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Investing in Early Childhood Development: the Potential Benefits and Cost Savings
Submitted on Sunday, 19 January 2014Last updated on Sunday, 11 June 2017
Early childhood development (ECD) has been recognised as a key contributor to positive outcomes in school and in adulthood. However, questions remain as to its cost-effectiveness and financial sustainability in the African context. This paper tries to answer some of these questions by reviewing the potential benefits of ECD programmes in three areas: education, health and adulthood. The review is supplemented by summaries of cost-benefit studies and a general discussion of the costing and funding issues.