Meeting G20 Commitments:The Crisis in Early Childhood Development (ECD)

The G20 Leaders’ Summit in 2018 advocated a ‘high priority’ in early years, launching the G20 Initiative for Early Childhood Development (ECD), as ‘early childhood is one of the most significant and influential phases of life’. The UK was a signatory of this initiative. Our research demonstrates, however, that public spending in lower- and middle-income countries does not deliver front-loaded investment in the early years of childhood. In the UNICEF report Too Little Too Late, we mapped public spending on children by age in 84 countries. An update of our analysis ahead of the Rio G20 summit showed that in the African Union, on average just 6.5% of public spending on children was spent on the under-6s, compared to 30% in EU countries. This equates to just 865 USD being spent per child in Africa; 72,000USD per child is spent in the EU. Spending less on the youngest directly contradicts the key principles of the G20 initiative. The UK had been a leader on global child poverty reduction under previous Labour governments, but has fallen behind on its responsibilities since 2010. The upcoming G20 Leaders’ Summit in Brazil is a key opportunity to take a leading role in ensuring that the G20 lives up to its promises to the youngest children around the world.