Add Today Multiply Tomorrow : Building an Investment Case for Early Childhood Education

The financing for Early Childhood Education (ECE) is quite low. While countries are investing in early years’ education, the contributions are relatively small, inconsistent, and unsustainable. Investment in early years has far-reaching impact as it contributes towards the child’s development, readiness for primary schooling, and is a key building block for future economic participation and growth. 

The ‘Add Today Multiply Tomorrow: Building an Investment Case for Early Childhood Education’ report by UNICEF, Education Commission, Education Outcomes Fund, and LEGO Foundation builds a case for investment in the ECE sub-sector. The report outlines why investing in ECE is good for children, their families, communities, and societies at large. It shares evidence on the cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness of various ECE programmes alongside outlaying the current state of financing and highlighting some innovative mechanisms for financing the sub-sector. 

To succeed in ensuring better access to ECE for all children, strong advocacy and commitment is needed on part of all stakeholders, including governments, international donors, private funders, and civil society etc. We must ADD today to see our investments MULTIPLY tomorrow