Whole Child Development

Evidence from across disciplines—from neuroscience to biological and developmental science to economic science—has clearly demonstrated that investing in children’s holistic well-being is a proven pathway out of adversity. Whole child development, and its multiplier effect, is one of the smartest, most cost-effective investments we can make to ensure the health and prosperity of not only individual children and their families, but also of entire communities and societies. This guide describes what is meant by the term 'whole child development' and why it's needed to address child development and learning for children growing up in adversity.

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The GC-DWC’s guidebook Fostering Resilience for Children in Adversity: A Guide to Whole Child School-Community Approaches presents evidence for adopting a school-community approach to fostering resilience for children living in poverty and other forms of adversity. Designed for practitioners and educators, the guide shares robust, global examples of interventions implemented at the home, school, and community levels that take a holistic approach to their programming and concludes with key considerations for research and learning agendas.

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La educación y la resiliencia tienen una fuerte relación recíproca: la participación en la educación promueve la resiliencia de los niños, y los niños resilientes tienen más probabilidades de participar en educación y beneficiarse de ella. Utilizando los programas escolares como punto de entrada, esta guía describe cómo mejorar la capacidad de recuperación de los niños fomentando relaciones positivas y enriquecedoras, satisfaciendo las necesidades básicas de los niños y desarrollando sus capacidades y valores fundamentales en tres de los principales ámbitos socioecológicos del niño: el hogar, la escuela y la comunidad.

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L’éducation et la résilience ont une forte relation réciproque: la participation à l’éducation favorise la résilience des enfants, et les enfants résilients sont plus susceptibles de participer à l’éducation et d’en tirer profit. Utilisant les programmes scolaires comme point de départ, ce guide décrit comment améliorer la résilience des enfants en promouvant des relations positives et nourrissantes, en répondant aux besoins fondamentaux des enfants et en développant les capacités et valeurs fondamentales dans trois des principaux domaines socio-écologiques de l’enfant : le foyer, l’école et la communauté.

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Most Haitians live under the poverty line, making under USD2 per day (UNDP). The extended unemployment rate is 28%. Quality education has become a top priority for Haiti, where a generation of youth lacks the basic skills needed to succeed in the labor force. The Fostering Resilience Initiative works alongside ACE Haiti to create ways of measuring progress that capture non-traditional domains, such as social and emotional learning, family and community contexts. This much broader approach to measurement will yield more actionable and locally meaningful information.

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This interactive framework supports the design and implementation of programs that foster children’s resilience, particularly in adverse environments. Using school-based programs as a point of entry, the framework illustrates how positive, nurturing relationships can be leveraged within the school, community, and home to improve the resilience of children.

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Investing in adolescents builds strong economies, inclusive communities and vibrant societies, however, adolescent development is often neglected in education programming and evaluation. This brief highlights the key findings and emerging themes from three domains in adolescent development: 1) Supporting adolescent mothers and their children; 2) Advocating for flexible learning approaches; 3) Addressing mental health and well-being. Ultimately, this brief aims to promote more effective, impactful programs that foster resilience for adolescents facing adversity (such as poverty, displacement, humanitarian emergencies, conflict situations), using a whole child development lens.

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Within Haitian Catholic parishes there are three settings of the social ecology where young children are in regular contact with individuals who affect their learning and development: home (lakay), school (lekòl), and church (legliz) or L3. Building on the reality that the Catholic church is deeply embedded in, and has influence over, the school, home, and broader community life of young children, the University of Notre Dame’s Global Center for the Development of the Whole Child (GC-DWC) partnered with five parish communities in the Diocese of Cap-Haïtien in Northern Haiti to meet young children’s (ages 0-6) holistic needs across the L3. The five innovation communities provide a unique platform for developing and pilot testing WCD programs for young children alongside community members. The GC-DWC team recently engaged two different learning strategies to assess L3 work in Northern Haiti: rapid evaluation, assessment and learning methods (REALM) and a Qualitative Impact Protocol (QuIP). This report summarizes our learning.

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On August 14, 2021, a 7.2 earthquake hit the Tiburon peninsula of Haiti, destroying infrastructure, particularly schools, and significantly impacting children and families (UNICEF, 2021). According to UNICEF, more than half a million children in those communities struggled to access safe drinking water, shelter, and hygiene. Additionally, lack of access to appropriate nutrition and limited education support could further affect the long-term development of these children, particularly in the Nippes department that was affected by the earthquake. As a response to some of the challenges facing young children in Nippes, the GC-DWC and partners launched the System Activations in Emergencies to Leverage the Home, the School, and the Church to Address Early Child Development (L3) project. 

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There are numerous challenges facing young children in Haiti, including political upheaval, gang violence, civil unrest, community violence, closures, shortages of necessities, and natural disasters. This fragility has had a detrimental impact on the learning and development of young children. To address these multifaceted risk factors facing children in Haiti, the Strong Beginnings initiative focused on leveraging the assets of the primary settings—lakay, lekol, legliz (home, school, and parish)—where young children learn and develop daily. Over four years and spread across six of the 10 departments in Haiti, Strong Beginnings has worked to activate this lakay-lekol-legliz (L3) system through interventions and approaches that were need-based, developed in partnership with communities, iteratively tested and improved, and gradually scaled. 

This Learnings Brief highlights the interventions, lessons learned, and recommendations from this L3 systems activation work over the last four years.

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There are numerous challenges facing young children in Haiti, including political upheaval, gang violence, civil unrest, community violence/closures, shortages of necessities, and natural disasters. This fragility can have a detrimental impact on the learning and development of young children. To address these multifaceted risk factors facing children in Haiti, the Strong Beginnings initiative has focused on leveraging the assets of the primary settings—lakay, lekol, legliz (home, school, and parish)—where young children learn and develop daily. Over four years and spread across six of the 10 departments in Haiti, Strong Beginnings has worked to activate this lakay-lekol-legliz (L3) system through interventions and approaches that were need-based, developed in partnership with communities, iteratively tested and improved, and gradually scaled. This report summarizes what we have learned through this L3 systems activation work over the last four years. 

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