The U-8 Initiative

Early Childhood Development and Education

Our Commitment:
Through the Under-8 or U-8 Initiative, which will require $10 million over five years, we will:

• support and strengthen at least 100 grassroots organizations in the developing world that provide quality early childhood development programs for vulnerable children under age 8 in order to ensure their healthy psychosocial and physical development and prepare them for formal schooling;
• invest in children’s books, documentary films, and photography that raise awareness of the importance of early childhood education in realizing the potential of young children in the developing world and highlight innovative grassroots organizations with model programs.

More than 200 million young children in the developing world are not fulfilling their potential due to poverty, poor nutrition, and insufficient care. This early childhood development challenge was documented in a series of articles in the Lancet in 2007, urging an evidence-based global call to action. Early intervention is needed in order to ensure that these children, the majority of them in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, develop their cognitive, social, and emotional abilities so that they are prepared to take on the challenge of formal schooling. If they are not reached at an early age, they will start to fall behind before they even enter primary school. They may not be able to overcome this early deficit, which may prevent them from completing school and fulfilling their potential as adults, perpetuating the cycle of poverty into the next generation.

Through the U-8 Initiative, we commit to investing $10 million in 100 grassroots organizations working to harness and develop the potential of children under age 8. Starting with a commitment of $500,000 this year, this investment will increase over the course of five years. In keeping with our mission to advance the dignity of children around the world through investing in innovative community-based organizations working with the poorest and most vulnerable young children, we will support 100 organizations in at least 20 countries. We will focus on developing countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America and touch the lives of between 250,000 and 500,000 children.

In addition, we will raise awareness of the importance of early childhood development and publicize effective interventions through our dynamic media program, Global Media Ventures. Over the course of five years, we will invest in eight films, three photography fellows, and four children’s books, including translations of our titles into several languages spoken by children in developing countries. With a goal of fostering global citizenship, this powerful media initiative has the power to garner and sustain attention on and increase the visibility of the critical needs of young children, and to demonstrate the innovative community solutions that serve them.

The U-8 Initiative was unveiled during the annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative, Sept. 26-28, 2007 in New York City.

Partnership Opportunities:
We invite partnerships with people and organizations to provide funding for our “grants plus” approach to supporting and strengthening small community-based organizations working with young children. We are also looking for partners in our knowledge ventures to help raise awareness of the importance of early childhood development in the developing world, to exchange knowledge among field practitioners, and to document and publicize the most promising and successful models from the grass roots. We also welcome partners for our Global Media Ventures investments in children’s books, documentary films, and photography that celebrate global diversity and show grassroots organizations’ impact on the lives of poor and vulnerable children.

Background:
Inspiration often starts with a spark. The spark that catalyzed our commitment can be traced to December 1999, when President Bill Clinton went online to buy holiday gifts to show the American public that it was safe to make purchases through the Internet. One of the gifts he purchased was our first book, Children from Australia to Zimbabwe. Our grantmaking work was just gaining momentum at that time, and we are proud to have established a track record of success, as evidenced by our thriving early grantee partners, several of which have been featured at prior meetings of the Clinton Global Initiative. They include Ruchika Social Service Organization (grantee 1997–2005), the Afghan Institute of Learning (grantee 1999–2005), CAMFED (grantee 2000–2001), Room to Read (grantee 2002), and Ubuntu Education Fund (grantee 2002–2005). 

Inspired by the vision of a world where all children grow up to be productive, caring citizens of a global society, this commitment focuses on the psychosocial development of young children under age 8. Early childhood development has received little attention internationally, even though the early years of childhood are critical for lifelong learning as well as physical and emotional health. The second Millennium Development Goal calls for all children to be capable of completing primary education by 2015. In achieving this goal, nimble and responsive community organizations are best poised to reach and serve the most vulnerable children, who are often missed by mainstream initiatives.

We provide an important bridge between community-based organizations and the larger philanthropic and international development communities, finding emerging leaders and innovative service models and nurturing them over time so that they become stronger and more sustainable. Over the course of our history, we have distributed more than $7.6 million in grants, as well as complementary value-added services for capacity building, to over 279 groups in 65 countries and reached well over 1 million children.

With an eye toward strengthening the grass roots, we will seek out the most promising community-based early childhood development and education models that build the skills of both children and their parents. These programs will demonstrate a record of success in developing the social, emotional, and cognitive abilities of young children under age 8 and preparing them to enter primary school. Through a combination of financial support, organizational development assistance, and technical strengthening, these nascent and emerging community models will become bigger, stronger, and more effective in their efforts to reach the youngest and most vulnerable children in their communities, providing global demonstration models for adaptation.

Our “grants plus” approach involves awarding small direct grants as well as an array of value-added services, including intensive organizational development assistance, supplemental grants to improve children’s health and well-being, pro bono legal referrals, and help with leveraging additional funding, visibility, and capacity. Our knowledge ventures include regional knowledge exchanges bringing together grassroots practitioners, international fellowships bringing exemplary field practitioners’ grassroots perspectives to our headquarters, capacity building, and knowledge management. The U-8 Initiative will also engage an expert adviser in early child development and sponsor at least one international fellow to work with us on knowledge initiatives.

Through our Global Media Ventures program, we have published 22 children’s books, invested in three documentary films addressing children’s issues, and sponsored three talented young photographers to visit our grantee partners to highlight the hope and opportunity they cultivate in the vulnerable children they serve. The U-8 Initiative will invest in at least eight documentary films and three photography fellows, produce at least four children’s books, and translate six existing titles into new languages.

Read our press release here.