Global Children's Initiative

The Global Children's Initiative is an integrated international approach to child survival, health and development in the earliest years of life, founded in 2006 at the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. "We view healthy child development as the foundation of economic prosperity, strong communities, and a just society, and our mission is to advance that vision by using science to enhance child well-being through innovations in policy and practice (Global Children's Initiative). The Global Children's Initiative strives to provide a healthy platform for children internationally, to secure a strong foundation within their immediate surroundings, including family, school and society. They strive to use the essential tools of science to create and implement health, learning and and cognitive behavior. They are committed to guiding the design, implementation and evaluation of such scientific programs and practices. The Global Children's Initiative is also utilizing public policies to create and implement these innovated programs.

The Global Children's Initiative concentrates on three strategic objectives:

• To reframe public discourse about he early childhood period by educating policy makers about the underlying commonality science of learning, cognition and health
• To support innovative, multidisciplinary research and demonstration projects in various parts of the world to enhance global understanding of how healthy development happens, how it can be derailed and how to get it back on track
• To build leadership capacity in child development research and policy among individuals and institutions in low-and middle-income countries in order to increase the number and influence of diverse perspectives that are contributing to the global movement on behalf of young children.   

The Global Children's Initiative focuses on a maintains their primary attention on three main domains that are drastically changing and affecting the Early Care Education arena; early childhood development, mental health (diversity), and children in crisis and conflict situations (I.E., poverty).