The ALAS-IDB Awards arise from the need to recognize the dedication, innovation, and excellence of so many people who work in early childhood development in Latin America and the Caribbean. Presented jointly by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the ALAS Foundation of the international artist Shakira, awards are given in four categories, highlighting leading educators, centers, publications, and innovations in the region.

Belize is paying a lot for education but getting little. More youth are outside the school system than in it and many fail to make the transition to the workforce. More and more youth drop out of school and become involved in gang activities. Action is needed if Belize is not to lose a whole generation of youth. This document discusses the current situation of the Belizean education sector and its progress over the last 10 years, its relative performance compared with other countries in the region, and the policies currently being implemented by the education sector in Belize.

The effects of early life circumstances on cognitive skill formation are important for later human capital development, labor market outcomes and well-being. In this paper, we test the hypothesis that the first 1,000 days are the critical window for both cognitive skill formation and physical development by exploiting a randomized conditional cash transfer (CCT) program in Nicaragua.

This note, prepared by M. Caridad Araujo, Ariel Fiszbein and Mercedes Mateo Díaz, summarizes the agreements reachedduring a seminar in Washington, DC organized by the Inter-American Dialogue and the Inter-American Development
Bank on February 28 and March 1, 2017. The agenda and names of the participants are included in the annexes.

As a public policy in Brazil, Primeira Infância Melhor (PIM) is a cross-cutting approach to promote child development in the first years of life. Through home visits, the PIM promotes child development by implementing better stimulation practices, the strengthening of family ties and the facilitation of access to basic rights. This publication addresses the implementation processes, challenges and achievements of a program that was established, has been maintained over time and serves as inspiration for other municipalities, States and countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.

This report reviews the effectiveness of early childhood stimulation interventions in developing countries. The report aims to answer the questions: What works in terms of early stimulation for young children in developing countries? For whom and under what conditions do these programs work and why do they work.

This paper documents disparities in cognitive development- as measured by a receptive vocabulary test-between children from households with high and low socioeconomic status (SES) in two different phases of childhood (before and after early school years) in four developing countries: Peru, Ethiopia, India, and Vietnam. Intercontinental evidence on the timing, shape, pattern, and persistence of these disparities is provided.

The coverage of preschool education in Haiti is relatively high. However, it is a service provided primarily by the private sector and faces challenges such as unequal access, low quality, and malnutrition of its young children. Greater public spending and oversight by the State are essential to promote better early childhood programs in the long run.

This project analyzes teachers’ practices for around 2000 teachers in 204 schools in Ecuador. Each year a group of teachers was filmed and screened using the CLASS instrument to measure their practices. The results show that teachers do better on Emotional Support and Classroom Organization domains and that the results are consistent across grades. Also, the project analyzes the impact of teachers’ characteristics and skills on their CLASS score. Being a tenured teacher and having more experience are strongly related to CLASS score.