Africa’s debt crisis is blocking progress for its youngest children. While governments spend over $119 billion each year on debt interest payments, essential investments in healthcare, childcare, and early education remain critically underfunded. Redirecting even a small share of these resources could transform child well-being and economic futures.
This project examines how coordinated debt relief could free resources to achieve three catalytic goals for early childhood development (ECD): universal family support, universal healthcare, and universal preschool education.
Findings show that reallocating just 3% of GDP from debt servicing to child-focused policies could lift 166 million people out of extreme poverty, save over 4 million children’s lives annually, and enable more than 50 million women to enter formal employment. Proven mechanisms such as debt standstills and sustainability assessments could turn debt relief into long-term investment in children’s futures.
By demonstrating the scale of lost opportunities, the project calls on the G20 to move from managing crises to prioritising debt relief as a tool for sustainable development and children’s rights.
This project was comissioned by Theirworld in support of a landmark report launched ahead of the 2025 G20 Summit in South Africa.
