Income inequalities and gender, disability, and race-specific inequities within Asia-Pacific countries and across the Asia-Pacific region pose significant challenges to the right of every child to access quality early education. In some countries, less than one in ten children attend pre-primary education. In this strand we look at policy and practice initiatives aimed at addressing these challenges, enabling access for all children and improving their readiness for school.

Multiple and complex health challenges across the Asia-Pacific region - exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic and prolonged by food insecurity, the spread of disease, and environmental risks - diminish child, family, and community wellbeing and development. Eradicating hunger and malnutrition, increasing agricultural productivity, improving access to health care, and reducing child mortality rates, are targets critical to enabling all children in the region to have a start in life that affords wellness and opportunity. This strand will focus on efforts that enable children and the contexts in which they live to be safe, functional, and flourishing.

Addressing climate change is a matter of international urgency, particularly for Asia-Pacific countries which are especially vulnerable to the impacts of natural disasters and climate change. In this strand we look at local, national, and regional practices and policies aimed at increasing awareness about climate change, minimising environmental degradation, and enhancing sustainable development and lifestyles. How teachers and educators model and build young children’s disposition to care for their local environments and contribute to a sustainable world will also be a focus of this strand.