Raquel Bernal (Universidad de los andes)

“The Effects of the Transition from Home-based Community Nurseries to Childcare Centers on Children in Colombia”

abstract

Colombia’s national early childhood strategy launched in 2011 aimed at improving the quality of childcare services offered to socio-economically vulnerable children, and included transferring children from small non-parental family daycare units into large childcare centers in urban areas. This study seeks to understand the effects of this transition on children’s cognitive and socio-emotional development, as well as nutritional and health status, using a cluster-randomized control trial with a sample of 2,767 children between the ages of 6 and 60 months. The results point to improved height for age, a reduction in overweight children, and an increase in the incidence of diarrhea due to the transition. Apart from these, the transition did not have statistically significant effects on most developmental outcomes.