Early Childhood and Open Society Creating Equitable and Inclusive Societies

I am happy that the Open Society Foundations have achieved so much over the years in the field of early childhood development. But I think it is also worth remembering how we got involved in the first place—a story that shows how sometimes the best ideas come from keeping an open mind, so that you can find things you didn’t know you were looking for.

In 1993, due to the success of my business strategies, I was able to expand significantly my philanthropic work, which was largely directed at the time to supporting the transformation underway in the former Communist countries of East and Central Eastern Europe. My predominant concern was launching what was to become Central European University, with the idea that it would help develop the new generation of leaders that the region so needed after decades spent under the deadening weight of Communism.

I wanted the new university, with its focus on post-graduate studies in the social sciences, to have the best academic minds we could locate, and I devoted myself to talking to everyone I could find who had ideas to contribute— including Dr. Fraser Mustard, the great Canadian teaching doctor who was one of the founders of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research. Dr. Mustard was famous as a cardiologist. But at the time

he was becoming increasingly focused on raising what were then new questions about the socioeconomic determinants of human development and health, starting with early childhood (work that was to help to lead the evolution of the concept of community care that has spread far beyond Canada). 

When I told him about my vision of the transformative impact of Central European University, he cited new research on the unprecedented development of the brain in the first few years, and then told me I had to start younger. Instead of focusing on university students, I should look at pregnancy and the critical first six years of childhood. 

I was inspired—in addition to the impact on the region’s approach to education, I saw here an approach that could also support the region’s Roma children, who faced enormous entrenched prejudice and economic challenges that impacted their chance at a strong beginning. I

turned to Liz Lorant on the Open Society staff who was then largely focusing on health care issues—who led us eventually to Professor Phyllis Magrab, a pediatric psychologist, and her team at Georgetown University, and together they created the Step by Step Program.

This work helped shape our other efforts—with an initial $100 million committed at a time when the strength of the U.S. dollar dramatically increased what we could achieve. Step by Step made immediate visible changes in preschools in Central Eastern Europe and Eurasia, where it was first implemented. This had a big impact on families, who were struggling economically, but hopeful for a better future with fall of Communism, and it led to changes in early education systems.

Over the years, Open Society’s initial focus on early education evolved into a broad, holistic approach to early childhood development—an approach that included looking at health care access and at social support policies (all I imagine in ways that our friend Dr. Mustard would have approved of). As the Open Society Foundations expanded globally, new initiatives were launched in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America. We have worked along the way with many allies and other funders, with an increasing focus on changing policy-making in ways that recognize the importance of giving a voice to parents and children. I am particularly proud of the way we have been able to work with so many Roma communities to challenge the terrible patterns of discrimination and poverty that Roma people face from the earliest age

As the Open Society Foundations continue to evolve, our work on early childhood development is now being integrated into our stronger focus on addressing economic inequalities and fighting discrimination—in ways that recognize the inter-connectedness of many of the problems we face.

This publication tells some of the story of how we got to this point—a story that would not have been possible without the innumerable practitioners, experts, policy-makers, and funders who worked with us—and for whose contributions I am enormously grateful.

George Soros 

Founder and Chair, 

Open Society Foundations