Leveraging the potential of data to advance early learning and development: celebrating a decade of IDELA and unfolding future prospects

Wed, March 13, 6:30 to 8:00pm, Hyatt Regency Miami, Floor: Third Level, Boardroom

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Data on early learning and development hold the potential to shape children’s lives and living prospects. However, much of this potential depends on how data is generated and used to inform decisions for and about children. Ten years ago, Save the Children launched the International Development and Early Learning Assessment (IDELA) to address data needs about children’s early learning status and track progress of interventions. IDELA was created as a global public good that fosters a culture of data-driven program improvement and empowers local partners to lead and own measurement efforts of ECDE programs across different contexts. It has been a game changer to efforts addressing early learning inequities and to inform evidence-based, local- and systems-level interventions driving impact for children in more than 90 countries. To date, IDELA has been adopted by more than 140 partner organizations, from national governments, international organizations and NGOs to academic partners and grassroots associations, providing a solid contribution to global efforts to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 4.

While much has been achieved in the measurement front, more needs to be done to ensure data speaks to persisting inequities and leads to stronger investment that drives sustainable and system-level changes. Concerningly, as per recent estimates, most children living in vulnerable and fragile contexts are still missing out on quality early learning and development opportunities. By the time children attend primary school, achievement gaps between the most and least advantaged children are already mostly determined, with well documented short-, medium- and long-term consequences.

This panel takes stock of the main achievements and lessons learned during the ten years since the launch of IDELA and highlights the challenges and opportunities for innovations and methodological advances that may help in increasing the scope, outreach and impact of IDELA data. The panel brings together partners from the IDELA community of practice working towards bringing better learning outcomes for young children in the development and humanitarian context. It gathers the diverse perspectives of experts from non-governmental organizations and academia who will share promising practices, challenges, and the opportunities ahead in terms of generating more and better evidence for the most vulnerable children.

The first presentation describes the process and the results from methodological work to increase availability of data on ECD in humanitarian contexts in Lebanon and Bangladesh. The authors will present the results from two robust research studies: a RCT that administered IDELA remotely and in-person to a sample of 1,606 Syrian children in Lebanon; and testing of an extended IDELA version (IDELA-E) to measure an increased set of developmental constructs from children as young as 36 months to 60 months.

The second presentation describes the experience of using IDELA to monitor the quality and child development in services at a national scale, and to guide public policy decision making related to ECD in Colombia. The authors will present the process by which IDELA was selected, adapted, and validated as a tool to assess children’s development at systems-level in the country. Drawing on national representative data from more than 5,000 children, across different contexts, the results will highlight the association between the quality of pedagogical practices and changes in 3 to 5 years-old children’s development.

The third presentation addresses the importance of translating ECD data and results into meaningful and easy-to-communicate insights to guide decision making. The authors will describe the efforts that have been made to integrate IDELA into systems-level ECD monitoring in Rwanda, and outline a methodology to derive contextually relevant and culturally sensitive ECD benchmarks. Drawing on a nationally representative sample of children in Rwanda, the presentation illustrates a generalizable methodology that can be implemented in any setting with IDELA data and a group of subject matter experts. Results of the benchmarking exercise in Rwanda will be discussed in detail and the presenters will also reflect on the important lessons that were learned throughout the process.

The last presentation takes stock of the lessons learned during the ten years since the launch of IDELA, showcasing the global reach of the tool and updated evidence on ECD status and determinants based on data from more than 100 studies. It will highlight challenges and opportunities for global measurement of ECD and stimulate a discussion on the methodological innovations that are most needed to increase IDELA’s scope and outreach and to enhance partner’s capabilities to collect more and better evidence for the most vulnerable children.

The panel concludes with a celebratory discussion on the 10th anniversary of the IDELA toolkit, and invites for a reflection on how to leverage the IDELA Network and its Community of Practice to unleash the power of ECD data to reducing learning inequities among the most vulnerable children.