Submitted to: The Social Affairs Sector, Family and Childhood Department, Arab League

Prepared by Dr. Ghassan Issa
ANECD General Coordinator

First: The strategic entrance and scientific framework

In light of the geopolitical, demographic, and economic transformations in the Arab region, early childhood care (from pregnancy to eight years) is no longer merely a social service, but rather the “primary sovereign investment” and the cornerstone of Arab national security for building the initial capital of the nation. This document aims to shift policies towards developmental rights and developmental equity, and to move from the concept of the “welfare state” to the “embracing society” in which the family, society, educational institutions, the private sector, and the state share the responsibility for making humans.

This paper is based on the integration of two scientific frameworks:

• The internationally recognized “Nurturing Care Framework”: It affirms that the child’s survival and flourishing require five integrated elements being good health, adequate nutrition, responsive care, safety and protection, and early learning opportunities.
• The “Ecological Systems Theory” developed by the psychologist Bronfenbrenner: It asserts that child’s development does not occur in a vacuum, but is influenced by an interconnected network of ecosystems interacting dynamically and reciprocally.

Second: The empowerment axes (family and society)

• The family axis: This necessitates shifting parenting towards intellectual stimulation and play in order to bridge the vocabulary gap, activating participatory fatherhood in emotional care, and supporting the mental health of caregivers by integrating parental psychological assessment into primary care services.
• The societal axis: This calls for increasing enrollment rates in early childhood education (which do not exceed 20% in the Arab region compared to 85% globally) through transforming nurseries into learning environments, supporting licensed home-based nurseries, adopting child-friendly urban planning, and engaging the private sector by providing flexible working hours and on-site nurseries to ensure employees’ stability, among other things.

Third: The new ecology of childhood and the challenges of this era

The Arab region faces four fundamental challenges that Arab policies must address:

• Climate and environmental change: The issue is no longer merely environmental but has become a direct threat to early childhood health. This change constitutes a health and developmental crisis for young children and affects parents’ ability to provide stable care.
• The rise of machines and digital distraction: There are risks of excessive screen time with its impact on language and motor development, in addition to “parental distraction” by phones disrupting emotional communication, along with the growing digital divide.
• The crisis of care availability and quality: Families are forced into fragmented and unstable care arrangements due to mothers entering the workforce and the shortage of qualified personnel.
• Poverty, structural crises, and conflicts: Poverty and disparity in opportunities constitute the strongest social determinants of physical and mental health. The continued financial hardship resulting from the inability to meet basic needs creates a precarious environment for children and widens the gap between families. This suffering is compounded in countries experiencing violence and war, such as Palestine, Lebanon, Sudan, Yemen, and Syria.

Fourth: Successful Arab models and practices

This document draws on pioneering experiences, including:

• Morocco’s initiative to expand access to early childhood education in remote areas and establish “maternity centers”
• The institutionalization of parenting and legislation governing home-based nurseries in Jordan
• Strict legal frameworks and immediate reporting mechanisms for child protection in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Lebanon
• Legislative leadership in the UAE through “Wadeema’s Law” that links protection to digital development and smart systems.

Fifth: A new charter and a five-year action plan

The Arab Network for Early Childhood (ANECD) proposes a charter based on ensuring developmental equity, legislating paid parental leave (maternity and paternity), launching an “Early Developmental Passport” to track cognitive development, allocating a sovereign budget of no less than 1% of GDP for childhood, banning targeted advertising for children under five, and criminalizing the targeting of childhood infrastructure during crises.

For implementation, ANECD proposes a roadmap based on:

• Establishing the “Arab Observatory for Early Childhood” under the auspices of the Arab League in order to institutionalize data and legislation
• Launching a unified Arab professional diploma for caregivers and training healthcare personnel
• Implementing spatial equity through the “Neighborhood Garden” initiative to improve densely populated neighborhoods and developing unified smart parenting platforms
• Supporting families’ financial resiliency, provided they monitor their children’s health and education
• Sustainability and impact measurement through conducting a comprehensive regional survey to assess the return on investment and consolidate “child budget” indicators in national budgets to ensure the sustainability of future generations.

Finally: A call for the future

ANECD concludes this document with a call to decision-makers in the Arab League emphasizing that investment in early childhood cannot wait for the end of wars or the recovery of economies. It stresses that this integrated investment between family, community, and state is the sovereign guarantee for protecting future generations from marginalization and for building a renaissance through human capital from the very beginning.

Learn more about the League of Arab States‘ workshop “A Better Future in a Changing World”, held on May 18, 2026, here.