Childonomics: Measuring the long-term social and economic value of investing in children

A consortium of organisations developed and tested an instrument that helps reflect on the long-term social and economic return of investing in children and families. This work resulted in three main deliverables: a conceptual framework  which offers a way of mapping services and programmes and linking them to expected outcomes for children, families, communities and the society; a methodology for appraising the social and economic return on investment of child and family services; and a report on lessons learnt from applying the conceptual framework and methodology in two pilot countries – Romania and Malta. Some of the key takeaways include that more economic modeling is needed on the impacts from the social service sector and that a systems-wide approach is needed among stakeholder groups.