Abstract

Early childhood development, education, and care (ECD/ECEC) has become a priority for governments and international bodies. ECD/ECEC is explicitly included in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 4, 4.2), underlining the global consensus. In 2018, the Group of Twenty (G20) acknowledged the key role of ECD and, in their Leaders’ Declaration,announced a G20 ECD initiative. Access to high-quality, early childhood development, education, and care programs is unequal among and within countries, and this remains a major cause for concern. However, in the context of local and global sustainability, a new focus on the purpose of ECD/ECEC should become a complementing priority of the G20 process.