The report focuses on preschool, as aneffective early childhood development (ECD) intervention,especially for improving the status of the poorest groups inBrazil's population. Because of data limitations, thefocus is primarily on pre-schooling, with some discussionson day care, and other services for the younger age group(0-3 years). Although the country is now out of the economicrecession of the late 1990s, and, has laid the basis for aneconomic growth free of inflation, nonetheless, substantialdevelopment imbalances still need to be addressed. This willrequire sustained economic growth, and a range of policyinterventions that affect the broad structure of theeconomy, therefore, this study looks at the impact of ECD,particularly preschool, in redressing these distortions. Themain structural dimensions of access to pre-schooling arehigher enrollments among older children, showing thatenrollments - eight percent in the 0-3 age group - were seento be particularly low in comparison with industrializednations, though similar to other Latin American countries;that enrollments are lower in the mid-west, south, and northof the country in comparison to the northeast, andsoutheast, with the largest rural-urban disparities in themid-west, and southeast; and, that the richest ten percentof the population account for fifty six percent of access topreschool, while only twenty four percent of the poorestforty percent, attend these services. Findings suggest astrengthened preschool financing, improved access to thepoorest, and combined preschool services with other ECD services.
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