Blog written by Sheldon Shaeffer, Board Chairman of ARNEC
June 25, 2026 – As ECDAN celebrates 10 years since its founding, coinciding with the passing of Judith Evans, a fierce and longtime advocate for young children, I have been reflecting on how far we have come and the collective action that has brough us to this point. This includes the establishment and subsequent 30-year history of the Consultative Group on Early Childhood Care and Development (CG). Judith was involved in the CG and several of us who worked with her reconnected and agreed to write a short history and analysis of the CG, its accomplishments, and its legacy.
In this moment of reflection, we thought it would be useful for the ECD community to recall that the CG produced early and often seminal contributions that enriched the general field of ECD and, in particular, enhanced recognition of the importance of young children in international development discourse. These contributions helped to nurture the infrastructure of global and regional ECD networks that remains to this day. Understanding this history places ECDAN’s founding and way or operating in a broader and longer-term perspective considering the development of the field as a whole. The CG started the work that ECDAN carries on today.
At a time when it feels so many acts of progress are being eroded, it can be helpful to look at the larger arc of time and appreciate the actions of those who came before.