About Thrive

Early childhood development is a major focus of research and experimentation, but there are gaps in our knowledge.

It is now well known that supporting parents, families, carers, and communities to provide nurturing care can have a significantly positive impact on child development.

Early childhood development leads to improved school achievement, to greater employment opportunities, to long-term health and to lifetime wellbeing.

When taken to scale, these individual benefits can be nationally transformative, leading to stronger and more equal and inclusive societies, reduced poverty and improved economic growth.

Early childhood development is a major focus of research and experimentation, but there are gaps in our knowledge about how to take successful approaches from pilot to scale, and how to most effectively bring together the multiple sectors and key services necessary for success – from health, nutrition and hygiene, to education and social protection.

Our five focus countries are Bangladesh, Ghana, Kiribati, Sierra Leone and Tanzania.

Thrive is a multi-country research programme that aims to support countries to turn what we know about positive early childhood development into practical, scalable, low-cost programmes, able to transform societies over multiple generations. Working closely with policymakers and other stakeholders, Thrive aims to build an understanding of early childhood development service delivery models and how they can be provided cost-effectively and at scale, and how these systems can innovate, improve, and better serve children and communities in low- and middle-income countries.

The programme is funded by the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) and by New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT). It is managed by Oxford Policy Management in collaboration with the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

Our approach

Thrive aims to address critical questions about early childhood development, bridging the gap between what we know and what we can achieve. Our research asks three key questions:

1. What works?

Understanding how children develop in early life, the impact of that development on life-long outcomes and inequalities, and what innovative approaches and services are that can improve it.

We aim to address key questions related to developmental stages, caregiving quality, and caregiver support, and the long-term impact of interventions. Strategies involve refining and localising approaches and exploring comprehensive interventions.

2. How can we implement at scale?

Exploring the structure and performance of the early childhood development workforce and the wider systems and policy space supporting it.

We aim to understand workforce motivations and the support that is necessary to ensure large-scale interventions are sustainable. Strategies include enhancing workforce development and ensuring quality and cost effectiveness through private sector engagement.

3. How can we ensure equity and inclusion?

Investigating gender equity, empowerment, father engagement, and the experiences of marginalised, conflict-affected, and disadvantaged children in early childhood development.

We aim to deepen insights into gender disparities and social context. Strategies include the development of measurement and assessment tools for research, for population measurement, and for child assessment by early childhood development workers and their parents.

An expert team of researchers and specialists

Our team work in collaboration with the global community of academics and development organisations, and with national decision-makers and experts, to improve childhood health and wellbeing.