Week 5 - Equity and excellence

I have been in contact with Sarah Klaus who is the director of the Network Early Childhood Program, Open Society Foundation, UK Sarah Klaus is Director of Early Childhood Programs (the Network Step by Step Program) at the Open Society Institute (OSI).  One of the most interesting facts that Sarah shared with me was about funding.  I always assumed that universal programs were not put into place for the most part because of lack of funding.  What she explained is that success in promoting early child development does not depend upon a society being wealthy.  Because early child development programs rely on the skills of caregiver, the cost of effective programs varies with the wage structure of a society.  Regardless of their level of wealth, societies can make progress on early child development by allocating as little as $1.00 in this area for every $10.00 spent on health and education.  It is all about perspective and priorities.  The interaction that occurs between individual characteristics(genetic and physiologic) and experiences and exposures drawn from the environment are basic to the development of the child.  Everything possible needs to be done to ensure that all factors are being put into place.