Early Childhood Development (ECD) policies and programs targeting young children and families, such as home visiting interventions, can positively impact a child's development and lead to long-term health, education, and social benefits. These programs employ numerous professionals, paraprofessionals, and volunteers. It is essential for this early childhood workforce to be highly prepared and well-supported to ensure that young children have a strong foundation for healthy development and future success. Yet across sectors and countries, inadequate training, burdensome workloads, lack of supervision, poor wages, and other adverse conditions threaten the motivation and capacity of this workforce.
The Early Childhood Workforce Initiative (ECWI), hosted by International Step by Step Association and Results for Development, is a global effort to support practitioners. Under ECWI, a series of country studies will examine ways to strengthen and scale up a quality workforce. The first of these studies, Supporting the early childhood workforce at scale: The Cuna Más home visiting program in Peru, focuses on Cuna Más, a large-scale ECD program in Peru.
Photo courtesy of Programa Nacional Cuna Más
