*Limitations*

Despite the wide scope of this narrative review of global initiatives reporting on children, families and environmental factors impacting early child development, it is important to note some limitations. The main limitation relates to the authors' personal preferences and areas of expertise which could have influenced the selection of studies reviewed in this paper. Moreover, we included studies published in English, therefore, we might have missed important information published in other languages.

#### **6. Conclusions**

The goals of assessment to promote children's developmental trajectories are to gather accurate data about the child's level of functioning across domains of cognitive, communicative, motor, social and adaptive development. Such assessment provides the basis for identifying areas of strength and if delays exist- while also considering the cultural context of the child and communicating the assessment findings to specify targeted intervention. Given the significant need, but limited availability of developmental measures appropriates for low and middle-income countries, an important priority in the continuing implementation of SDG is the development of measures that assess proximal aspects of child functioning that can complete more distal, proxy measures of development such as poverty and stunting. The ECDI and the literacy-numeracy index, and the development of the DEEP represent measures appropriate for assessing developmental functioning of young children in low-resource countries. The integration of multiple sectors, although challenging yields potential benefits to the evaluation process. To this end, Black and Dewey recommend designing evaluative processes with multiple integrated interventions in mind, examining population factors, and then promoting capacity among care providers to support evaluation from a theory-based perspective [35].

This narrative review advances the importance of adopting a universal childenvironment interaction framework in initiatives to promote the early development of children around the world. Using the ICF-CY as a guiding framework, assessments and interventions can be planned and delivered considering dynamic child-environment interactions, facilitating communication across sectors, and facilitating continuity of care in the changing environment—home, school, community—where children grow, develop, and play.
