The most transformational investment in fragile nations isn’t what you think

In an era of shrinking aid budgets and multiplying conflicts, every dollar spent on humanitarian aid must work harder than ever. As the Ebola crisis shows, aid cuts can bring disaster, but the question is not just how much the world spends. It’s whether resources are being directed towards investments that address crisis and generate lasting economic and social returns. One of the highest-return investments in fragile nations does not involve roads, ports or security forces. It involves 4-year-olds. Investments in early learning and primary education generate some of the highest long-term returns. Evidence from rural Kenya found that every dollar invested in early childhood development generates over $15 in social and economic returns—through improved health, learning, productivity, and future earnings. Yet less than 4% of aid to crisis-affected countries is directed towards early childhood development—and less than 0.5% goes to early learning and play. This is not a marginal oversight. It is a systemic failure to invest in the foundations of long-term stability and economic resilience. Some donors are beginning to rethink the economics of education in emergencies. On May 27, for instance, our institutions announced a $97 million program to expand play-based early learning programs across conflict-affected regions in East Africa and the Middle East, one of the largest philanthropic commitments ever to early learning and primary education in crisis settings. Over 400 million children are growing up in conflict settings where education systems are disrupted or have collapsed. This is not only a failure to educate children. It is a handbrake against virtually every other measure of an educated, capable population that can grow an economy. The global financing gap to meet basic education goals stands at $97 billion a year, and is growing. Early childhood is the period when human capital is formed most rapidly and most cost-effectively. Additionally, ensuring conti