune system that
• 19:33you're going to have for
• 19:34the rest of your life
• 19:35mostly.
• 19:37Same with the respiratory system,
• 19:40same with social emotional development,
• 19:43same with another really funny
• 19:46trivial thing that
• 19:47the American Academy of Ophthalmologists
• 19:51found out that
• 19:52children that spend more than
• 19:54x amount of time in
• 19:55rooms that are eighteen square
• 19:58that allow them only to
• 19:59look eighteen feet or less
• 20:01tend to develop myopia
• 20:02at much higher rates than
• 20:04children that get to be
• 20:05outside.
• 20:06And I thought that's super
• 20:07cool. But somebody in Singapore
• 20:10thought this is super important.
• 20:11And they're actually creating a
• 20:13public policy
• 20:14that allows
• 20:15young children to be outside
• 20:17long enough
• 20:18to reduce the rate of
• 20:19myopia
• 20:20in Singapore.
• 20:22So this is not insignificant.
• 20:23You're creating the architecture of
• 20:25your capacity to see for
• 20:27the rest of your life.
• 20:29And then so much more
• 20:30than can be said about
• 20:31biophilia and the connection between
• 20:33children and nature. But that's
• 20:33a whole different lecture. You
• 20:33have to invite me again
• 20:33if you want to hear
• 20:33about that.
• 20:34Different lecture. You have to
• 20:35invite me again if you
• 20:36want to hear about that.
• 20:37Vector borne diseases, epigenetic development,
• 20:38issues that have to do
• 20:38with disabilities becoming permanent. And
• 20:38of course,
• 20:48stunting, which is not necessarily
• 20:50an issue in the United
• 20:51States, but globally, it is
• 20:53rampant. I work in the
• 20:54Pacific region. And I work
• 20:56in countries where you have
• 20:57twenty six percent to thirty
• 20:59percent of the young children
• 21:01population
• 21:02becoming stunted by extreme malnutrition,
• 21:05issues of marginalization,
• 21:07issues of toxic stress. All
• 21:09of those things
• 21:10are having an impact on
• 21:11the infant immediately, but they
• 21:13are also setting the stage
• 21:15for the architecture of who
• 21:16they are going to become.
• 21:18So
• 21:20this is a graphic that
• 21:21you have to show. Like,
• 21:22I am contractually obligated to
• 21:24show this because
• 21:25James Heckman,
• 21:28basically
• 21:30helped us figure out how
• 21:31to tell governments why do
• 21:33you invest in young children.
• 21:34This is a a curve
• 21:36that shows
• 21:37that when you invest at
• 21:38the right time in life,
• 21:39which is that green part
• 21:40of the curve,
• 21:42you get a return of
• 21:44depending on the moment you
• 21:45do it and the the
• 21:46aspect that you're attending to
• 21:49of between
• 21:50nine to thirteen dollars for
• 21:52every dollar spent.
• 21:53Okay? And as you can
• 21:55see, that happens
• 21:57around the time of early
• 21:58childhood.
• 21:59Once you cross
• 22:02the you go into schooling
• 22:04nine years, eight years,
• 22:06you cross what is called
• 22:07the airline, which is the
• 22:08line of opportunity.
• 22:09And beyond that point, everything
• 22:11that you haven't attended to
• 22:13here becomes a cost.
• 22:15Again, this is not damning.
• 22:17It's not that children are
• 22:18broken and we throw them
• 22:19away. It's just that it's
• 22:20going to take longer. It's
• 22:22gonna take more money. And
• 22:23the likelihood
• 22:25of success is much lower.
• 22:27And so
• 22:28this is the explanation
• 22:31to governments on why at
• 22:32that time. Because for one
• 22:34dollar you get that in
• 22:35return.
• 22:37So of course, that all
• 22:38brings us to a short
• 22:39riff about infant mortality
• 22:42that I always bring up
• 22:44because people who are not
• 22:45in our field
• 22:47do not understand this very
• 22:49basic fact about early childhood
• 22:51development policy.
• 22:53And that is that for
• 22:54the first two point eight
• 22:55million years of evolution
• 22:57up to one hundred and
• 22:58fifty years ago,
• 23:00thirty percent to forty percent
• 23:02of all children that were
• 23:04born,
• 23:06like that's one third of
• 23:07all children that were born
• 23:08would die before five years
• 23:10of age
• 23:11For most of our evolution,
• 23:13one hundred and fifty years
• 23:14ago, we started figuring out
• 23:16a couple of key things
• 23:17that had to do with
• 23:18water sanitation, health, antibiotics,
• 23:21maternal care.
• 23:22And currently, in the United
• 23:24States,
• 23:26well, globally, it's zero point
• 23:27three seven percent of children
• 23:29that die before five years
• 23:31of age. In the United
• 23:32States, it's zero point zero
• 23:34zero six five percent.
• 23:36It's statistically
• 23:38negligible.
• 23:39Every one of the children
• 23:40that dies is a tragedy.
• 23:42Don't get me wrong.
• 23:43But we're talking about
• 23:45something that defined the demographics
• 23:47of all of the countries
• 23:49in the world one hundred
• 23:50and fifty years ago.
• 23:51Why am I telling you
• 23:52this? Because I
• 23:54participate in the climate negotiations,
• 23:56as you heard. And I've
• 23:58been doing that since two
• 23:59thousand and seven. And I
• 24:00have this very funny, sobering,
• 24:02scary
• 24:03episode when I was talking
• 24:04to a climate economist.
• 24:07And I told her the
• 24:08story of this is why
• 24:09we invest in young children.
• 24:10And she said simply,
• 24:13dead children have no carbon
• 24:14footprint.
• 24:15And this statement had to
• 24:17do with a misunderstanding
• 24:20that when you have
• 24:21low care of children,
• 24:23this happens.
• 24:25This doesn't happen in the
• 24:26world anymore. But what happens
• 24:28is that the same proportion
• 24:30of children that used to
• 24:31die experience either extreme neglect
• 24:34or extreme toxic stress or
• 24:37extreme situations that make their
• 24:39life
• 24:39a life of high vulnerability.
• 24:42These children will survive,
• 24:44but they will have harder
• 24:45lives. And it will cost
• 24:46governments and all of us
• 24:48much more to take care
• 24:49of that. So it's important
• 24:51to keep this in mind
• 24:52because I think, again, we
• 24:54operate in the like, we're
• 24:56a hundred and fifty years
• 24:57ago that,
• 24:58maybe if we don't do
• 24:59anything, they'll disappear as a
• 25:01problem. They don't. They actually
• 25:03become a bigger problem
• 25:04for them and for ourselves.
• 25:07So
• 25:08inaction leads to vulnerability and
• 25:10risk.
• 25:11And nurturing care leads to
• 25:12potential resilience and sustainability,
• 25:15which brings us to the
• 25:16third movement.
• 25:17But I'm going to drink
• 25:18some water.
• 25:23Okay.
• 25:24ECD plus climate change plus
• 25:26sustainable development. And for this,
• 25:28I'm going to use as
• 25:29a metaphor something that I've
• 25:30been using in my work
• 25:31with governments that tends to
• 25:32be very helpful,
• 25:34is this idea of the
• 25:36early childhood development
• 25:38system as a seed.
• 25:40That
• 25:41seed experiences some risks like
• 25:43we described before. And these
• 25:45risks
• 25:47kind of fall like a
• 25:48drizzle
• 25:49on every developing child.
• 25:52And
• 25:52if we don't provide these
• 25:54children with care, that plant
• 25:55will not do well. That
• 25:57little
• 25:59seedling will not do well.
• 26:00And they will develop, like
• 26:02we discussed,
• 26:03to experience high vulnerability
• 26:05and high risk in their
• 26:07life. And that is not
• 26:08just a problem for that
• 26:09individual,
• 26:10but it is a problem
• 26:11for communities because they don't
• 26:12yield the fruits that a
• 26:14person that reaches their full
• 26:15potential can bring to their
• 26:17community.
• 26:18So
• 26:20let's think about this seed.
• 26:21And it's now fortified
• 26:23by the nurturing care framework
• 26:25and close attention and deliberate
• 26:27attention to at least these
• 26:29five elements of care of
• 26:31young children.
• 26:32Now you have the fundamentals,
• 26:34the
• 26:35strong base for this seedling
• 26:37to do better.
• 26:38And not only does it
• 26:39do better for themselves, but
• 26:41it produces more fruit for
• 26:43their community.
• 26:44So that is the first
• 26:45return on investment in early
• 26:47childhood development.
• 26:48The one that we know
• 26:50in the field of early
• 26:51childhood development policy, well-being and
• 26:53potential for individuals and their
• 26:55community.
• 26:57Now let's add climate
• 26:59to the mix. This drizzle
• 27:01becomes a storm.
• 27:02Because for all of those
• 27:04risk elements,
• 27:05they become exacerbated
• 27:07by climate change.
• 27:08And so now we're talking
• 27:09about this seed being
• 27:13bombarded
• 27:14by many more points of
• 27:16vulnerability than it had before.
• 27:19Well, when you take care
• 27:20of young children in the
• 27:22right way, in a multidimensional
• 27:23way, considering the elements of
• 27:26the nurturing care framework,
• 27:28you're not just protecting the
• 27:29foundation
• 27:30of that little tree. You're
• 27:32also creating
• 27:34kind of like a bubble,
• 27:35an umbrella
• 27:36that protects that little that
• 27:38tree when it grows so
• 27:39that it can deliver its
• 27:41fruits. And so you have
• 27:42a second return. As related
• 27:44to climate change,
• 27:46these interventions
• 27:47create the potential for resilience
• 27:49and adaptation,
• 27:50not just for the individuals,
• 27:52but for their communities.
• 27:54And when that happens for
• 27:55communities, it happens for countries.
• 27:57And when it happens in
• 27:58vulnerable countries, you're talking about
• 28:00something very important because you're
• 28:02talking about countries that have
• 28:04a limited amount of resources
• 28:06to put into human development.
• 28:08You get two returns.
• 28:10Now let's
• 28:12reconsider that seed
• 28:14and think very deliberately about
• 28:16how early childhood development is
• 28:17connected to sustainable development.
• 28:19And you get a third
• 28:20return on that investment
• 28:22because that tree will not
• 28:24only yield the fruits of
• 28:27a good life of well-being
• 28:29connected to their community,
• 28:31it will also yield the
• 28:32fruits of sustainable development itself.
• 28:35Many of the woah, that
• 28:37slide is not there. So
• 28:38I'll tell you the story.
• 28:40Many of those sustainable development
• 28:42goals that are there as
• 28:43fruits on that tree
• 28:45are actually
• 28:46connected to interventions in early
• 28:48childhood. We know, and we
• 28:50have some of the world's
• 28:51experts on that here, that
• 28:52it is connected to peace
• 28:54building, which is one of
• 28:55the sustainable development goals. It
• 28:57is connected to moving away
• 28:58from poverty.
• 28:59It is connected to doing
• 29:01better in school and doing
• 29:02better in education.
• 29:04It is connected to better
• 29:05health at that moment and
• 29:07better health throughout the lifespan.
• 29:09It is connected to
• 29:11more gender equity. It is
• 29:13connected to more equity in
• 29:15general. It is connected to
• 29:16doing better at work and
• 29:18advancing more in your career.
• 29:20It is connected to
• 29:22advancing innovation and technology because
• 29:24people who do better in
• 29:25school also have a higher
• 29:26capacity to contribute to the
• 29:29public discussion about how we
• 29:32and based on my own
• 29:33work, I have also also
• 29:34seen that it's connected to
• 29:36the protection of wildlife
• 29:38and the protection of,
• 29:40resources.
• 29:41So
• 29:43the majority of the sustainable
• 29:44development goals
• 29:46are not just peripherally connected.
• 29:48They are fundamentally
• 29:49connected to the interventions of
• 29:51early childhood development.
• 29:53And these are not interventions
• 29:54that are designed
• 29:56to be done
• 29:58regarding sustainable development. This is
• 30:00not like let's do preschool
• 30:02education on sustainable development or
• 30:04preschool education on climate change,
• 30:06which is I have many
• 30:08things to say about that,
• 30:09but then you'll think I'm
• 30:10a cranky old man.
• 30:12So I'm not gonna say
• 30:13anything about it other than
• 30:15what what we need to
• 30:17do in order to get
• 30:18this fruit is we need
• 30:20to have programs and,
• 30:23policies focused on the early
• 30:24years so that we can
• 30:26get these cost effective, comprehensive,
• 30:28immediate, and enduring paths to
• 30:30achieving
• 30:31human potential and well-being,
• 30:33community climate resilience, and boosting
• 30:36sustainable development.
• 30:38The pathway to that is
• 30:40taking care of the nurturing
• 30:42care framework.
• 30:43It's not the other way
• 30:44around that we do sustainable
• 30:45development and then we take
• 30:47care of children. We take
• 30:48care of the system that
• 30:49takes care of young children
• 30:51and it will deliver us
• 30:52sustainable development, at least a
• 30:54good part of it.
• 30:55So that brings us to,
• 31:01delivering on the promise of
• 31:04this is the,
• 31:05E Trade baby, which I
• 31:07am in love with because
• 31:08well, look it up on
• 31:09YouTube. If you haven't seen
• 31:10it, he's fantastic.
• 31:12And he he's a a
• 31:14baby investor, so he has
• 31:15a lot of money, but
• 31:16this happened to him.
• 31:19Sorry. I tend not anyway,
• 31:22delivering on the promise of
• 31:23ECD. I have to crack
• 31:24myself up every once in
• 31:25a while.
• 31:29So
• 31:30research,
• 31:31by colleagues, some of which
• 31:33are here at Yale,
• 31:35has found that there are
• 31:36these key elements
• 31:38to achieving the promise of
• 31:41early childhood development.
• 31:42But it all begins with
• 31:44adequate financing because it is
• 31:46that adequate financing that creates
• 31:49the possibility for these three
• 31:50things to happen. That the
• 31:52programs are equitably distributed so
• 31:54that everybody who needs them
• 31:55gets access to them. That
• 31:57they are of the highest
• 31:58quality because programs of lower
• 32:00quality do not deliver on
• 32:02this promise
• 32:03as well. And that they
• 32:05are timely,
• 32:06delivered,
• 32:08and they are delivered for
• 32:09the right duration. Because a
• 32:11program that needs to be
• 32:12delivered
• 32:13at birth cannot be delivered
• 32:15when you're five. And a
• 32:16program that needs to be
• 32:17delivered for two years cannot
• 32:19be delivered for one week.
• 32:21So those are key pieces
• 32:23of the puzzle. Based on
• 32:24my own research,
• 32:26I have found that it
• 32:27is really important that in
• 32:28that equation, we fold together
• 32:31a consideration of making ECD
• 32:32programs ever more aligned with
• 32:34environmental and sustainability
• 32:36principles.
• 32:37Because the more we interact
• 32:38with each other,
• 32:39the better we can figure
• 32:41out this conjunction of sustainable
• 32:43development on ECD for the
• 32:44benefit of ECD programs, but
• 32:47also for the benefit of
• 32:48sustainable development.
• 32:50So for early childhood to
• 32:52deliver on its promise
• 32:53of a sustainable future, programs
• 32:55must be well financed,
• 32:57high quality,
• 32:58equitable,
• 32:59delivered at the right time
• 33:00and for the right duration,
• 33:02and be in alignment with
• 33:03climate and sustainable development knowledge.
• 33:05And
• 33:06thus, it's time for to
• 33:08build stronger intersectoral
• 33:10collaborations with environmental,
• 33:12wildlife, and sustainable development institutions.
• 33:14So at this point, you're
• 33:16probably wondering, well, that's great
• 33:17in theory, but what does
• 33:18it look like in the
• 33:19real world? So I'm gonna
• 33:21tell you what it looks
• 33:22like in the real world
• 33:23and some of the work
• 33:23that we're doing.
• 33:25UNICEF Pacific has been
• 33:28sponsoring and supporting a process
• 33:30in the Pacific region
• 33:31that they call the PRC
• 33:33for ECD or the Pacific
• 33:35Regional Council
• 33:36on Early Childhood Development.
• 33:39They came up in their
• 33:40original meeting with nine
• 33:43calls to action
• 33:45that have to do with
• 33:46all of the things that
• 33:46we usually associate with early
• 33:48childhood development.
• 33:50I was asked to come
• 33:51into the meetings so that
• 33:53they could create what is
• 33:53called action point ten.
• 33:56Action point ten, which was,
• 34:00adopted
• 34:02three years ago,
• 34:03reads as follows.
• 34:05Priorize ACD as a pathway
• 34:07to increase the resilience
• 34:08and adaptive capacity of communities
• 34:10to the effects of climate
• 34:11change and other emergencies
• 34:14and promote
• 34:15close collaboration between the areas
• 34:17of ECD,
• 34:18natural resources, environment, and sustainable
• 34:20development.
• 34:21Now this is encoded
• 34:23in the policy
• 34:24of all of the countries
• 34:25that participate in the PRC
• 34:27for ECD.
• 34:28And they are working towards
• 34:29instituting national policies
• 34:32that activate this as part
• 34:33of their national early childhood
• 34:35development policy.
• 34:37One of the countries that
• 34:38has done so is
• 34:40my country.
• 34:42I was born in Puerto
• 34:43Rico, and I'm American. But
• 34:45the country that I work
• 34:46with in the UN
• 34:48climate process is the Marshall
• 34:50Islands. And I am
• 34:51deeply and
• 34:53profoundly,
• 34:54like, humbled and grateful to
• 34:55them that they have taken
• 34:57this on as champions as
• 34:59they have. So I am
• 35:00Marshallese for the purposes of
• 35:02this conversation and for the
• 35:03climate negotiations.
• 35:05This is the island of
• 35:06Majuro.
• 35:07It's a very low lying
• 35:09island.
• 35:10If you bring together all
• 35:12of the Marshall Islands' landmass,
• 35:14it's about the size of
• 35:15Washington, DC. So it's very
• 35:17tiny. Only twenty six thousand
• 35:19people live there. If you
• 35:20expand it, I think it's
• 35:22about the size of France
• 35:23with all the ocean space
• 35:25between it.
• 35:27The national policy
• 35:28that was adopted in nineteen
• 35:30twenty three for early childhood
• 35:32development states that they recognize
• 35:34that policies and programs and
• 35:36practices that support young children
• 35:38and their parents
• 35:39provide a powerful pathway to
• 35:41immediately
• 35:42everything that I have been
• 35:43telling you.
• 35:45The same policies and programs
• 35:47in the long term boost
• 35:48the attainment of sustainable development
• 35:50at all levels.
• 35:51So now this is encoded
• 35:53in the National Early Childhood
• 35:54Development Policy.
• 35:56Last July, we had a
• 35:57workshop where we
• 35:59brought together
• 36:00the people that work in
• 36:01the climate space in the
• 36:02Marshall Islands at the national
• 36:04level and the people that
• 36:05work and this is the
• 36:07head of delegation and the
• 36:09national envoy,
• 36:11Tina Steghe,
• 36:12the national envoy of the
• 36:13Marshall Islands on the climate
• 36:14negotiations.
• 36:16And we had two full
• 36:17days of exchange between people
• 36:19who do climate work and
• 36:20sustainable development work and people
• 36:22who do ECD work.
• 36:23Out of that came a
• 36:25restatement of the national policy
• 36:27on early childhood development that
• 36:28is now stated as a
• 36:30climate smart early childhood development
• 36:33policy. It also
• 36:35resulted
• 36:36in a recommitment of the
• 36:38Marshall Islands to the issue
• 36:40of early childhood development at
• 36:41the global level in the
• 36:42climate negotiations where we're trying
• 36:44to elevate the topic.
• 36:47It also resulted because the
• 36:49Marshall Islands and the Dominican
• 36:51Republic are entangled as part
• 36:52of the Small Island States,
• 36:54Coalition in the climate negotiations,
• 36:57and they work closely together.
• 36:59In me beginning
• 37:01a relationship with the Dominican
• 37:02government that is about to
• 37:04yield the fruit
• 37:06five days from now
• 37:08of a workshop in the
• 37:09Dominican Republic that replicates what
• 37:11we did in the Marshall
• 37:12Islands. Climate people at the
• 37:14national level, early childhood development
• 37:16people at the national level.
• 37:17And it will result in
• 37:19not just and and this
• 37:20is the the Dominican
• 37:22case. It's really interesting because
• 37:24they have a ministry for
• 37:25early childhood development. And so
• 37:27it's kind of easy to
• 37:28at the presidential level, this
• 37:30is the head of that
• 37:31ministry
• 37:32that was so excited with
• 37:34all of this that they
• 37:34brought her to bond to
• 37:34the climate negotiation intersessional meeting
• 37:34in June.
• 37:37Change and young children. And
• 37:38it was the first time
• 37:39in history that a high
• 37:39level government minister in the
• 37:40area of early childhood
• 37:51spoke on this topic at
• 37:52the UNFCCC.
• 37:53So so this is growing
• 37:55and there are several other
• 37:56countries that are trying to
• 37:58take on this topic.
• 38:00It also happened
• 38:01that in the meeting of
• 38:03the,
• 38:04subsidiary bodies, it's a very
• 38:06long convoluted
• 38:08name of this meeting that
• 38:09happens in June every year
• 38:10for the United Nations Framework
• 38:12Convention on Climate Change.
• 38:14There was the for the
• 38:15first time in history,
• 38:17an expert dialogue on early
• 38:19child
• 38:20on children and climate change.
• 38:22In that dialogue,
• 38:24there was eight hours' worth
• 38:26of
• 38:27discussions on children and climate
• 38:28change, most of which were
• 38:30about
• 38:31children are very vulnerable,
• 38:34we should have more children
• 38:36participating in the negotiations,
• 38:38and oh my god, we're
• 38:39all going to die, basically.
• 38:42Five minutes of that included
• 38:44my presentation in the panel,
• 38:45which
• 38:46emphasized that at the earliest
• 38:48years of a child's life,
• 38:50particularly from birth to age
• 38:51three, are not only the
• 38:52most vulnerable of all but
• 38:54also represent
• 38:55a pivotal window of opportunity.
• 38:58And underscoring that investments in
• 39:00ECD are cost effective, immediate,
• 39:02and have enduring paths,
• 39:04impacts across multiple dimensions of
• 39:07development.
• 39:07So now it's part of
• 39:09the record
• 39:10of the United Nations framework
• 39:12convention that this is a
• 39:13thing.
• 39:14And now we're building towards
• 39:16getting more countries to adopt
• 39:18this as their national position,
• 39:20not because we think that
• 39:22is cool,
• 39:23which it is. I mean,
• 39:24it's super cool for me.
• 39:26But now in Baku, in
• 39:27Azerbaijan for COP twenty nine,
• 39:29because of what we're chasing,
• 39:30which is money.
• 39:32We need money for early
• 39:34childhood development programs.
• 39:36Like we discussed,
• 39:37this is an issue of
• 39:39appropriate financing to begin with.
• 39:41It is an issue of
• 39:42doing the science and understanding
• 39:44it well. But we have
• 39:46been doing that for over
• 39:47fifty years. The field of
• 39:49early childhood development is one
• 39:50of the most mature fields
• 39:52in research
• 39:53in terms of developmental science
• 39:56and policy practice.
• 39:58We need the resources to
• 39:59apply these to countries for
• 40:01their full benefit. And so
• 40:03in Baku, what we're hunting
• 40:05for is opportunities
• 40:06to add language to discussions
• 40:08about financing for adaptation,
• 40:10financing for loss and damage.
• 40:13And because of this full
• 40:15circle thing that brings early
• 40:16childhood development as a contributor
• 40:18to sustainable development,
• 40:20we're proposing it as a
• 40:21building block to mitigation.
• 40:23So
• 40:24in COP thirty, which is
• 40:25the next one, we're looking
• 40:27ahead two years
• 40:28to the COP in Belem
• 40:30in Brazil.
• 40:32It's been presented as they're
• 40:34calling it the Children's COP,
• 40:36which
• 40:37makes me crack up because
• 40:38I think of the Children's
• 40:39Crusade. And it's like, what
• 40:41are they doing? But,
• 40:43but it's cool because it
• 40:44elevates the topic of children
• 40:46as related to climate change.
• 40:47It also
• 40:48provides an opportunity to elevate
• 40:50the topic of young children
• 40:52as related to climate change.
• 40:53So we're hoping that the
• 40:54work we build here
• 40:56is going to allow us
• 40:58to come to
• 40:59Belem
• 41:00with very specific actions that
• 41:02can be implemented by the
• 41:03financing mechanisms of the climate
• 41:05negotiations.
• 41:07Finally, I don't think it's
• 41:08a good idea to end
• 41:09this,
• 41:10without talking about the summit
• 41:12of the future, which is
• 41:14the process that the UN
• 41:15is undertaking
• 41:16to create
• 41:18the new version of the
• 41:19sustainable development goals because they
• 41:21end in two thousand and
• 41:22thirty.
• 41:25It's called the summit of
• 41:26the future. They have a
• 41:27document called,
• 41:29I think it's the Pact
• 41:30of New Generations.
• 41:32None of the documents use
• 41:33the words early childhood development.
• 41:36The sustainable development goals don't
• 41:38use the word early childhood
• 41:39development
• 41:40even though as we have
• 41:42discussed, they are fundamental
• 41:44building blocks of a sustainable
• 41:46world.
• 41:47They are only considered in
• 41:50sustainable development goal four point
• 41:52two that talks about preschool
• 41:54education.
• 41:54All of the things that
• 41:55we talked about, health,
• 41:58parental care, equity,
• 42:00gender equity, none of those
• 42:02areas talks about early childhood
• 42:03development. And that is to
• 42:05the detriment of the sustainable
• 42:06development goals. And it will
• 42:08be to the detriment of
• 42:09the world and the summit
• 42:10of the future
• 42:11if we don't become champions
• 42:13for this topic.
• 42:14So if there are people
• 42:16here from the school of
• 42:17the environment, I am making
• 42:18this call for you to
• 42:19become aware of this because
• 42:21this is your business. It's
• 42:23not just the business of
• 42:24babies.
• 42:25Babies are super cute. They
• 42:27make for great photo opportunities.
• 42:29But in the business of
• 42:31sustainable development, they are the
• 42:33most important driving force for
• 42:35the future we want of
• 42:36sustainability.
• 42:37And it behooves all of
• 42:38us that are in environmental
• 42:40policy to be involved in
• 42:41this fight.
• 42:43So
• 42:44the short coda,
• 42:46the idea here is that
• 42:47we're creating a virtual circle
• 42:49with cycle
• 42:50where this network that supports
• 42:52early childhood development is feeding
• 42:54the
• 42:56the sustainability
• 42:57that we want to achieve.
• 42:58And by having communities that
• 43:00are attending to that, the
• 43:02sustainable development applications
• 43:04of early childhood development are
• 43:05feeding back to making early
• 43:07childhood development better.
• 43:09Wouldn't that be the kind
• 43:10of world that we want
• 43:12to create?
• 43:13And if for no other
• 43:14reason,
• 43:15think about it. Every child
• 43:18of any other area of
• 43:19policy,
• 43:20This is an area of
• 43:21policy where each child that
• 43:23is born, every one individual
• 43:25child that is born, is
• 43:27a new opportunity to steer
• 43:28humanity towards a sustainable development.
• 43:31This is one of the
• 43:32reasons why I took on
• 43:33this area of research and
• 43:35practice
• 43:36and one reason why I
• 43:37feel very optimistic when I
• 43:39do my work. Because if
• 43:41we fully underperform
• 43:43and we only make life
• 43:44better for twenty percent of
• 43:45all young children in the
• 43:46world, we're still feeling that
• 43:49positive loop
• 43:51of making the movement towards
• 43:53sustainable development. Imagine any other
• 43:55area of global policy where
• 43:56you can do that.
• 43:58And with that, I want
• 43:59to thank you and show
• 44:01you one more ridiculous photo.
• 44:03And
• 44:09I think we have time
• 44:10for questions. Yeah?
• 44:15Or comments or
• 44:21yeah.
• 44:31Oh, sorry.
• 44:37Oh, there's there we go.
• 44:40Hello.
• 44:43So I was so I
• 44:44was asking during your work
• 44:45and very important work by
• 44:46the way.
• 44:48Were there
• 44:49any challenges
• 44:50when you introduced the EDC,
• 44:54movement to developing countries?
• 44:59It's a really good question.
• 45:01Thank you.
• 45:02It's kind of like a
• 45:03counterintuitive
• 45:04challenge because there is this
• 45:06gravitational
• 45:07pull when you mention early
• 45:09childhood development
• 45:10to think about a couple
• 45:12of things.
• 45:14Child care, which is sort
• 45:16of the gravitational
• 45:17pull in the United States,
• 45:19child care and preschool. Yeah.
• 45:21And so it's really hard
• 45:22to get them away from
• 45:23that space into multi dimensional
• 45:28connected to sustainable development. So
• 45:29that takes a little bit
• 45:30of doing. The other one
• 45:32as connected to climate
• 45:34and connected to
• 45:35sustainable development
• 45:37is the gravitational pull towards
• 45:39the fantasy
• 45:40of environmental education for babies.
• 45:43A lot of people and
• 45:44even in the climate conference,
• 45:46it has taken me years
• 45:48to realize how
• 45:50you are saying the words
• 45:51that I just said to
• 45:52you. And for a lot
• 45:53of people who come from
• 45:54the environmental field, what they're
• 45:56hearing is let's do more
• 46:00really cool classes about climate
• 46:02for babies.
• 46:03And so
• 46:06that's been a challenge.
• 46:07Beyond that,
• 46:09the response that I usually
• 46:11get, which is also
• 46:13a reason for optimism,
• 46:14is
• 46:15why didn't we know this?
• 46:17And the second response is
• 46:19what can we do to
• 46:19help?
• 46:21So
• 46:22one of the really cool
• 46:23things about this work
• 46:25is that the world is
• 46:26ready for what we're doing.
• 46:28We have just been the
• 46:29best kept secret in sustainable
• 46:31development.
• 46:32We need to put it
• 46:33out there because,
• 46:35I mean, none of the
• 46:36things that I said here
• 46:37are controversial.
• 46:38None of the things that
• 46:39I said here are things
• 46:41that are going to create
• 46:42friction in countries.
• 46:44It's just that for for
• 46:46many people, they have never
• 46:48considered that considered them. And
• 46:50for other people, they have
• 46:51never really figured out how
• 46:52to finance them.
• 46:54Yep.
• 46:55That my question is related
• 46:56to that about Yeah. Yeah.
• 46:57Yeah. I saw the burning
• 46:58question on hand. So I
• 47:00don't think it's the idea
• 47:01so much that people would
• 47:02be opposed to, but the
• 47:03cost. Right? So when anytime
• 47:05any of us here are
• 47:06trying to build
• 47:07programs to help families and
• 47:08to nurture young families, new
• 47:10parents, babies, things like that,
• 47:12there there's sort of this,
• 47:13well, how much does it
• 47:15cost, and is it gonna
• 47:16you know? So we're always
• 47:17having to do these cost
• 47:18analyses and trying to show
• 47:19that that it's gonna make
• 47:20a big impact. So
• 47:22I'm just wondering,
• 47:24yeah, relatedly, has there been
• 47:25pushback around, well, how do
• 47:26we fund
• 47:28this work?
• 47:29So
• 47:30I guess I'll answer that
• 47:31with a story,
• 47:33of something you all know,
• 47:34which is the Inflation Reduction
• 47:36Act. But something you don't
• 47:37know about the Inflation Reduction
• 47:39Act maybe is that it
• 47:40included provisions on early child
• 47:42care,
• 47:43parental leave.
• 47:44It was the whole like
• 47:45the dream. All of the
• 47:46things that everybody has been
• 47:48talking about,
• 47:49that was in the original
• 47:50Inflation Reduction Act. Guess how
• 47:52much of that is in
• 47:53the final Inflation Reduction Act,
• 47:55which by the way, is
• 47:57investing
• 47:58a trillion dollars
• 48:00in the US economy. So
• 48:01when we're talking about proportionality
• 48:03or how much does it
• 48:04cost,
• 48:05we're not really talking about
• 48:07it was just a few
• 48:08billion dollars for this.
• 48:10And Okay,
• 48:11guess how much money
• 48:13went to these programs as
• 48:14opposed to infrastructure?
• 48:16And
• 48:17yes. Exactly. Zero. Because it
• 48:19it is usually the political
• 48:22sacrificial lamb because babies don't
• 48:24vote. They have no money
• 48:26to invest in campaigns.
• 48:27That's my best guess. And
• 48:29nobody will say they hate
• 48:30babies, but when it comes
• 48:32time to cut,
• 48:33something,
• 48:36they will cut the people
• 48:37that cannot complain.
• 48:39And so,
• 48:40yes,
• 48:41that falls into the question
• 48:43about challenges. It's not a
• 48:44direct response because, again, nobody
• 48:46will say, we don't
• 48:48give a rat's ass about
• 48:49babies. But in
• 48:52so those words will never
• 48:54come out of their mouths.
• 48:55But in reality, in practice,
• 48:57when policy is being built
• 48:58and that is why
• 49:00one of the things that
• 49:01I'm very,
• 49:02focused on, and that's why
• 49:04this photo is particularly funny
• 49:06to me, is that I'm
• 49:06trying to
• 49:08move away from what I
• 49:09feel is an infantilization
• 49:10of the early childhood development
• 49:12space.
• 49:13Because it's discussed as this
• 49:14cute thing.
• 49:16And when it's done and
• 49:17when we do that and
• 49:18when we stand in front
• 49:19of the EPA or we
• 49:20stand in front of the
• 49:22Sierra Club or we stand
• 49:23in front of the Environmental
• 49:25Defense Fund, they look at
• 49:27this and they think, oh,
• 49:28we should do a little
• 49:29preschool with decorations about climate
• 49:32change.
• 49:33They are not thinking,
• 49:34here are people
• 49:36talking to us about grown
• 49:37up things that are fundamentally
• 49:40helping us build
• 49:41grown up solve grown up
• 49:43problems. They are thinking about
• 49:45these soft things
• 49:46that is peripheral.
• 49:49I also call them first
• 49:50lady problems or first lady
• 49:52programs.
• 49:53And that's what they are
• 49:55in many countries.
• 49:56So it is our responsibility
• 49:58in the field of early
• 49:59childhood development. And when I
• 50:01do climate negotiating,
• 50:03there's none of this nonsense.
• 50:05It is hard facts, and
• 50:06it's a focus on financing.
• 50:08And it's a focus on
• 50:10financing
• 50:10on the problems of the
• 50:12conference. I don't go there
• 50:13to say children have a
• 50:15problem in the world.
• 50:17I go there to say
• 50:18you have a problem in
• 50:19the world. You haven't figured
• 50:21out how to do climate
• 50:22adaptation, including human development.
• 50:24You haven't figured out how
• 50:25to do climate mitigation,
• 50:27including sustainable development,
• 50:29I have tools for you
• 50:31to do that.
• 50:32And that's when we get
• 50:33to the answer of why
• 50:34didn't we know this and
• 50:36what can we do to
• 50:37integrate these things?
• 50:38The government of the Marshall
• 50:39Islands is not just a
• 50:40little bit committed to this.
• 50:42They understand that this triple
• 50:44return on investment
• 50:45is the only way they
• 50:46survive as a country.
• 50:48The Dominican Republic is catching
• 50:50on very quickly.
• 50:53So moving away from this
• 50:54infantilization,
• 50:55rompers room version of early
• 50:57childhood development policy, and there's
• 50:59no critique on the work
• 51:00that has been done. It's
• 51:02fantastic work. But we have
• 51:04been putting a bubble that
• 51:05it doesn't work in our
• 51:06favor.
• 51:07And when we move transdisciplinary
• 51:09in a transdisciplinary
• 51:10way, we have to communicate
• 51:12in a way that attends
• 51:13to the people that we're
• 51:14communicating with.
• 51:16Yep.
• 51:18I really appreciate the,
• 51:20sort of the the the
• 51:21narrative
• 51:22of,
• 51:23like, stop focusing on
• 51:25the the cutesy pieces here,
• 51:28and helping people to appreciate
• 51:30that when we're talking about,
• 51:31like, early childhood policy,
• 51:33we're talking about more than,
• 51:35you know, just like Mickey
• 51:36Mouse stuff. Right?
• 51:39I'm curious in if you
• 51:40have examples, and I'll give
• 51:42you an example to see
• 51:43if, if you have any
• 51:44others because I'm,
• 51:46I I feel like I'm
• 51:47always in a position, where
• 51:48I'm trying to convince people.
• 51:50This is important.
• 51:51And I've I've come up
• 51:52against that same wall where
• 51:53people will say that babies
• 51:55are cute and everything, but
• 51:56when push comes to shove,
• 51:58you know, they won't follow
• 51:59through.
• 52:00One narrative that's that I
• 52:01found has been helpful is,
• 52:03take childcare for example.
• 52:05Framing childcare as,
• 52:08support for working families. Right?
• 52:11It's like, this is how
• 52:12you get people into the
• 52:13workforce.
• 52:15Like, you take care of
• 52:15their kids, then they can
• 52:17go to work. And so
• 52:18if you care about,
• 52:19you know, the the unemployment
• 52:20rate and, and money in
• 52:22the economy. Right? And so
• 52:24framing,
• 52:25framing it,
• 52:28in in that particular way.
• 52:29Do you have any other
• 52:30examples,
• 52:31that have seemed to work
• 52:32for people where,
• 52:34you're you're shifting the narrative
• 52:36to having people think about
• 52:37early childhood and sustainable policy
• 52:39in
• 52:40terms that
• 52:42they're more familiar with or
• 52:43make more sense.
• 52:45So
• 52:46I I appreciate your point,
• 52:48and and I like the
• 52:49question because it reminds me
• 52:51of a tenet of complex
• 52:53systems that that is that
• 52:54I like, which is that
• 52:56the location of the problem
• 52:58is sometimes
• 52:59not intuitively connected to the
• 53:01location of the solution.
• 53:03And if we begin that
• 53:04trail with the problem,
• 53:05sometimes we get to solutions
• 53:07that are
• 53:08not readable or are not
• 53:10useful.
• 53:11Like climate change is to
• 53:13me the perfect example because
• 53:15climate change, if you begin
• 53:16with climate change as a
• 53:17problem and you use that
• 53:19as the focus of building
• 53:20the solution, the solution is
• 53:22no climate change.
• 53:23But that is not really
• 53:24what we're talking about. The
• 53:26solution to climate change is
• 53:27sustainable development.
• 53:29Okay?
• 53:30So following
• 53:31that thought,
• 53:32when I talk about early
• 53:34childhood development,
• 53:35I hardly ever begin by
• 53:37talking about early childhood development.
• 53:39One of the virtues of
• 53:40being able to cross this
• 53:42bridge because I have this
• 53:43dual
• 53:44nationality in environmental,
• 53:46social ecology,
• 53:47and policy and
• 53:49developmental science is that I
• 53:51lean on this side of
• 53:52the conversation.
• 53:53We talk about water. We
• 53:55talk about
• 53:58economic development. We talk about
• 53:59equity. We talk about all
• 54:01of the other issues of
• 54:02sustainable development and youth. And
• 54:04then you say, and this
• 54:06is why
• 54:07financing early childhood development programs
• 54:10is useful.
• 54:12It serves two purposes. One,
• 54:14it's always better to talk
• 54:15to people that are beyond
• 54:16your field
• 54:17in terms that are readable
• 54:19to them. So that so
• 54:20that's kind of like a
• 54:21warm handshake, I feel.
• 54:23The second is that it
• 54:25creates the proper bridge between
• 54:27because I think that the
• 54:28bridge
• 54:29most people again, we do
• 54:31these national workshops and the
• 54:32workshops begin
• 54:34with two hours
• 54:35just talking about what is
• 54:37early childhood development.
• 54:39And these are ministers of
• 54:41government representing all of the
• 54:42ministries of all of the
• 54:43governments that we're visiting.
• 54:46This is really important because
• 54:48then we give them one
• 54:49hour to ask any question
• 54:51they ever had about these
• 54:52presentations
• 54:53we gave. And the questions
• 54:55you hear
• 54:56are questions
• 54:57that come from people that
• 54:59have never heard the things
• 55:00that we know so well
• 55:02about.
• 55:03Things that have to do
• 55:04with stunting. In Marshall Islands,
• 55:05we spent a full twenty
• 55:07minutes talking about stunting when
• 55:09it was in the question
• 55:10and answer period.
• 55:12But then simpler things like
• 55:13brain development,
• 55:15things that have to I
• 55:16mean, simpler things to us,
• 55:18like
• 55:20epigenetics.
• 55:22And then at that time,
• 55:23it all of these things
• 55:24that are fuzzy
• 55:26and not altogether,
• 55:28clear in their minds start
• 55:30becoming not just clear,
• 55:32but the understanding that they
• 55:34are fundamental.
• 55:35That the damage that that
• 55:37they
• 55:38help that you give at
• 55:39that moment is not just
• 55:41really cool.
• 55:42It is a fundamental building
• 55:44block of a society that
• 55:45will do better.
• 55:46And once that happens, that
• 55:48once that bridge is cross
• 55:50crossed, and so the second
• 55:51piece
• 55:53of experience, I don't know
• 55:54if it's advice, but the
• 55:55second piece of experience is
• 55:57relationship building.
• 55:59Like spending the time that
• 56:00it takes to get to
• 56:02know the people that you're
• 56:03working with. Because just in
• 56:04the exchange,
• 56:06you will be
• 56:07hopefully seen as
• 56:09a goofy but trusted partner.
• 56:12And and that just helps
• 56:14bridge the gap when people
• 56:15are thinking,
• 56:17well, I'm not too sure
• 56:17about this, but I am
• 56:19certainly sure about this person.
• 56:21So
• 56:23I saw another hand. Yeah.
• 56:25Oh, no. This has been
• 56:26fantastic, and I think it's
• 56:27so vitally important,
• 56:29now to be talking about,
• 56:30you know, the the the
• 56:31these huge challenges that we're
• 56:33facing.
• 56:35In light light of the
• 56:36the hurricanes which have recently
• 56:38impacted this good quadrant of
• 56:40the United States,
• 56:42a couple of us have
• 56:43been having conversations
• 56:45with the administration
• 56:46about
• 56:47replicating
• 56:48what the Obama administration did
• 56:50under hurricane Sandy,
• 56:52which was to say never
• 56:53again will we rebuild in
• 56:56the same way with the
• 56:57focus on buildings and people
• 56:58and bridges and all of
• 56:59that, like you said with
• 57:00the infrastructure act. To say,
• 57:02let's never
• 57:04go again
• 57:05and focus on the people.
• 57:06You know, let's rejuvenate the
• 57:07people so that they can
• 57:09they can,
• 57:11be resilient just like you've
• 57:12described.
• 57:13So my question is,
• 57:17what is the punch list
• 57:19of what we need the
• 57:21administration to do now assuming
• 57:23they are gonna put forth
• 57:24a similar effort, you know,
• 57:25rejuvenating the people to be
• 57:27able to withstand climate impacts?
• 57:30What would the categories of
• 57:31your punch list be, and
• 57:32what would be some items
• 57:34on that punch list?
• 57:35So the answer to that
• 57:37one is,
• 57:38I mean, the quickest answer
• 57:39to that one is the
• 57:40nurturing care framework.
• 57:42We have to
• 57:44this is why this is
• 57:45such a powerful, important tool
• 57:47that was built by Global
• 57:49Early Childhood Development Policy
• 57:53scientists
• 57:54that
• 57:55we have to take care
• 57:56of health.
• 57:57We have to take care
• 57:58of parental care, we have
• 58:00to take care of safety
• 58:01and security,
• 58:02we have to take care
• 58:03of nutrition, and we have
• 58:04to take care of opportunities
• 58:06for learning.
• 58:07For children
• 58:09and their, that are zero
• 58:11to three years of age
• 58:12and emphasis on them
• 58:14and their caregivers. Because again,
• 58:16we're not talking
• 58:18about
• 58:19a baby. We're talking about
• 58:21a system.
• 58:22And
• 58:23if we reveal the baby
• 58:25in that system,
• 58:26then we put together
• 58:28interventions that are focused on
• 58:29those children. And
• 58:31the thing is that by
• 58:33virtue of doing that,
• 58:35you are not just talking
• 58:36about the return on resilience.
• 58:37You're talking about the other
• 58:39two returns as well. It
• 58:41is the thing that we
• 58:43always needed to do anyway
• 58:45to make sure that people
• 58:47are rich a life of
• 58:48well-being and potential.
• 58:50It is always the thing
• 58:51that we needed to do
• 58:52to make sure that beyond
• 58:54climate adaptation and resilience,
• 58:56you have communities that are
• 58:57sustainable.
• 58:59So it's,
• 59:00again, it's like grabbing sand
• 59:02always, but but it is
• 59:04an important statement to make
• 59:05because
• 59:06focusing
• 59:07investment and attention in that
• 59:09moment allows you for that
• 59:11broad impact to happen.
• 59:13Can you drill down a
• 59:14couple levels, though, to the
• 59:16ground of implementation?
• 59:17We have a footprint right
• 59:18now that we could be
• 59:19working in, and let's just
• 59:21say there is money out
• 59:22there to do some of
• 59:23some of those those pillars
• 59:24that you discussed.
• 59:26What would it look like
• 59:27in terms of implementation?
• 59:29Yeah. Those are I mean,
• 59:30that's a conversation that we
• 59:32can have following up this
• 59:33because it's two PM. So,
• 59:35but, yes, there are there
• 59:36are many examples. And they
• 59:38are contextual, of course, because
• 59:39it depends on the country
• 59:40and the priorities of that
• 59:42country and the culture of
• 59:43that country. But there are
• 59:44many examples of the application
• 59:46of this.
• 59:47Yes. Thank you. Thank you
• 59:49for your question. Thank you.