The Early childhood development (ECD) topic area explores the information environment on children aged 0-8 in developing countries, by signposting to key information resources and organisations. It is organised into five key categories:

Young children and social inclusion: respect for diversity
This theme is about ensuring equal rights and access for disadvantaged children, with emphasis on children growing up in diverse and often conflict-ridden societies.

Young children and human rights
This category is about ensuring that young children's rights are respected, including their rights to participate in decisions that affect them.

Young children: policy issues
This category signposts to key international documents and policy-level thinking about early childhood development, especially around cultural issues and HIV and AIDS.

Successful transitions: young children
This section brings together key information resources on access to education and school readiness, to help families, schools and communities facilitate children's successful transitions from home to pre-school care and school education.

Strengthening the care environment
This issue flows from the Bernard van Leer Foundation's mission - to enhance opportunities for children from birth to age eight, who are growing up in circumstances of social and economic disadvantage, to get a good start in life and to make a fuller contribution to tomorrow's families, communities and societies.

'Care' is defined as the integrated set of actions that ensure that children have the synergy of protection and support for their health and nutrition, physical, psycho-social and cognitive aspects of development. The Bernard van Leer Foundation's vision of success on this issue involves parents/caregivers and young children in caring relationships that ensure a happy and rewarding childhood and a secure future.

Source collaborated with the Bernard van Leer Foundation to create the ECD topic area. The Bernard van Leer Foundation focuses on three main areas, which it defines as:

• Strengthening the care environment: building the capacity of vulnerable parents, families and communities to care for their children.
• Successful transitions: helping young children make the transition from their home environment to daycare, preschool and school.
• Social inclusion and respect for diversity: promoting equal opportunities and skills that will help children to live in diverse societies.

For more about these areas, see www.bernardvanleer.org/news/2006/new_issue_areas

The Bernard van Leer Foundation funds and shares knowledge about work in early childhood development (ECD). It is a private trust established in 1949 and based in the Netherlands. Its mandate is to improve opportunities for children between the ages of 0 and 8 who live in circumstances of social and economic disadvantage. It does this in two ways:

• funding and supporting early childhood development projects across the world
• sharing knowledge with the aim of informing and influencing practice and policy

For more information see: www.bernardvanleer.org