PATH launches two ECD advocacy films in international forums

The 2016 Lancet series on early childhood development (ECD) introduces the term “nurturing care,” which encompasses the multiple domains of services that children require in order to attain their full potential in life. These domains include health, nutrition, responsive caregiving, security and safety, and early learning.

The Lancet recognizes that government-led health and nutrition platforms are relatively strong and, as such, need to expand their scope to also deliver responsive caregiving services to the youngest children 0–3 years and their caregivers. In the early years, it is the health system that offers the most consistent and regular means to reach young children and their caregivers.

Over the past few years, PATH has pioneered the approach of using the health system as the basis for delivering responsive caregiving services to the youngest children, while also simultaneously strengthening and/or reinforcing linkages to nutrition, safety and security, and early learning promotion through health sector and community based service platforms. PATH identified a need for visual media to better articulate to key policymakers, donors, and governmental and nongovernmental partners how ECD/nurturing care can be integrated into health service delivery. This thinking resulted in the development of two films: a full-length 14-minute version and a shorter 4-minute version.

The films debuted in June before large audiences at the national launches of the Lancet ECD series in Kenya and Zambia, where feedback was extremely positive. The films were also screened at an international nutrition/ECD conference in Nepal the same month, which highlights their global relevance. The films were developed with strong technical collaboration with UNICEF and the Aga Khan Foundation and incorporated editorial guidance and feedback from a range of other global ECD stakeholders.