On 24-25 June 2025, Thrive hosted an international scientific conference on scaling early childhood development programmes and policies in low- and middle-income countries, on behalf of the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) and Oxford Policy Management. Over the two days, important research and learnings were shared, with almost 200 experts – including leading researchers, renowned thinkers, policy makers and practitioners – attending.
The conference combined plenary talks and panel discussions, and poster presentations and research presentations that were selected through a competitive call for papers. Delivered by a wide range of established and junior researchers, the presentations related to the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of early childhood development programmes in low- and middle-income settings, including, but not restricted to, Thrive’s five focus countries: Sierra Leone, Ghana, Tanzania, Bangladesh and Kiribati.
Attendees and speakers brought energy, vision and commitment to the conference, and important ideas and insights were exchanged.
Watch sessions
Scaling interventions to improve early childhood development: Doomed to fail? | Mark Tomlinson
Children’s safety and wellbeing in a world of complexity | Joseph Agbenyega
Stakeholder perspectives on scaling early childhood development | Panel discussion
Will that early childhood programme scale? Ask ChatGPT! | John List
Investing better: scaling up early childhood development policies | Florencia Lopez-Boo
Scaling up support for early childhood development: Implications for programme design | Lia Fernald
Linking evidence to policy | Panel discussion
Research based scaling strategies | Mushfiq Mobarak
Conference materials
You can access the conference materials here:
Presentations
Posters
Photos
