Amman, Jordan—On March 16, 2016, Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan attended a meeting of the Forum on Investing in Young Children Globally of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in Amman, Jordan.
This meeting brought together two communities—early childhood development and peacebuilding—to promote knowledge exchange and identification of opportunities to leverage investments in early childhood development to promote peace.
The meeting opened with remarks from Jordan’s UNICEF Representative, Robert Jenkins, who commended Jordan’s efforts in early childhood development and its engagement in youth through the call to action in the UN Resolution on Youth, Peace, and Security.
The panel addressed inter-community dialogue, early childhood and peace, and migration patterns of refugee children. The presentations were based on the science, programmatic evidence, and policy and faith-based dialogue of peacebuilding and explored potentially effective models that employ tools such as intercultural dialogue to leverage the period of early childhood for peacebuilding efforts in regions experiencing conflict. A workshop summary of this meeting will be published in late 2016.
The meeting lasted three days and Princess Sarah Zeid of Jordan, noted for her work in improving survival, health, and development of newborns, attended the last two days.
For more information on the work of the Forum on Investing in Young Children Globally, please contact Kimber Bogard at kkbogard@nas.edu.
