Investing in early childhood development (ECD) is crucial. What we know about brain development in the first 1,000 days of a child’s life shows an urgent need to ensure quality ECD services reach all children. Investing in the early years is not just about fairness and providing the best start in life for all children; there is also an economic imperative.If governments invest early in high-quality ECD services, the economy stands to benefit too – from reduced savings in social services to the higher economic productivity of the population.

This is where the standardized ECD costing tool (SECT) comes in. Following a review of existing costing data and tools, we drew on the knowledge and experience of a multi-agency working group and an expert working group on costing ECD. With the feedback of these stakeholders, Brookings developed SECT as a way to bridge the gap between knowing what works, and how much it will actually cost.

SECT, an important step forward for costing ECD, is flexible enough to cost the full spectrum of early childhood interventions, and to add rigor and consistency to a field that spans a range of sectors and stakeholders. The tool can be used to make the case for investment, through cost-benefit analysis, or as a way of supporting more informed investments, for example, to support budgeting or cost implementation plans at scale.  The intended audience for the tool is broad since it could be used by government officials, private providers and investors, and other interested parties.

Read the full article about tools investing in early childhood development by Emily Gustafsson-Wright and Izzy Boggild-Jones at The Brookings Institute.