Towards the full integration of policies, services and interventions across health, education, culture and social sectors, to guarantee the right of all children to develop their full potential in their first years of life

This document further develops the analysis and proposals of the policy document produced by the Alleanza per l’Infanzia and EducAzioni networks in november 2020 (Investire nell’infanzia: prendersi cura del futuro a partire dal presente | Investing in children: caring for the future, starting now).

The document stems from two consolidated evidences:

First, in order to enable families to respond to their children’s developmental needs, it is necessary to support all family, financial as well as personal, resources through a combination of “hard” (cash transfers, day care services, job opportunities, parental leaves) and “soft” measures, strengthening the caregivers’ capabilities and knowledge with regard to child development and wellbeing.

Second, children’s developmental needs – health, nutrition, social protection, early education, responsive caregiving – are closely interlinked, therefore, in order to adequately meet them an integrated multi-sector, multidisciplinary approach is needed.

Based on these evidences, the document:  

1. underlines the importance of integrated policies and actions across all societal sectors and actors to support health, education and wellbeing of all children, with a special attention for the first period of life (the first 1000 days), given its greater lifelong implications;
2. stresses the importance of policies and programs aimed at supporting all parents in providing sensitive responsive and positive caregiving to their children;  
3. offers suggestions about how institutions, services and sectors dealing with families and children can improve the coordination of their efforts, at both central and local level, to maximize their impact.

Ultimately, the desired results include:

• the promotion of a holistic child development;
• the prevention of an early establishment of inequalities;
• the prevention of child educational poverty and child maltreatment;
• the promotion of an active engagement of all community actors in supporting child development, education and wellbeing;
• the facilitation of caregivers’ access to a navigation across services, particularly for those families with specific vulnerabilities (disabilities, chronic diseases, fragile social and familial contexts, social exclusion).

The document was discussed by a working group, coordinated by Giorgio Tamburlini (C.S.B.), composed of: Antonia Labonia and Aldo Garbarini (G.N.N.I.), Cristina Stringher (INVALSI), Paola Milani (Università di Padova e Programma P.I.P.P.I.), Chiara Saraceno (Università di Torino e Alleanza per l’Infanzia), Vanessa Niri (A.R.C.I.), Donata Castiello (A.N.U.P.I. Educazione), Francesca Romana Marta (Save the Children).