Education and Human Capital Investment

Can large-scale parenting programs improve children’s development when implemented by governments at scale? This study evaluates a nationwide Home Visit Program in Nicaragua and finds that regular home visits improved early childhood development, increased preschool completion, and strengthened parenting practices related to cognitive stimulation. Children assigned to the program experienced gains of 0.11 standard deviations in development outcomes, with even larger effects among households that actively participated.

Beyond measuring impacts, the study highlights the critical role of implementation quality. By experimentally comparing centralized monitoring with structured community-led monitoring, the research shows that community involvement significantly improved the quality of home visits and, in turn, child development outcomes. The findings provide important evidence that well-designed monitoring systems can help maintain quality when scaling up early childhood programs.

School closures during the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted learning for millions of children around the world, raising concerns about long-term effects on foundational skills such as reading and numeracy. This study examines how interrupted schooling and school dropout are associated with children’s learning outcomes in low- and lower-middle-income countries. Using household survey data from thirteen countries, the research explores the relationship between school participation and foundational learning, while also documenting how governments responded through remote learning policies during the pandemic.

The study highlights important challenges in ensuring that all children continue learning during periods of educational disruption. In many countries, remote learning responses faced limitations in reaching vulnerable populations, particularly younger children and marginalized households. The findings underscore the importance of inclusive and effective education policies to prevent widening learning inequalities during crises.