India

Active since 1992

The Van Leer Foundation started working in India in 1992. Today we focus on investing in programmes and public spaces that support families in both cities and rural communities, as well as supporting leaders from across sectors throughout the country with learning opportunities about the early years.

India is home to the largest number of children in the world with nearly 138 million children under 5. India’s population is also rapidly urbanising, and projections indicate that the number of families living in cities will nearly double by 2050.

 

India at a glance
138 million
children from birth to age 5
36.6 million
young children living in cities
8.1 million
children live in low-income urban communities
Urban95 in India

Pune, Udaipur and Bhubaneswar were the first cities in India to implement city-scale Urban95 initiatives with support from our technical partners ICLEI-SA, Ecorys, Egis and IBI. Early successes in these three cities inspired the Nurturing Neighbourhoods Challenge, which has scaled innovative urban early childhood interventions to 10 cities across the country. We are continuing to invest in scaling this approach with our partners: the Smart Cities Mission at the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, and the World Resources Institute.

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We also reinforce leadership among urban stakeholders in India through other initiatives. Our partnership with the National Institute of Urban Affairs, a think tank that guides government policy, includes a capacity-building course for municipal staff and urban professionals on city planning from a young child’s perspective.

At the national level, we work closely with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the Aga Khan Foundation to support families during children’s first 1,000 days. We supported the development of a nationwide campaign and parenting app, Paalan1000, to support caregivers in their children’s early years, led and championed by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

In addition, we have partnerships at the state level. In Odisha State, we are collaborating with the Ministry of Women and Child Development and the Charities Aid Foundation to strengthen parenting and parent coaching in the state and scale across all 70,000 anganwadis. Together with NITI Aayog and Vikramshila Education Resource Society, we are including the ‘first 1,000 days’ agenda in the Aspirational Districts programme, which seeks to transform 112 of the most under-developed districts across the country.

 

Knowledge from India
Research report Study on Young Children and Climate Change in India
First study of its kind demonstrating the urgent and unique needs of young children and caregivers in climate action
Research report Study on Public Spaces in India
Investigating how young families and pregnant women use public space across India
Collection Infant, Toddler, Caregiver-Friendly Neighbourhood (ITCN) Resources
This collection of five publications is a vital resource for smart cities in India to create infant, toddler and caregiver-friendly neighbourhoods.
Impact
Collection Nurturing Neighbourhoods Across India
Supporting cities to develop nurturing family-friendly neighbourhoods for babies, toddlers and their caregivers
Report Baseline Analysis of ITC-Friendly Mobility for Pune
This report analyses the existing mobility conditions of Pune city. It offers design and planning recommendations to support the mobility needs of…
Research report An Evaluation of Mother Tongue-Based Early Learning and Parents+ Programme
This report provides an evaluation of a model of mother tongue-based multilingual early childhood education in the state of Odisha, India.