Investing in Early Childhood Development Brings a Return

Investing in early childhood development brings a return. This was the conclusion of experts at a high-level conference on practical knowledge and skills from an early age, held in Sofia on 21^st of March. The discussion is part of the Bulgarian Presidency of the council of the EU.

What is the cost of inaction of a society? 250 million children aged under 5 are at risk of not developing their potential.

The consequences are clear - their average income as they grow up may be up to 25 per cent lower. data by UNICEF shows. If you change the beginning of the story, you can change the whole story - experts are convinced.

Deepa Grover, Senior Advisor on Early Childhood Development, UNICEF Regional Office for Central and Eastern Europe has said that early childhood is a period of opportunity for the formation of qualified workforce.

According to representatives of the World Bank, regional development, depopulation of villages and empty schools in them also affect the early development of children living in such regions. What do we do to support families - there is money support to family members who work 50 km. away from where they live.

Rositsa Dimitrova, Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Policy, said that the funds are used to include children in nurseries, respectively to pay the fees, so that children can go to kindergartens.

In Bulgaria, by 2021, 16 homes for children deprived of parental care and 17 homes for children for medical care will be closed.

Jana Hainsworth, Secretary General of Eurochild has said that Bulgaria was doing a lot in this area through the reform of deinstitutionalization. When 7,000 children in a society are in institutions, it means they are separated from it. We need to invest to ensure that they do not remain in the system of the institutions.

The financial return for governments from investing in programmes for early childhood development is between 7 and 13%.