On April 29, the Brazilian Ministry of Health, together with the Inter-American Dialogue, UNICEF, REMDI, the Maria Cecilia Souto Vidigal Foundation, the José Luiz Egydio Setúbal Foundation, and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), organized the International Seminar on Monitoring Early Childhood Development at PAHO headquarters in Brasilia.

The seminar presented the experiences, challenges, and policy instruments for assessing early childhood development in several Latin American countries, including Brazil, Chile, Uruguay and Mexico. The meeting allowed for a specialized discussion and exchange of knowledge on child development. Different actors from the public and private sectors, international organizations and civil society gained valuable knowledge on actions to improve public policies for early childhood and strengthened capacities for regional cooperation.

In addition, REMDI-established in 2016 as a network to facilitate the exchange of experience and assistance in early childhood development among Latin American countries-was represented by Lorena Rivera, Executive Director of the Center for Early Childhood Studies (CEPI) of Chile, Giorgina Garibotto, Director of Knowledge Management of Uruguay Crece Contigo of the Ministry of Social Development, Argelia Vázquez Salas, Researcher at the Population Health Research Center of the National Institute of Public Health of Mexico, and Jenny Encina, Head of the Social Reality Analysis Department, Social Observatory Division, of the Ministry of Social Development and Family of Chile.

The day before the seminar, international organizations, civil society actors and government representatives from Brazil, Chile, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Peru, the Dominican Republic, and Uruguay met to discuss regional advances in early childhood development, such as individual and national level measurement of health and education. In addition, stakeholders discussed future measurement challenges for Latin America, such as the need to establish sustainable cooperation systems for the exchange of knowledge and technical assistance to enable consistent assessments across countries. In her closing message, Finoli stated that "In recent years, the region has seen progress in the construction of child development measurement systems; we see that more is being measured and it is being measured better. What we need to do now is to advance in the plans for using the information collected and to generate a true culture of evidence use".

Watch the recording of the seminar

Tuesday, November 15,2022

The Regional Network to Measure Early Childhood Development (REMDI), with the support of the Inter-American Dialogue, last Tuesday  November 15 held the online event : The application of instruments to measure child development during the pandemic: Challenges and lessons learned

Since 2019 the Regional Network to Measure Early Childhood Development (REMDI) has been working to promote the exchange of experiences and knowledge on issues related to the measurement of child development in the region. Following the REMDI’s mission of promoting knowledge exchange in evaluation efforts, this webinar explains the challenges faced and the lessons learned by Latin American countries when implementing instruments for measuring child development in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Measuring early childhood development has a strategic role in the early childhood agenda. Latin America and the Caribbean have made significant progress on the subject and have relevant experiences. However, during the pandemic, measuring early childhood development became even more crucial to be able to, among other things, define preventive actions associated with the setbacks caused by confinement.

Participants:

• Ariel Fiszbein, Director, Education Program, Inter-American Dialogue, 
• Giorgina Garibotto, Director of Management and Knowledge Generation Division of Uruguay Crece Contigo in the Ministry of Social Development (MIDES), Uruguay
• Yannig Dussart, Early Childhood Development Manager, UNICEF Regional Office of Latin America and the Caribbean
• Laura V. Sánchez-Vincitore, Director, Neurocognition and Psychophysiology Laboratory, Ibero-American University
• María Elena Valdez, Child Development Assessment Technician, National Institute for Comprehensive Early Childhood Care (INAIPI)
• Laura Feliza Vélez Medina, Deputy Director, Technical Management for Early Childhood Care, Colombian Family Welfare Institute
• Nisme Yurany Pineda Báez, Advisor, Directorate of Early Childhood at the Ministry of National Education of Colombia
• Argelia Vázquez Salas, Researcher, Mexico’s National Institute of Public Health (INSP)
• Nicole Garay Unjidos, Head of the National Office Chile Crece Contigo, Department of Vital Cycle, Division of Prevention and Control of Diseases, Ministry of Health of Chile
• Jeanet Leguas, Chile Crece Contigo, Ministry of Social Development and Family, Chile
• Sesangari Ortiz Head of the Department of Institutional Monitoring for Early Childhood Issues, Executive Secretariat of SIPINNA, Mexico.

Ver: Event Recording

In this private REMDI meeting Colombia, Mexico and Uruguay presented their experiences in measuring child development in health services and/or early childhood education centers.

The intention of the space was to create a dynamic discussion where colleagues from the participating countries could ask technical questions on the subject.  

Watch > Recording

Measuring early childhood development has a strategic role in the early childhood agenda. Latin America and the Caribbean have made significant progress on the subject and have relevant experiences. Within these experiences, the Regional Network to Measure Early Childhood Development (REMDI) stands out, as a network of experts in the region whose mission is to promote and facilitate the exchange of knowledge on evaluation efforts.

During the pandemic, measuring early childhood development became even more crucial to be able to, among other things, define preventive actions associated with the setbacks caused by confinement. This event presented the work of REMDI and the current evaluation efforts in the region as well as initiatives that emerged during the pandemic to measure childhood development and the impact of the crisis on it.

This event was held in Spanish with simultaneous interpretation in English.

Watch > Lessons learned