The first 1000 days: Integrating nutrition and early childhood development interventions within existing systems

Evidence suggests that every additional USD 1 invested in early childhood development can yield a return in economic and social benefits of between USD 6 and USD 17.1 Learnings from successful ECD interventions across the globe suggest that activities like group-based parenting programme, combined home visits and group sessions, interactive tools and dose in terms of contact hours with parents give positive returns.

In this issue of Poshan Weekly, we are happy to share process documentation from one such ECD intervention undertaken in low resource settings in four districts of Rajasthan (India) in a phased manner in partnership with the government, local civil society organisations (CSOs) and community, among other stakeholders. The programme ‘Strengthening convergent platforms for effective transaction of Early Childhood Development packages during the first 1000 days’ encompasses integral components of the nurturing care framework, including responsive caregiving, use of local assets, ownership at community level, and multi-sectoral, convergent action.

For all the work many of you do in this context, we hope this edition helps you gain insights and learnings on combining nutrition and ECD for positive and long-lasting impacts on children. To support your reading experience, this edition also includes a similar example from Maharashtra, India wherein the Aarambh programme successfully ensured children across the state have an opportunity to get the right start