Supporting Our Youngest Children In The Time Of COVID

Playing with a favorite toy in the classroom. Perfecting those hopscotch skills in the playground. Connecting with a friend, eye-to-eye. We treasure these and other memories from our own childhood – those early years when the most important development and learning happen. Young brains develop rapidly, absorbing everything the world offers like a sponge. It’s a time when interactions with peers, attentive caregivers, and educators literally set the foundations for a lifetime of development and health.

For the youngest children in the Europe and Central Asia Region, growing up in the time of COVID-19, the challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic have made the children and their families especially vulnerable. The pandemic response shuttered kindergartens, pre-schools and daycare centres, turning the everyday lives of millions of children and their caregivers upside down. Access to basic services has been disrupted, in a context where support for young children is often provided on the margins of formal systems………………………………………