International Collaborative on Developing Comprehensive Community-Based Early Childhood Systems

Many developed countries are taking advantage of the recent knowledge explosion in brain research, by focusing new resources on improving services and systems that enhance early childhood development (ECD). California’s First 5 initiative and the national State Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems Initiative are just two prominent examples of major initiatives in the US. In January 2002, the UCLA Center, -hosted the first International Meeting on Developing Comprehensive Community-Based Early Childhood Systems in Los Angeles. The meeting was designed to promote the development, implementation, and success of evidence-based comprehensive early childhood health and development systems in the United States and other countries. The meeting brought together senior policy and program experts, as well as leaders in the philanthropic sector, and included representatives from England's Sure Start initiative; the Canadian Centre for Studies of Children at Risk at McMaster University; the Centre for Community Child Health at Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne, Australia; and the Los Angeles County First 5 Commission. Together, participants examined emerging and complementary initiatives in Great Britain, Canada, the United States and Australia, and exchanged strategies and tools key to the development and implementation of these initiatives. As a result of the first meeting a number of new cross-national efforts were launched, to share tools, techniques, and policies to support each country’s efforts to improve the delivery of ECD services.

In June 2006, the Center convened the second meeting of the International Collaborative with the original collaborators. The purpose of the second meeting was to drill deeper into key substantive areas and to build a more formal collaborative with on-going projects. Participants presented updates on each country’s polices, programs, and promising new initiatives to help the collaborative understand the common and divergent contexts for early childhood systems. Significant progress was made toward building on-going collaborative relationships and projects. The group decided that it will begin holding a meeting every other year and the Canadian team has begun planning for the next meeting in Canada in 2008. Additionally, individuals have done a number of study tours to visit each other’s countries and UCLA is coordinating several priority collaborative efforts. For instance, the Center is working with the collaborative members to adapt and replicate several instruments designed to measure and monitor early childhood development system of care across the US, Canada and Australia.

For additional information, please contact Lisa Stanley, MPH.