In the rapidly changing atmosphere of the global economy, productivity has become a very important concept for long-term economic growth, development, regional and global competitiveness, raising social living standards and increasing the level of welfare for countries. In the 21st century, when scientific knowledge, technology, innovation,…

In the past decade, hundreds of impact evaluation studies have measured the learning outcomes of education interventions in developing countries. The impact magnitudes are often reported in terms of "standard deviations," making them difficult to communicate to policy makers beyond education specialists. This paper proposes two…

This review contributes to the growing body of global autism spectrum disorder literature by examining the use of screening instruments in low- and middle-income countries with respect to study design and methodology, instrument adaptation and performance, and collaboration with community stakeholders in research. A systematic review was conducted…

"Millions Learning: Scaling up Quality Education in Developing Countries" tells the story of where and how quality education has scaled in low- and middle-income countries. The story emerges from wide-ranging research on scaling and learning, including 14 in-depth case studies from around the globe. Ultimately, "Millions…

Objectives: (1) To identify which United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) recommended child protection (CP) measures, such as policy, reporting systems, and services for child abuse and neglect (CAN) victims, individually or in combination, were most important in establishing a basic level of child protection in 42 countries;…

Five propositions, to be considered topics for further cross-cultural research, are discussed. It is recommended that questions of who has information and what causes information to flow should be examined before studying the operative value of any particular flow pattern in a setting. The propositions are: (1) the flow of information (two-step or…

This report summarizes research on interventions intended to improve four key breastfeeding behaviors: early initiation of breastfeeding, feeding of colostrum to newborns, exclusive breastfeeding for the first 0-6 months, and continued breastfeeding through the second year and beyond. It clarifies what is known about improving these practices in…