In Latin America and the Caribbean, where economic, social and environmental challenges accumulate, public investments are usually measured by their direct impact: creating jobs, building kilometers of roads, or empowering classrooms. However, the highest and most lasting returns come from a quieter place: the early years of life.
Over the past two decades, the region has made significant progress in ensuring that children aged zero to five years have access to quality care and education services. Coverage for children aged three to five years has risen from about 47% to nearly 65%, according to data from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, and more and more countries are including criteria to evaluate the quality of centers, the training of caregivers, and the importance of educational environments. Jamaica, Mexico and Brazil are examples of countries that are institutionalizing this long-term view.
But expansion alone is not enough. What is crucial is innovation, adapting solutions to diverse contexts and transforming good practices into sustainable policies. The experience of the Innovation Fund for Early Childhood Development, created in 2017 as an alliance between the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Porticus and Van Leer, FEMSA, and the María Cecilia Soto Vidigal Foundation, shows how creativity, evidence and collaboration can change people’s lives from the early years.
Innovate to grow
The Fund was born with the aim of supporting innovative ideas that would find new ways to reach out to the most vulnerable families and measure their impact. Eight years later, more than 700,000 children and 300,000 mothers, fathers and caregivers have benefited from projects that combine technology, family support and institutional strengthening.
In Jamaica, the pioneering home visiting program has become a global model for improving cognitive development. Through the famous adaptation Reach higher and learn During the pandemic, it has moved from in-person visits to remote and hybrid formats with video calls and short meetings led by health workers. This innovation has reached 60,000 families and maintained support when it was needed most, with notable gains in cognition and language.
In Mexico, five innovations have radically transformed support for early learning at home. One allows trained teachers to guide mothers, fathers and caregivers in play activities to stimulate children’s development from birth to two years of age. Along with parenting programs focusing on breastfeeding, self-esteem and early stimulation, these initiatives have reached more than 537,000 children and caregivers, supported by digital tools and rigorous assessments.
In Brazil, the Fund promoted innovative interventions, benefiting more than 57,000 children and caregivers. The projects combined support for families with key content such as breastfeeding, early bonds and maternal mental health. In addition, short-term, low-cost interventions to reduce violent parenting practices and promote positive communication between caregivers and children were evaluated.
Highest return ever
The economic evidence is overwhelming: every dollar invested in high-quality early childhood services can generate returns of up to 14% annually. These are tangible benefits over a lifetime: better educational outcomes, higher work productivity, lower crime rates, and better health that far outweigh the initial costs. Conversely, the cost of not acting is high. According to scientific journal estimates The scalpelHowever, gaps in access and quality during the early years cost the region about 1.6% of GDP. In simple terms, we are losing wealth, talent and social cohesion by not investing in the areas that matter most.
We are losing wealth, talent and social cohesion by not investing in the areas that matter most
Early Childhood Development Innovation Fund projects demonstrate that transformation happens when governments, the private sector and communities work together. Governments provide scale; Private sector, agility; Communities, area knowledge and trust.
This combination allows innovations to move from promising ideas to impactful public policies. Latin America and the Caribbean have shown that it is possible to expand coverage and improve the quality of early childhood services. The challenge now is to maintain this momentum through innovation that strengthens local capabilities.