The Inter-American Development Bank has launched a pilot child development indicators initiative in a bid to measure, for the first time, the level of child development in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The Regional Project on Child Development Indicators will compile statistical data that will allow experts to measure child development in four skills areas, namely cognition, language, socio-emotional and emerging academic abilities, which include early notions of mathematical, reading and writing capacity.
The initiative aims to provide policymakers with reference points on child development in Latin America and the Caribbean and improve the consistency of national education instruments across the region.
The first phase of the project will be implemented in Ecuador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Peru and Paraguay.