Special topic: sunshine starting point: the launching ceremony of the guidance action plan for the upbringing of 100,000 infants in rural areas.

In order to enable more rural children to enjoy early parenting services and promote the formulation of relevant policies, the China Development Research Foundation held the launching ceremony of "Sunshine starting Point: 100,000 Rural Infant rearing guidance Action Plan" (referred to as "Sunshine starting Point Action Plan") in Beijing on May 15, 2024. About 200 guests from the government, universities, social organizations, research institutions and other departments attended the ceremony. The participants also focused on "laying the foundation for early childhood development, high-quality economic and social development", "early childhood development to promote rural revitalization" and "early childhood intervention".50coinmasterThere were in-depth exchanges on topics such as "scientific basis and effectiveness".

Zhang Junzao, chairman of the China Development Research Foundation, deputy director of the motions Committee of the 14th CPPCC National Committee, and former deputy director of the Development Research Center of the State Council, pointed out in his opening speech that the health, nutrition, growth and development of children in China have been continuously improved. the maternal and child health service network has been gradually improved, but there are still shortcomings in human resources development in early childhood, and there is less investment in early childhood development. This is particularly prominent in rural and underdeveloped areas. Although local finances are relatively tight at present, the more difficult times are, the more we need to look forward and see the long-term value of investing in children. The Foundation launched the Sunshine starting Point Action Plan, which helps to promote social awareness of the importance of early rearing of infants and young children in rural areas and promote exchanges and cooperation among social forces in the field of early childhood development. It is believed that with the active participation of caring people and institutions from all walks of life, coupled with the heavy investment of governments at all levels in the early development of children, it is entirely possible to cultivate new human capital advantages for China's development. truly achieve high-quality population development to support Chinese-style modernization.

Fang Jinxuan, vice chairman and secretary-general of the China Development Research Foundation, read a written speech by Peng Xianyun, former vice chairman of the standing Committee of the National people's Congress. Vice Chairman Peng highly affirmed the significance of the "Sunshine starting Point Action Plan." she pointed out that at present, the parenting guidance service for 0-3-year-old infants in rural areas is basically blank and needs to be improved urgently. Promoting the early development of infants and young children is an important way to consolidate the achievements of getting rid of poverty and achieve rural rejuvenation and common prosperity, and it is a basic project to support Chinese-style modernization with high-quality population development. It needs to actively publicize and mobilize the forces of all sectors to make joint efforts for a long time. It is hoped that on the basis of the preliminary work, the foundation will adhere to the problem orientation, adhere to integrity and innovation, strive for something, and make better results.

Fang Jin also briefed the participants on the launch and progress of the plan. "Sunshine starting Point: 100,000 Rural Infant Home rearing guidance Action Plan" is a large-scale upgrade and expansion of "Huiyu China: mountain Village Home early Education Plan" successfully implemented by the China Development Research Foundation. There is a large gap between urban and rural areas in the level of infant care and child development, the risk of stunting of children under three years old in rural areas is high, but the parenting guidance service for them is basically blank. In order to fill this gap, in 2015, the China Development Research Foundation launched the "Huiyu China" project, which was successively promoted in 24 counties (districts) in 10 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government) through one-to-one home visits to provide weekly one-hour family rearing guidance services for infants and caregivers aged 6-36 months in underdeveloped rural areas. Children 1 in the current project50coinmaster.50,000 people, benefiting more than 40,000 children. In order to enable more rural children to enjoy high-quality early childhood rearing guidance services as soon as possible, the Foundation and partners jointly launched the Sunshine starting Point Action Plan in March 2024.

The upgrading of the plan is mainly reflected in the following four aspects: first, within two years, the scale of beneficiary children will be expanded from 15000 to 100000 in the same period. at that time, the plan will become the largest pilot project in the field of early child rearing in rural areas of our country. Secondly, the plan will rise from the previous model exploration at the county level to the construction of child development demonstration areas at the level of Bijie City, Haidong City and other cities, which further proves that the model of "household parenting guidance" can be promoted on a large scale at the provincial and municipal level. Third, the plan will call on and advocate more and wider participation of forces and resources, including well-known scholars, social organizations, enterprises and the media, to form social joint forces and resource integration. Fourth, the plan will provide a more solid practical basis for policy advocacy at the provincial and national level. The specific goals of the Sunshine starting Point Action Plan include: the coverage rate of infant rearing risk screening in the project area is more than 80%; the coverage rate of "one-to-one" services for infants and children aged 0-3 years old in the project area is more than 80%; the development level of infants under 3 years old in the project area is equal to or close to the development level of urban children. In terms of specific implementation, the Foundation will deepen cooperation with maternal and child health systems in the pilot areas, promote household rearing guidance in the form of home visits on a large scale, and at the same time set up "intelligent education centers" in townships and villages with high population. carry out structured central collective parent-child activities (reading, parent-child games, etc.), and implement health management, family education, talent team building and other actions. The foundation will carry out baseline and annual monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of various provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities), collect and analyze data regularly, strengthen supervision and guidance, and ensure results.

In the keynote speech, Cai Fang, chief expert of the National High-end think Tank of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, introduced his views on the development of early childhood with the theme of "Seedling Economics". He believes that there are three main sources of China's future demographic dividend: the first is to increase the number of years of education per capita, the second is to improve the quality of education, and the third is to improve the efficiency of the allocation of educational resources by improving the fairness of education. The total rate of return of human capital training in the early stage of life is the highest, and the social rate of return is the highest, so the government should bear the relevant expenditure responsibility and lead various development projects. At the present stage, increasing the government's social expenditure is just facing the opportunity window of "three-phase superposition of the supply of public goods". He also pointed out that the household registration system is the root cause of the phenomenon of left-behind children and migrant children, and promoting the reform of the household registration system will help to fundamentally achieve the equalization of educational resources and make parents better assume the responsibility of parenting and care. it also helps to solve the paradox of school withdrawal and merger in the process of urbanization.

Li Shi, a senior professor at Zhejiang University, pointed out in a round table speech that the educational gap has become the most important factor to explain the overall income gap, and the educational gap is indirectly affected by the regional environment, family background and other objective conditions faced in the development stage of 0-3 years old. Eliminating unfair development opportunities in early childhood and helping children of low-income and vulnerable groups to overcome various obstacles will affect not only their own development, but even society as a whole. and whether the grand goal of common prosperity can be achieved in the future.

Shi Yaojiang, a professor at Shaanxi normal University, believes that the fundamental starting point for rural revitalization and common prosperity is to solve the problem of early childhood development. Research shows that urban and rural children are equally smart in the first few months of life, but after the age of 3, the risk of early development of rural children is significantly higher than that of urban children, and the lag rate of social and emotional ability of rural children is even more than 50% in some areas. This gap is caused by the rearing environment because these families do not provide appropriate responsive care for children at an early stage. The significance of the Sunshine starting Point project is to give rural children a chance to avoid the risk of development. The average cost of home rearing guidance is 3000 yuan per year, and this kind of intervention can bring quick results. If the finance can include 832 former state-level poverty-stricken counties in the project, it only needs 13 billion yuan to achieve full coverage and solve this problem.

James Heckman, professor of the University of Chicago and winner of the 2000 Nobel Prize in economics, Redalio, founder, chief investment officer mentor and member of the board of directors of Bridgewater Investment Co., Ltd., and Bao Damin, chairman of Rio Tinto Group. Evan Greenberg, chairman and CEO of Anda Group And Osma Tela, Federal Councillor of Rio Grande do Sul, and other guests expressed their support for the Sunshine starting Point Action Plan by video. Tela first congratulated the China Development Research Foundation on its initiative to launch the Sunshine starting Point Action Plan to work with all sectors of society to promote early childhood development and extend early childhood development projects to a wider range of the country. He points out that the first few years of life are the most malleable periods of the brain. This is a unique and unparalleled window of opportunity in human life, which will never reappear in the end, and it is needless to say that it is of great importance to the development of one's lifelong ability. Many years ago, he went to Ledu District of Qinghai Province and Huachi County of Gansu Province to inspect the Foundation's early childhood development project, which left a deep impression. He said he was very pleased to see that the program has now been extended to 10 provinces and 24 counties, and is committed to benefiting 100000 children, which is also an encouragement to the international community.

Lu Mai, former deputy director of the China Development Research Foundation, thanked all the attendees, partners and people from all walks of life for their support for the Sunshine starting Point Action Plan. He believes that the successful holding of the launching ceremony is a good start for the next step of social mobilization. He pointed out that Sunshine starting Point, as version 2.0 of the Huiyu China project, has three advantages. According to the previous "Huiyu China" project many years of implementation experience, from the implementation effect, the project and Nobel laureate James Heckman team conducted collaborative research shows that 84% of home-visited children can benefit from the project intervention, and family welcome, international recognition. From the point of view of the project model, the replicability of the project is strong, and the local governments in the pilot areas have summarized the "five systems" of the project, including a team, a set of three-level management system, teaching content, monitoring system, and government leadership system. From the point of view of the target population, the project is both fair and inclusive. On the one hand, the project focuses on helping vulnerable groups, and children from families such as left-behind, poverty-free households and single parents account for a large proportion of the beneficiaries of the project, and the marginal benefits of intervention for such families are very large. at the same time, the project also provides services to other rural families from the perspective of inclusive benefits.

He believes that the messages sent by the first batch of individual sponsors to the project expressed several common expectations. First of all, in the process of policy formulation in our country, we should pay more attention to rural children in poverty alleviation areas and choose methods that are in line with the actual situation in rural areas. Second, call for the establishment of a demonstration project to support rural family parenting guidance services with reference to the "demonstration Project of the Central Finance to support the Development of inclusive childcare Services". Finally, call on local governments, caring enterprises, organizations, individuals and the media to work together to lift the sunny starting point of rural children's early life.

The Sunshine starting Point Action Plan (2024-2025) has a total budget of 300 million yuan, of which 200 million yuan is jointly raised by the foundation and partners, and the remaining 100 million yuan is raised by the local government where the pilot county is located. At present, the program has won the support of 9 enterprise sponsors, 80 scholars and professionals, and donated more than 60 million yuan. In the next step, the foundation will carry out continuous Internet public fund-raising activities for the public, and look forward to the active participation and strong support of caring people from all walks of life. All donors, regardless of the amount of money, have the right to know, participate and supervise the plan.

Time is passing, children are growing up, and the reality of early childhood development should not be missed. For the healthy growth of rural children, in order to realize the bright future of China's common prosperity, let us take urgent action to make the sunny starting point of 100000 rural infants become a reality!

Sina stated that all the minutes of the meeting were arranged in shorthand and had not been reviewed by the speaker. Sina's publication of this article for the purpose of transmitting more information does not mean agreeing with its point of view or confirming its description.