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Tanoto Foundation works with APC on study into early-childhood development in Asia
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Early education: Students of an early childhood education center play on a slide during their school break at Kramat Jati wholesale market in East Jakarta in this undated file photo. (The Jakarta Post/I Gede Dharma JS)
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ingapore-based Asia Philanthropy Circle (APC) has worked together with a global research group and 12 philanthropic organizations, including the Tanoto Foundation, on a study into early-childhood development (ECD) in four Asian countries such as Indonesia, in their bid to give a comprehensive mapping of parenting and early-childhood interventions and to encourage collaboration.
The APC released last week the results of its Regional Early Childhood Development Landscape Study, which found an increase in support for children from birth to 6 years old, families and communities across Indonesia, Singapore, the Philippines and China, either through national policies, services or investments in health care and early education. But the study also indicated that gaps in access to such services persist, partly due to a lack of sustainable financing, shortage of trained workers and a lack of reliable data and socioeconomic and cultural barriers, the APC said on its website.
Realizing that early childhood “is a crucial time for development”, Jakarta-based Tanoto Foundation, which was founded by businessman Sukanto Tanoto, was the first organization to approach the APC to propose such a regional study, according to a press release from the foundation.
“We wanted to fund this research to better understand the needs of ECD systems in these countries,” Tanoto Foundation board of trustees member Belinda Tanoto said. “The objectives of this research are aligned with our own efforts to catalyze support for initiatives that promote quality early-childhood development across the region.”
APC chief operating officer Stacey Choe said that while many philanthropists across the region, including many APC members, were already working around early childhood, understanding the landscape “enables everyone to be more strategic in their programing”.
The study also aims at guiding donors, service providers, government agencies and other stakeholders toward collaboration to create a greater impact.
“Without a clear understanding of the current situation across a country or region, stakeholders often work in fragmented or disjointed ways, replicating efforts or investing in programs that do not best meet the needs of the population,” said Center for Evidence and Implementation (CEI) associate director Gayatri Kembhavi-Tam, who led the study.
The study was conducted by the CEI over the course of a year in 2022, looking into a total of 276 programs, and 145 national and sub-national policies related to ECD across all four countries and interviewing 52 stakeholders from government, academia and community services.
