Child Priority Framework: Advancing Global Child Well-being

In an era marked by economic constraints and unprecedented global challenges, the Paris Peace Forum is launching, together with partners, an ambitious initiative to establish a comprehensive  Child Priority Framework. This initiative aims to prioritize child health, education, nutrition, protection, and psychosocial wellbeing as central pillars of global development efforts. By focusing on the most effective investment—our children—we seek to transform long-term global development outcomes, foster human capital, and build resilience in the most vulnerable populations. 

Why investing in children matters now 

International development cooperation is at a critical juncture, with shrinking political commitment and financing threatening decades of progress. As conflict, climate change, and economic pressures intensify, children face growing risks to their health, nutrition, learning, and overall wellbeing. 

Investing in children is the most effective way to alleviate suffering and enable a better life for the greatest number of people. Children are the foundation of future societies, and their well-being is intrinsically linked to global stability and prosperity. By preserving child health, education, and nutrition, we can address immediate needs and catalyze progress across multiple Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including reducing poverty, advancing gender equality, promoting environmental sustainability, and fostering peace. 

Recent data highlights significant challenges in child development across lower middle-income countries (LMICs), with poverty and malnutrition being primary concerns. In 2024, the global mortality rate for children under five was 4.9 million – although a record low, progress has slowed since 2015. 

Child Poverty Trends. More than half of the 1.1 billion people living in multidimensional poverty are children. Young children (ages 0–9) are especially affected, making up one-third of all people living in multidimensional poverty. 

Malnutrition and Food Insecurity.  1 in 4 children under five experienced severe food poverty in 2024, making them up to 50% more likely to experience wasting (low weight relative to height, indicating acute malnutrition). Factors such as armed conflict, climate change, and economic crises have exacerbated this situation, particularly in regions like sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. 

Educational Challenges. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated "learning poverty" leading to educational setbacks. An estimated 70% of 10-year-olds in LMICs are unable to read and understand simple text by age 10. 

Developmental Milestones. Only 54% children under the age of 5 in the least developed countries are developmentally on track in their health, learning, and psycho-social wellbeing. Factors contributing to this include poverty, malnutrition, and lack of cognitive stimulation. 

Maternal health significantly influences child development. 92% of all maternal deaths occur in LMICs, predominantly in Sub-Saharan Africa, mostly from preventable cause. Over 35% of pregnant women in LMICs are anemic, leading to low birth weights and increased neonatal mortality. Limited access to prenatal and postnatal care compounds these issues; over one-third of women in low-income countries lack skilled care during childbirth, increasing the risk of complications and mortality. 

Objectives 

The Child Priority Framework recognizes that child wellbeing challenges vary across countries, each with unique contexts and priorities. It serves as a global platform where governments, organizations, and experts can share experiences, identify what works, and scale the most effective investments to improve children's wellbeing around a set of shared priorities. Based on consultations and expert input, five interconnected pillars have emerged as the foundation of a holistic approach to child wellbeing: 

• Child and Maternal Health: Ensuring survival through safe births, essential healthcare, immunization, quality sleep, and maternal health services.
  
  
• Child Education and Learning: Expanding access to quality early childhood education and foundational learning, including cognitive and socio-emotional development.
  
• Nutrition and Food Security: Addressing undernutrition, stunting, wasting, anemia, obesity, and food insecurity from pregnancy through the first 1,000 days and beyond.
  
  
• Physical Protection: Protecting children from abuse, neglect, child labor, exploitation, female genital mutilation, and forced marriage. 
  
  
• Psychosocial Wellbeing: Supporting socio-emotional development, mental health, responsive caregiving and play, and safe digital environments, including protections related to screen time and artificial intelligence. 

Investing in these five pillars is both a moral imperative and one of the most effective ways to build long-term stability and shared prosperity. Through a unified agenda, the framework aims to: 

• Reaffirm Child Wellbeing as a Global Imperative: Ensure child health, education, nutrition, protection, and psychosocial wellbeing remain at the forefront of international development efforts, in all countries, despite shifting geopolitical priorities and pressures on concessional financing. 
• Forge a Resilient Global Coalition:Mobilize a diverse network of leaders, governments, NGOs, private sector actors, civil society, researchers, and global experts to champion child wellbeing, recognizing the need for innovative partnerships adapting to the new realities. 
• Adapt Policy and Resource Mobilization:Develop a strategic framework that guides policy and financial priorities ensuring effective allocation of scarce resources, and advocate for prioritizing investment in child-focused interventions, leveraging technological innovations to maximize impact. 
  

Approach 

To further develop the Child Priority Framework, the Paris Peace Forum is building: 

• A coalition of international organizations and interested parties across the child wellbeing ecosystem, including governments, international organizations, development banks, researchers, and civil society organizations working on child and maternal health, education, nutrition, protection and psychosocial wellbeing. The aim is twofold: to emphasize the importance of developing and promoting a diverse framework for implementation across the Global North and Global South, and to share experiences and expertise on what child-centered investments in the areas outlined above lead to the highest impact and most efficient investments to accelerate learnings and investment gains in other contexts. 

• An evidence-based investment rationale, which will underpin the framework. Current efforts focus on consolidating data and research from partners, including the Gates Foundation, the World Bank and UNICEF, to demonstrate the multiplier effect of child-centered interventions. This includes drawing lessons from successful initiatives, such as GAVI and Nutrition for Growth, and integrating key child well-being indicators across the five pillars (health, nutrition, education protection, and psychosocial wellbeing). 

• A Working Group comprising of experts in child and maternal health, education, nutrition, protection, and psychosocial wellbeing has been established. This working group is conducting regular consultations to develop a declaration on the importance of child-focused investments and validate a Measurement Framework of key child wellbeing metrics and Priority Interventions that support an evidence-based case for prioritizing children. Together, these tools will articulate a compelling, data-driven narrative for policymakers and investors. Presenting clear, quantifiable returns on child-focused investments is intended to inspire greater political will and financial commitment, positioning child well-being as a strategic priority in global development agendas, and guide implementation of highest-return priority interventions across the five pillars of the Child Priority Framework.  

• An Action Hub for Children will be launched later in the year. The Action Hub is a multi-actor platform that brings together governments, multilateral institutions, philanthropies, and businesses to mobilize expertise, innovation, and investment in support of concrete and coordinated initiatives for child wellbeing.  
  
  

In November 2026, the 9th edition of the Paris Peace Forum, under the umbrella of the French Presidency of the G7, will also host the Child Summit, a flagship event dedicated to prioritizing a holistic, multisectoral approach to child wellbeing, which is the central tenet of the Child Priority Framework. The Summit will represent a major milestone for the Child Priority Framework, reinforcing global momentum through renewed political commitment, accelerating implementation, and mobilizing partners around a unified agenda for child wellbeing. 

→ To learn more, please refer to this note