Early childhood education and development became the essential key to a generation that bloom and thrive. On March 2nd, 2022, the Coordinating Ministry of Human Development and the Culture Republic of Indonesia with the National Coalition of Holistic-Integrative Early Childhood Development (HI-ECD), ARNEC, Tanoto Foundation, and NINOS Education successfully initiated and executed the first cost-free national webinar series about the HI-ECD National Action Plan and Nurturing Care Framework. This webinar series aimed to disseminate the National Action Plan established in 2021 and expose the importance of the first 1000 days of life to prevent stunting in three separate webinars. Taken together, every panel in this webinar series intended to raise the awareness of HI-ECD in Indonesia and its impact on the future generation.

Attended by over 5000 participants from the East to West corner of Indonesia, the first webinar reached the provincial, city/district, and village government, educators and activists, civil organization members, and parents to partake in this 9 am to 1 pm journey of diving deep in HI-ECD. During this webinar, eight notable speakers presented various topics addressing what each level of stakeholders could do to contribute to the advancement of HI-ECD and stunting prevention. These topics range from the national strategies to the best practices from selected districts. 

Introduced by Prof. Dr. Muhadjir Effendy, the Minister himself, this webinar began by showing how we are currently about 10% off our target to have a 14% stunting rate by 2024. This speech also stressed how collaboration from all stakeholders in HI-ECD played a crucial role in such numbers. In the following speech, Dr. Femmy Eka Kartika Putri, M.Psi advocated HI-ECD as the most critical stage in the human life cycle and a priority for investment.

The first session of the webinar explained how accompanying funding from the government requires coordinated programs at both the national and provincial levels. Moreover, the implementation of such programs would be optimum with the cooperation of the local government, education practitioner, and the children’s social environment. Furthermore, the second session marked the significance of monitoring and evaluation to complete such collaboration by showing the evidence from both Kutai Kartanegara and North Lombok districts. In concluding, Nina Sardjunani, MA provided an extremely thorough, yet concise explanation of how genes and the environment interact during the first 1000 days of life to prevent stunting.

Even though the webinar was held online, it did not stop the participant to be fully engaged and interactive during all sessions. In case you missed it, the recorded sessions are available at https://youtu.be/01dQmRGJHDc. You can also access the materials at . The positive energy that they radiated and the excitement they performed through the questions asked, proved how HI-ECD remains a paramount topic that hits close to home and it has been a godsend to realize how we can contribute to its accomplishment.

The second webinar of this series will be held on March 9^th, 2022. Secure your spot here at