Invest in Childcare

In 2022, the World Bank Group launched the Invest in Childcare initiative to drive investments in quality, affordable childcare.  

Expanding access to quality, affordable childcare is among the most important investments that countries can make to build human capital, accelerate equality, and place women and children at the center of economic growth.

Over 40 percent of children globally—or nearly 350 million—below primary-school-entry age need childcare but do not have access to it. The childcare challenge disproportionately impacts families in low and lower-middle-income countries.

Invest in Childcare², launched in 2022, is an ambitious cross-sectoral work program that strategically addresses the childcare challenge through research, major new data collection, policy changes and new operational approaches that can work at scale.    

• At the country level, the initiative supports countries to make the case for childcare and design and implement quality projects that maximize benefits for women, children, families businesses and economies. This includes country grants, technical assistance to World Bank country teams and capacity building opportunities. 
  
• At both the global and country level, the initiative engages in analytical work, including impact evaluations, data collection efforts and the development of new tools and guidance that help address knowledge gaps, build the evidence base, inform programming and serve as global public goods.

This work program supports the delivery of the new IDA20 policy commitment on childcare (“to support at least 15 IDA countries to expand access to quality, affordable childcare, especially for low-income parents”).  

Invest in Childcare is supported by the governments of Australia, Canada, Germany and the United States; the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation; Echidna Giving; the Hewlett Foundation; and the LEGO Foundation. Combined, these pledges will catalyze at least $180 million in new funding to ensure quality, affordable childcare in available in low- and middle-income countries worldwide. We are also working closely with other multilaterals, civil society organizations and academia to ensure we build on the great work many organizations and partners have been leading in this space. Regular consultations are held to share updates and gather feedback. 

Working together, we can help governments meet five key policy goals to ensure quality, affordable childcare is available for all families that need it and secure better jobs and brighter futures:

¹ Childcare refers to a service with the primary objective of caring for children while parents are working (or otherwise unavailable). Quality childcare should ensure children are safe and have opportunities to learn and develop positive relationships with caregivers and peers. Childcare provision mostly caters to children from birth up to primary-school-entry age (typically up to age 5-6) but can include after-school care. Childcare can be provided in different settings and financed through various modalities. It may be called various names in different contexts, but tends to fall into three categories: (i) center-based care (e.g. daycares, nurseries, crèches, etc.); (ii) home-based care (either care by someone in the child’s own home or care provided for a group of children in a caregiver’s home); and (iii) family and other informal arrangements (which may or may not be remunerated). Although the primary objective of preschool is to prepare children for primary school, it can also serve a childcare function if designed with consideration for the needs of working parents (e.g. offering full-day, as opposed to half-day, services).

²Invest in Childcare is an initiative of the World Bank’s Early Learning Partnership (ELP) Trust Fund (ELP is associated to the Foundational Learning Compact  Trust Fund). The work is coordinated by the World Bank’s Early Learning Partnership (ELP), working with a cross-sectoral working group of WBG staff, which provides strategic direction and guidance. The working group includes members from Education, Gender, Social Projection and Jobs, Human Capital Project team, Health, Nutrition and Population, Poverty, Skills and Jobs and ECD Global Skills Groups, along with various research and survey units (Women Business and the Law, DEC, DIME, SIEF, Gender Innovation Labs, ECD Measurement) and IFC. In addition, various World Bank Group teams lead on specific pieces of work.

Last Updated: Mar 27, 2024

At the country level, the activities of the Invest in Childcare initiative focus on making the case for childcare and supporting countries to design and implement quality projects that maximize the benefits for women and children. This includes providing country grant funding, including catalytic country grants and match funding for projects, delivering technical assistance to country teams, and capacity building initiatives.

Country Grant Funding

The Invest in Childcare initiative provides two types of country grants to drive quality investments in childcare:

Catalytic grants (up to $250,000), which are executed by World Bank teams in collaboration with governments (Bank-Executed grants). Funding can be utilized in a variety of ways but typically includes conducting upstream analytical work that generates knowledge or helps to make the case for childcare, designing quality operations, providing technical support for implementation, or strengthening the enabling environment.

The first competitive round of catalytic grants was launched in July 2022 and awarded $4.5 million to 26 proposals. The second round was launched in September 2023 and is ongoing.

Match funding (up to $10 million) for World Bank-supported projects, which are implemented directly by governments (Recipient-Executed grants). Funds are available to country teams for childcare activities within World Bank operations on a 1:1 or 1:2 match basis. So far, $17.9 million has been awarded to 5 countries.

The map below provides an overview of country grants awarded to date:

Summaries of country level work

Listed below are a few examples of projects that have received catalytic country grants or match funding from the Invest in Childcare initiative. The full list of grants is available here.

Examples of catalytic Bank-Executed grants

Argentina: Designing Childcare Options for Agri-food System Workers through Productive Alliances

In Argentina, Invest in Childcare funding will be used to support the design of childcare options for agricultural workers through: (i) a diagnostic of social norms, constraints and barriers faced by women in agricultural communities through focus group discussions; (ii)  a series of consultations with public agencies, CSOs, firms and parents to identify feasible and relevant childcare models, including public private partnerships; and (iii) the design of an approach to deliver childcare in the agricultural communities surveyed, including the design of a curriculum that is meaningful for the agricultural context (e.g. green activities and children’s gardens). The team also plan to disseminate the findings at a regional level to promote policy discussion on rural childcare provision.

Bangladesh: Designing a community-based childcare model for women not in education, employment or training (NEET)

Invest in Childcare funding will be used to design a community-managed childcare model in Bangladesh to promote the participation of young women that are Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET). Four activities will be financed: (i) situation assessment of supply and demand focusing on rural areas; (ii) design of a tailored community-based childcare model; (iii) design of an impact evaluation, project monitoring framework, and tools; and (iv) knowledge sharing and policy guidance. This model would be piloted through a new World Bank-financed operation.

Republic of Congo: Supporting women entrepreneurs to start or grow childcare businesses

In the Republic of Congo, Invest in Childcare funding will be used to pilot an approach to support women to start childcare businesses as an income generating activity within a women’s empowerment project. Start up grants will be provided through the project and Invest in Childcare funding will support: (i) a rapid assessment of the demand and supply of home- and community-based childcare services for vulnerable households in urban and peri-urban areas; (ii) the identification and training of childcare entrepreneurs interested in starting or growing a childcare business; (iii) ongoing coaching and mentoring for the childcare entrepreneurs and (iv) the monitoring and dissemination of lessons learned, development of an implementation manual and sharing a pilot report and a case study to foster government dialogue around childcare.

Jordan: Promoting multi-sector collaboration and designing childcare modalities for a new project

In Jordan, the government recently launched the Economic Modernization Vision 2030, which prioritizes women’s economic participation. This is currently hindered by limited access to childcare; however, the government has made recent progress on the legal and policy framework for childcare and a forthcoming World Bank-supported project is intended to expand the access and quality of childcare. Invest in Childcare funding will be used to support the design of the project components for childcare, including: (i) conducting a mapping of the childcare sector in Jordan to identify potential synergies, redundancies, and gaps in governmental functions; (ii) identifying opportunities for multi-sectoral collaboration in developing the childcare sector and designing childcare modalities to be piloted in the project.

Kenya: Integrating childcare into a youth employment program to enable participation and as a training/employment track

In Kenya, Invest in Childcare funding will be used to support the identification of cost-effective, scalable childcare models to provide access to children of women participating in the National Youth Opportunities Towards Advancement Project (NYOTA) to improve their employability. Funding will support: (i) the identification and documentation of available childcare models suitable for vulnerable youth that could be piloted and later scaled up through the project; (ii) the preparation of guidelines and recommendations for integrating childcare in NYOTA; and (iii) exploring options to support childcare employment both as a training track within NYOTA and through provision of childcare to NYOTA participants.

Regional East and Southern Africa: Catalyzing knowledge and investment on childcare in Eastern and Southern Africa

Invest in Childcare funding will be used for analytical work to support the preparation of a regional women’s economic empowerment operation in a number of East and Southern African countries. The funding will be used to support: (i) a regional workshop on childcare arrangements for low-income families; (ii) a crowdsourcing campaign to identify key local players, raise awareness and highlight promising childcare solutions in the region; and (iii) supply and demand side situation assessments in at least four countries building on the tools and analysis developed for a similar situation assessment implemented in Mozambique with funding in FY20-21.

Examples of Recipient-Executed grants

Moldova (Moldova Education Quality Improvement Project, P179363): Expanding access to childcare for vulnerable populations and Ukrainian refugees and training practitioners.

The objective of the project is to improve the learning environment of education institutions (including early education and care centers (ECEC)) and to better support vulnerable Moldovan families and refugees from Ukraine. Invest in Childcare has invested $5 million (matched by $10m IBRD), to expand access to vulnerable and refugee families (with a focus on full day services) and to strengthen workforce capacity through in-service training.

Somalia (Empowering Women through Education and Skills Project "Rajo Kaaba", P176898): Developing childcare as a training track within skills training programs and offering childcare to project beneficiaries

The objective of Rajo Kaaba is to improve literacy and numeracy skills of women in selected areas and to prepare women for leadership roles. Invest in Childcare has invested $2 million (matched by $2 million IDA funding) to integrate childcare within the project, including through: offering childcare as a training track within the skills programs, along with support for childcare entrepreneurs; ensuring children is available to women taking part in the project; and developing quality standards for childcare in Somalia.

Rwanda (Stunting Prevention and Reduction Project, P179499): Expanding and improving the quality (and convenience) of established ECD services

The objective of the Stunting Prevention and Reduction project is to contribute to the reduction in the stunting rate among children under five years of age. Early Childhood Development (ECD) settings in Rwanda serve children from zero to six years old with a special emphasis on nutrition and other interventions to reduce stunting, alongside offering early learning and childcare. Invest in Childcare has invested $4 million (matched by at least $10 million IDA funding) to expand this approach and improve the quality of childcare through training caregivers and other stakeholders, providing tools and materials to newly established settings and supporting peer-peer learning among childcare providers to promote learning and innovative practices.

Capacity Building Initiatives

The Invest in Childcare initiative enacts a range of capacity-building efforts, including:

Childcare training for Early Years Fellows: the Early Years Fellowship was launched by the World Bank Group‘s Early Learning Partnership to support governments and World Bank teams to scale up investments in early childhood development. The Invest in Childcare team has developed a childcare training module for fellows that covers the rationale for childcare investments, operationalizing childcare investments in the World Bank, different modalities, quality assurance, and advancing childcare as an Early Years Fellow.

Engaging Policymakers to Invest in Childcare: Building on the multi-year Engaging Policymakers in Early Childhood program launched in 2021, Engaging Policymakers to Invest in Childcare is a 18-month program designed to increase the volume and improve the quality of investments in childcare and related early childhood interventions. The selection of a cohort of 10-12 country teams is ongoing.

Policy Academy: The Invest in Childcare team is developing a 2-hour, self-paced course on childcare suited for World Bank staff, policymakers, and practitioners. The course will be available on the Early Childhood Education (ECE) Policy Academy platform in early 2024. Participants will receive a World Bank certificate at the successful completion of the course.

Last Updated: Mar 27, 2024

Better Jobs and Brighter Futures: Investing in Childcare to Build Human Capital Report - English | French | Spanish | Russian | Arabic This paper presents the evidence on why childcare matters, looks at the current status of childcare provision globally, and proposes specific actions countries can take to expand access to quality, affordable childcare for all families that need it, especially the most vulnerable. The paper was produced with substantial contributions from staff from across the World Bank. Executive Summary - English | French |Spanish | Portuguese | Russian | Arabic

IFC: Tackling Childcare: The Business Case for Employer-Supported Childcare (2017) – English This report discusses how companies can analyze their workforce to identify the type of childcare support they can offer to their employees – from on-site childcare to subsidies – that best suits their needs. The report draws on 10 case studies from companies  around the world offering various childcare options and family-friendly policies.

Tools and resources

Building on existing resources, the Invest in Childcare team is developing tools and guidance on essential childcare-related subjects. The list below presents currently accessible tools and resources, as well as those slated for release in the near future.

• Thematic brief on Addressing Care to Accelerate Equality prepared for World Bank Gender Strategy Update
• WBL dataset and questionnaire on regulatory frameworks for childcare access, financing and quality
• Guidance note: Building the childcare workforce through skills training and employment programs (updated version due December 2023)

Coming soon

• Guidance note: Essential elements of quality childcare
• Report: Engaging the nonstate sector
• Recommended indicators and survey instruments for assessing the impact on women, children, families and businesses

Blogs

• Child’s Play, Women’s Progress: Reforming Childcare in The Gambia Ahmed, Hilger, Weaver, Bah, and Camara (2023)
• Expanding access to childcare helps women, children, and economies Brixi, Devercelli, Rutkowski, and Saavedra (2022)
• Financing childcare: Understanding the return-on-investment opportunity O’Donnell, Bourgault, Beaton-Day, and Ahmed (2022)

Last Updated: Mar 27, 2024

The Invest in Childcare team hosts and participates in regular events about childcare and related topics. Below is a list of upcoming events as well as past recorded events.

Past recorded events

• “Invest in Childcare Stakeholder Update Meeting”.  Hosted by the Invest in Childcare Initiative in January 2024 (event recording, slides, update briefing circulated before the meeting)
• “Unlocking job opportunities and closing the gender gap”. Webinar co-hosted by the Invest in Childcare initiative and S4YE in April 2023 (event recording). 
  
• Unpacking childcare’s return on investment opportunity“ Technical workshop co-hosted by the Invest in Childcare initiative and the Center for Global Development in June 2022 (blog post on event).

Last Updated: Mar 27, 2024