This week, over 50 ministers of education, finance and health attended the first ever World Conference on Early Childhood Care and Education in Moscow, designed to draw attention to the critical but neglected need to invest early in children’s futures.

R4D Managing Director, Nicholas Burnett, addressed the plenary. In his remarks Nick asked: “Why is it that outside of Latin America and Europe, there is so little investment in early childhood programs?” He added, “Nobel laureate Jim Heckman has said, there are few investments with such high returns that contribute simultaneously to economic growth and to social justice.”

Burnett argued that, the science and the economics of childhood education are well-known only to the early childhood community and need to be marketed to and then championed by business leaders, civil society organizations, and governments. A new coalition must be built in each country, as is now happening in the United States, and also internationally.

Burnett also stressed that early childhood programs tend to favor the rich. The solution should be focused on increasing public spending on such programs (and delivering them largely through the private sector), to increase aid, and above all, to utilize innovative financing techniques. See more information about R4D’s program in innovative finance for education here.