Dr Audrey Smock Amoah, the Director-General of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), has stressed the importance of early childhood development (ECD) as the foundation of Ghana’s human capital agenda.
She noted that the country’s socio-economic transformation could not be separated from investments in its youngest citizens.
Speaking at the THRIVE National Early Childhood Development stakeholders’ meeting in Accra on Tuesday, Dr Amoah said evidence consistently showed that the early years are critical for brain development and lifelong outcomes.
She said globally, an estimated 250 million children remain at risk of not reaching their developmental potential.
“In the Ghanaian context, 17 percent of children under five are stunted, reflecting chronic undernutrition. When early learning gaps and multidimensional poverty are considered, the proportion of children at risk is significantly higher,” she noted, citing findings from the 2021 Population and Housing Census and Ghana Statistical Service’s multidimensional poverty analysis.
Dr. Amoah explained that these challenges are not merely social statistics but economic signals with long-term implications.
Children who experience early deprivation are more likely to perform poorly in school, earn less as adults, and contribute less to national productivity, ultimately slowing human capital accumulation and economic transformation.
She said the NDPC is currently leading the preparation of a Human Capital Development Strategy, anchored on the premise that Ghana’s long-term growth will be determined by the quality of its human capital, with early childhood as the foundation.
The THRIVE Ghana initiative, she added, contributes directly to this effort by generating robust evidence on effective interventions in ECD.
Dr Amoah emphasised the need for integrated service delivery across health, nutrition, education, and social protection, warning that siloed interventions limit impact.
She reaffirmed NDPC’s commitment to strengthening inter-sectoral alignment, harmonising data systems, and ensuring evidence is effectively integrated into planning, monitoring, and evaluation.
“I reaffirm the commitment of NDPC to advancing Early Childhood Development as a cornerstone of Ghana’s Human Capital Agenda. The future of Ghana depends on what we do today for our children. Let us act decisively together,” she said.
