16.7 million
The number of children who could have been lifted out of poverty by a 0.6% GDP increase in Universal Support for Families across the G20 countries
From Theirworld’s 2024 report Every Family, Every Child
Big breakthrough for early years as global alliance is launched at G20 summit
After months of campaigning by Act For Early Years, world leaders have pledged to transform the lives of hundreds of millions of young children and mothers.
After more than a year of intensive campaigning, world leaders have launched a historic initiative that will transform support for the early years of children’s lives.
The new Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty, unveiled at the G20 summit in Brazil, will have a major focus on early childhood care and education. Developed in collaboration with a diverse group of international organisations, governments and civil society, it aims to support more than 200 million children and women by focusing on – and investing in – early years interventions.
The move is a major breakthrough for the Act For Early Years campaign. Launched last year by Theirworld, the campaign has quickly grown into a global movement of organisations and supporters calling for extensive new funding.
For more than 18 months, Act For Early Years has worked tirelessly with the Brazilian government and a coalition of partners – including the Maria Cecilia Souto Vidigal Foundation, ANDI, ECDAN and the Alana Foundation – to make early childhood a top priority on the G20 agenda for leaders of the world’s largest economies.
Now those leaders have recognised the huge importance of including the early years when developing strategies for other challenges such as poverty and discrimination.
Theirworld President Justin van Fleet highlighted the potential of the new Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty, saying: “Quality early years support is life-changing for children and their futures. With Brazil’s leadership, the G20 has recognised that investing in early childhood is not only the right thing to do but a powerful strategy to tackle poverty, inequality, hunger and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.”
Lara Sampaio Pinheiro De Freitas, a Theirworld Global Youth Ambassador from Brazil, addresses a G20 summit launch event
One of Theirworld’s Global Youth Ambassadors spoke at a G20 summit launch event in Rio de Janeiro. Lara Sampaio Pinheiro De Freitas, from Recife, Brazil, said: “When I was born, my parents couldn’t afford quality childcare, so my mother left her job to care for me.
“It allowed me to receive the attention and care I needed during my early years and to focus on my education – but it jeopardised her future.
“Millions of women around the world face limited opportunities due to the insufficient investment in early years support.
“With the right investment, my family’s history could have been completely different. So I urge you today to help secure a better future for every family and every child.”
Brazilian government minister Wellington Dias is a coordinator of the G20 Task Force which, under the Brazilian presidency, helped design and implement the global alliance.
He said: “This is just the beginning. More governments and partners are welcome to join in this effort in the months to come, as we need more scale and reach to fulfill our vision. We are here for the long run.”
The global alliance said a series of commitments to accelerate action had been announced by governments, including those of Mozambique, Brazil, Palestine, Angola, Paraguay, Tanzania, Bangladesh and Madagascar. Bangladesh will provide nutrition services to six million pregnant women; Brazil will expand an early childhood visitation programme to reach 300,000 more children; and Mozambique will scale up early childhood development programmes to reach all parts of the country by 2030.
More governments and partners are welcome to join in this effort ... we are here for the long run
Wellington Dias, Brazil's Minister of Social Development
Many other governments and international banks said they will provide finance and/or knowledge to help these and other countries grow their maternal and early childhood support programmes, including the UK and French Governments, World Bank and Inter Amercian Development Bank (IADB).
The IADB announced it has allocated more than $18.6 billion from 2025 to 2030 for policies and programmes included in the Global Alliance, including maternal and early childhood intervention programmes.
Theirworld committed the support of the Act For Early Years campaign, backing early childhood commitments from the G20 and collaborating with more than 150 partners to advance early development initiatives globally.
As part of that, Act For Early Years will track commitments from the G20, encourage the first-ever Finance Summit on Early Childhood, and collaborate with more than 150 key early childhood partners including UNICEF, UNESCO, ECDAN, LEGO Foundation and Sesame Workshop on the campaign goals.
It will also support Theirworld’s 2,000 Global Youth Ambassadors and national and regional campaigns, engaging with partners such as workforce unions, business leaders and high-profile champions like First Ladies.
Children at the Zeal Covenant Kindergarten in Nairobi, Kenya, run by a franchise of Kidogo. (Theirworld/Trevor Maingi)
Theirworld and the Act For Early Years campaign worked tirelessly for 18 months in the lead-up to the G20 summit in Brazil. They knew Brazil’s presidency of the G20 was a great opportunity because of the country’s own commitment to early childhood and focus on tackling inequality.
The campaign met with Brazilian President Lula da Silva last year and handed over a letter signed by more than 150 early childhood organisations from around the world. Act For Early Years built a network of Brazilian partner organisations and mobilised Theirworld Global Youth Ambassadors to make sure the voices of the youngest children were heard.
Other campaign efforts included publishing briefings and policy reports to inform decision-makers; hosting officials from Brazil at events during the World Bank Spring Meetings and UN General Assembly; and convening donors to make commitments.
Justin van Fleet said: “By joining the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty, we’re amplifying our call for urgent investments in early childhood, an area that holds the power to transform lives and societies.”
Other global alliance commitments from countries and organisations announced during the G20 summit included:
- France to dedicate at least 50% of its Food Assistance Programme to combat undernutrition, focusing on the first 1,000 days of life.
- United Kingdom to enhance services to prevent and treat child wasting in Africa and South Asia, in partnership with UNICEF, the Gates Foundation, and others.
- UNICEF to reach 200 million young children and mothers annually with nutrition, growth and development support.
- Child Nutrition Fund to reach 250 million children and 100 million women across 23 countries with services for malnutrition prevention and early detection.
- World Bank to support at least 500 million vulnerable individuals and improve health services for 1.5 billion people by 2030, emphasising maternal and early childhood.
- Inter-American Development Bank expects to allocate up to $18.6 billion from 2025-2030 to support maternal and early childhood interventions across member countries.
- World Food Programme seeking to expand nutrition programmes to 29.2 million women and children through initiatives in 53 countries by 2025.
- Global Partnership for Education spending more than 10% of funds on early learning and to support national investments in early learning.
- International Finance Facility for Education (IFFEd) to support lower-middle-income countries in meeting the target of 10% of education budgets for early childhood education.
Karthik Krishnan, Founding CEO of IFFEd, said: “The first five years are game-changers. Investing in early childhood delivers the greatest financial returns and shapes individual destinies and the future of our world. We’re excited to collaborate with lower-middle-income countries to achieve the 10% financing target and unleash the power of early childhood development to lift nations out of poverty and fuel economic growth.”