Community-based research is being re-conceived as much more than a methodological approach that includes community voices. It is rather a framework for ensuring that knowledge is created with those whose lives it is intended to improve; that actionable data is generated that can be used by communities to further their own priorities; and that the political context from grassroots to cabinet level is understood and leveraged to maximise the impact of measurement and data. This approach challenges researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to move beyond consultation towards true partnership with communities in defining problems, generating evidence, and shaping solutions.
How can research produced with communities become a more deliberate influence on institutional decision-making, public policy, and sustainable improvement in early childhood development and other areas of development? What practical approaches can be employed to generate, apply, and communicate evidence that responds to locally identified priorities and engages influential actors at all levels of government?
These are some of the questions that will be explored in this Thrive in Conversation.
Sally Brinkman, Professor at Adelaide University, will present her research in Pacific island nations, including Kiribati. There, community engagement is predicted on the local value of reciprocity, and her innovations in collaboration have yielded unprecedented interest and action in community-level early childhood development, at central government and with development partners.
Joan Lombardi, Adjunct Professor at Stanford University, has been making significant contributions in the areas of child and family policy every step of her 50-year career. She will provide a global perspective and examples ranging from population measurement shifting policy priorities to the power of surveys like the RAPID tool for elevating parent and provider voices in early childhood.
With Thrive host Susan Walker, Sally and Joan will discuss the importance of community participation in research activities and how this can lead to insights for action and broader stakeholder engagement with benefits for children and their families.
Speakers
Professor, College of Education, Behavioural and Social Sciences,
Adelaide University
Professor Sally Brinkman is a social epidemiologist. Her research focuses on improving the healthy development and early learning of young children in disadvantaged communities across Australia, Asia, the Pacific, Latin America and the Middle East. She is widely recognised as a global leader in child development measurement and works closely with international governments and major donor organisations – primarily the World Bank, the World Health Organization, UNICEF and UNESCO – to generate evidence that informs policy and drives meaningful change.
Sally is Director of the Fraser Mustard Centre in Australia, an innovative research partnership between Adelaide University and the South Australian Department for Education that bridges research, policy and practice to improve children’s development, wellbeing and learning outcomes at scale.
Sally’s work combines population-level monitoring with pragmatic randomised controlled trials to understand inequalities in child outcomes and evaluate the impact and cost-effectiveness of interventions. With over 200 publications, she has generated influential international evidence shaping early childhood policy, education systems and community development initiatives.
Adjunct Professor, Stanford Center on Early Childhood,
Stanford University
Joan Lombardi, PhD is an Adjunct Professor and Principal Advisor at the Stanford Center on Early Childhood, Stanford University Graduate School of Education. Joan is also a Senior Scholar at the Thrive Center for Child, Families and Communities and a co-founder and senior advisor with the Collaborative on Global Children’s Issues at Georgetown University.
Over the past 50 years, Joan has made significant contributions in the areas of child and family policy as an innovative leader and policy advisor to national and international organisations and foundations.
Joan served as the first Deputy Assistant Secretary for Early Childhood during the Obama Administration and the first Director of the Child Care Bureau during the Clinton Administration. She was the founding Chair of the Birth to Five Policy Alliance (now the Alliance for Early Success). Joan has served as an advisor to a range of organisations including UNICEF, the World Health Organization, UNESCO and The World Bank Group. She serves on the Executive Leadership Council of the global Early Childhood Development Action Network (ECDAN). She was the founder of Global Leaders for Young Children, hosted by the World Forum Foundation.
Host
Research Director,
Thrive Programme
Professor Susan Walker is a global leader in scaling programmes that improve children’s health and development in LMICs. She is the Research Director for the Thrive programme and Professor of Nutrition at the University of the West Indies, where she formerly led the Caribbean Institute for Health Research. She directs the Child Development Research Group and led the development and global expansion of Reach Up, an early childhood home-visiting programme now adapted in 18 countries and adopted nationally in Bangladesh, Jamaica, and Peru.
Her research has shaped global policy, including long-term follow-up of the Jamaica early stimulation trial showing adult gains in income, education, and mental health. She has contributed to major Lancet series and advised the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, and WHO. She received the Vice Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Research in 2007.
About the series
We know that investing in early childhood is transformative for both children and societies in low- and middle-income countries, but there are gaps in our knowledge about how to move from pilot to scale and how to ensure long-term quality.
The exchange of insights and ideas between researchers and policymakers is a vital part of bridging these gaps – ensuring that new research addresses the questions most relevant to national decision makers, and that early childhood development policies are grounded in evidence about what works at scale.
This discussion series from Thrive brings together policymakers, practitioners and researchers to explore the latest evidence related to scaling early childhood development programmes in low- and middle-income countries. Conversations will explore the key takeaways from research highlighted in the Thrive What to Read newsletter and delve into how new evidence can help to inform diverse policy and research agendas associated with scaling.
Attendees can take part in live Q&As with leading experts and be part of a growing community of knowledge shaping the future of early childhood development programming.
For the latest research related to designing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating scalable early childhood development programmes in low- and middle-income countries subscribe to the monthly Thrive What to Read newsletter.
The Thrive 2025 scientific conference on scaling early childhood development programmes and policies in low- and middle-income countries, brought together early childhood development researchers, practitioners, funders and policymakers to exchange ideas. Revisit keynote presentations and other sessions from across the conference here.