New York, August 26, 2015 – In a major boost for young children around the world, the World Bank and the Novak Djokovic Foundation today announced a new partnership to promote early childhood development, which will include global advocacy on the importance of investing early in the lives of children as well as investments to help disadvantaged children in Novak Djokovic’s home country of Serbia.
The joint “Early Wins for Lifelong Returns” initiative combines the Bank’s deep knowledge and programs on early childhood development with the power of Serbian tennis player Djokovic’s commitment to bring sustained attention to the social and economic benefits of early childhood development (ECD) programs for children around the world. Djokovic is the men’s world No. 1 tennis player and founder of the Novak Djokovic Foundation, which focuses primarily on early childhood development.
The new partnership announcement comes a week before the start of the U.S. Open at a press conference in New York City called by World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim and Djokovic. At the same press conference, UNICEF also announced Djokovic as a Goodwill Ambassador for early childhood development.
In Serbia, the World Bank – Novak Djokovic Foundation initiative will work together with the Serbian government to level the playing field for young children from poor and disadvantaged families. As a first step, the Bank is in discussions with the Serbian government about a project of up to $50 million for inclusive education and early childhood development in Serbia in the coming years. The project will be subject to approval by the World Bank Board and Serbian Parliament. The Novak Djokovic Foundation will mobilize additional resources for early childhood development through private sector partnerships and individual donations.
All children deserve an equal chance in life, yet millions fail to reach their full potential due to poverty, poor nutrition, and few opportunities for early learning and stimulation. It gives me great pleasure to announce this new partnership with the Novak Djokovic Foundation, which will help reach these children and give them a fair start. Working together – with national governments like that of Serbia, partners such as UNICEF, civil society organizations and foundations, and champions like Novak Djokovic — we can achieve early wins today that will yield incredibly high returns tomorrow, both for Serbia and for the world. - said Kim.
Rigorous studies show that children benefiting from early childhood development programs learn better when they enter primary school and earn higher wages as adults. Investing early through these programs—which cover the physical, socio-emotional, language and cognitive aspects of development—gives disadvantaged children a chance to succeed through a positive effect on their lifelong learning and productivity.
In Serbia, only half of all children aged 3-5 years go to preschool. Less than 10 percent of children from the poorest households in Serbia attend preschool. Indeed, among those from the Roma ethnic minority who are living in informal settlements, preschool enrollment drops to just 6 percent. Addressing this problem has far-reaching consequences for breaking the cycle of poverty and enhancing Serbia’s long-term competitiveness and labor productivity.
Today is a great day for our children. Thanks to this partnership between the World Bank and the Novak Djokovic Foundation much more will be done to improve quality and access to Early Childhood Education in my country in the following years. The early years of life are crucial, since most cognitive and social development occurs before the age of five. Therefore, we need to make sure all children have an equal chance to grow up and develop into productive, caring citizens of the world. I was fortunate to have had this critical support as a young child, and my dream is that all children, in Serbia and across the world, can fulfil their unique potential. - said Djokovic
Serbia has over 2,500 locations without preschools. Early education of children aged 3 to 5 is one of the weakest aspects of the education system, despite its importance for later education and development. Serbia’s education system faces many problems, including insufficient capacity, uneven distribution of facilities, financial constraints on poor parents, inadequate understanding of the importance of preschool education, as well as a lack of diversity of programs and service providers. We hope to change that for the better - added Djokovic.
Djokovic invited other organizations, including corporations, to join efforts to address these challenges.
“We hope many will be supportive of this cause, because only by working together can we make great things happen for children,” he said. “By giving them a fair start in life, we are improving the future of our whole society.”
During the launch of the partnership, Kim and Djokovic signed a Memorandum of Understanding to define collaboration between the World Bank and the Novak Djokovic Foundation for achieving their common goals in early childhood development and inclusive education.
Key activities under the new partnership will include advocating for the importance of early childhood education globally, and working to improve access to quality early childhood development for disadvantaged children in Serbia and beyond.
The Serbian Government welcomes the new partnership between the Novak Djokovic Foundation and World Bank. Serbia is undertaking difficult reforms to help restore economic growth and competitiveness. The success of these reforms hinges on Serbia’s ability to enhance the quality of its human capital for sustained productivity increases. We recognize that investing in children is key to such human capital growth and greater competitiveness, as well as the best way to ensure a just and equitable society in the future. That is why we will join this initiative through a new World Bank financed project designed to support inclusive education and early child development - said Dusan Vujovic, Minister of Finance of Serbia, who was present at the signing.
Although preparation is in early stages, the education project would likely support the building of new preschool facilities and converting under-used primary school classrooms to preschools, improving the quality of teaching and learning in preschools; and increasing financial access for low-income families.
The partnership comes at a significant moment for global development. In one month, member countries are expected to adopt a set of international targets known as the Sustainable Development Goals at the United Nations. Recognizing the importance of investing early for lifelong returns, one of these targets is to extend quality early childhood development, care, and pre-primary education to all children by 2030
Contacts:
For World Bank: Elena Karaban, 1-202-473-9277, ekaraban@worldbank.org
For Novak Djokovic Foundation: Frances Skinner-Lewis, Frances@GAI-LLC.US
For more information, please visit:
http://www.worldbank.org
http://novakdjokovicfoundation.org/
Background on Today’s Announcement:
The Novak Djokovic Foundation was founded in November 2007 by the Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic and until March 2012 operated under the name of the Novak Fund. The foundation initially supported a wide range of philanthropic activities, mostly focused on children, but since 2012 has focused primarily on early childhood development. Key activities include the “Schools of Life”, “Supporting Families at Risk”, “Friendship Games”, and other programs. The mission of the Novak Djokovic Foundation is to enable children from disadvantaged communities to grow up, play and develop in stimulating, creative and safe settings, while learning to respect others and care for their environment. Most activities are currently focused in Serbia, but the Novak Djokovic Foundation is supporting rehabilitation of several schools in Bosnia and Herzegovina that were damaged during the severe floods of 2014.
Those corporations and/or foundations wishing to support the efforts of the Novak Djokovic Foundation are requested to contact Frances Skinner-Lewis, global consultant for Novak Djokovic Foundation, at Global Action Initiatives, LLC to learn more about the opportunity at Frances@GAI-LLC.US
The World Bank is a vital source of financial and technical assistance to developing countries around the world. The World Bank strongly supports Early Childhood Development (ECD) because of its potential to break the cycle of poverty, and in response to demand from governments and robust evidence on the benefits. Between 2001 and 2013, the World Bank invested $3.3 billion in 273 investments in early childhood development through projects and programs in education, health and nutrition, and social protection. These 273 investments supported 80 countries around the world and included 166 operations and 107 analytical and advisory services.
The World Bank is among the most prominent development partners in Serbia, with a portfolio of seven operations totaling $1.2 billion, a wide range of on-going analytic and advisory services in support of reforms and new lending of around $300 million per annum. The Bank’s Country Partnership Framework for FY16-20 in Serbia aims to restore economic growth and make it more inclusive through actions in the following two areas: i) economic governance and the role of the state; and, ii) private sector growth and economic inclusion. The Bank currently provides technical and financial support to Government’s reform efforts to restore macro-fiscal stability and implement long overdue structural reforms to enhance competitiveness, increase investment and boost employment and economic opportunity.
Data on global early childhood development
219 million children under the age of 5 are disadvantaged (chronically malnourished, living in poverty, or both).
¼ of all children under five worldwide (162 million) are chronically malnourished, with 56% of them living in Asia and 36% in Africa. Chronic malnourishment causes stunting, which harms brain development and delays school enrollment.
In 2012, nearly 184 million children were enrolled in pre-primary education worldwide, an increase of nearly two-thirds since 2000.
In 2012, 159 million children were deprived of access to pre-primary education.
In Sub-Saharan Africa, 80 percent of children are not enrolled in pre-primary programs. Evidence from both developed and developing countries suggests that an additional dollar invested in high quality preschool programs will yield a return of anywhere between $6-17.
In Serbia, only half of all children aged 36-59 months attend preschool; but less than 10 percent of children from the poorest households.
Most lower-income and middle-income countries spend only 0.1-0.2% of their GNP on preschool education. This is less than the 2.36% spent on average in OECD countries, or less than the 1% benchmark for overall funding needed for quality ECD.
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