1. Living Standards Measurement Study

Improving Children’s Future: A Practical Guide to Strengthen Early Childhood Data Collection

    

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Early childhood development (ECD) is crucial because it lays the foundation for lifelong learning, health and wellbeing, shaping a child’s ability to thrive in school and society. But despite the critical role it has in a child’s future, several countries lack data on the status of children’s development, which is fundamental to inform effective policies that provide the support needed to foster ECD.   

Against this backdrop, the Living Standards Measurement Study (LSMS) - the World Bank’s flagship household survey program – has identified key challenges in collecting data on ECD and solutions to tackle them. The resulting findings, insights and practical recommendations have been compiled in the Training and Data Collection Guidance Note: The Anchor Items for Measurement of Early Childhood Development Using the Caregiver Report Module.

This guidance is helpful for survey practitioners, researchers, and policy makers to understand how to address the challenges in collecting data to inform ECD indicators. The document outlines:

  • Best practices for interviewer training, respondent selection, and fieldwork management to ensure reliable measurement of early childhood development outcomes for children aged 4 to 6. 
  • The importance of thorough interviewer preparation, careful respondent identification, and neutrality during interviews to minimize bias and improve data quality.

This guidance is based on past experiences in training interviewers for data collection in multi-topic household surveys, but also on specific experiences encountered during the process of training and data collection for Nigeria’s General Household Survey – Panel (GHS-Panel) Wave 5 2023/2024, which included a module on Anchor Items for the Measurement of Early Childhood Development (AIM-ECD). The work incorporates the extensive experience of the LSMS conducting household surveys and advising countries on data collection protocols since 1980.

The Training and Data Collection Guidance Note: The Anchor Items for Measurement of Early Childhood Development Using the Caregiver Report Module is accompanied by two additional resources: 

  • A training presentation, designed for interviewers, that explains all the questions included in the Anchor Items for the Measurement (AIM-ECD) module. It includes examples and probing techniques.
  • A facilitator manual, designed for trainers, and prepared as a guide to lead effective sessions ensuring high-quality data collection when training interviewers.