PROSA: Fostering Early Childhood Development in Guatemala

PROSA, short for Screening and Launching Program, was the first phase of J-PAL LAC and Universidad del Valle de Guatemala (UVG)’s joint work in Guatemala. From 2023 to 2025, it helped build a culture of evidence use around early childhood development by strengthening local capacities, launching new research, and building partnerships across government, civil society, and academia.

PROSA focused on three main lines of work:

Trainings: building the capacity of organizations and public officials to use evidence in decision-making.
Use and generation of evidence: reviewing existing evidence, identifying research gaps, and supporting new learning on priority early childhood development questions.
Strengthening systems: working with public institutions to strengthen technical capacity, data use, and program improvement.

PROSA working with public institutions to strengthen technical capacity, data use, and program improvement.

What PROSA did

Icon of a person standing in front of a screen instructing students

Trainings

Introductory workshops on evidence use and impact evaluation for 25 organizations.
Three Impact Evaluation Incubator courses, plus technical assistance for more than 12 programs working with infants.
Eight trainings were delivered to 22 delegations of the Secretariat for Food Security and Nutrition (SESAN), reaching 390 public officials. More than 30 public officials from the Ministry of Social Development (MIDES) received training on impact evaluation

Use and generation of evidence

One ongoing research project and an additional RCT design addressing priority early childhood development questions in Guatemala such as: whether a radio-delivered early stimulation model can sustain child development gains while lowering costs and enabling scale.
Multiple evidence sharing sessions on ECD shared with key stakeholders including government and civil society actors.
One competitive Request for Proposals (RfP) round supported pilot projects and evaluations aligned with priority policy questions identified with strategic partners.

Strengthening systems

Partnership with the Secretariat for Food Security and Nutrition (SESAN) to promote research and the use of administrative data.
Technical assistance to government, including the Ministry of Social Development (MIDES), to strengthen institutional capacity and support program redesign and improvement.
Review of national early childhood development offerings and the Acompáñame a Crecer curriculum with the Ministry of Education (MINEDUC), including the piloting of additional interventions to expand coverage for infants.

From PROSA to Growing Futures

Between 2023 and 2025, PROSA helped build trusted partnerships, strengthen technical capacity, and create a practical pipeline for research and learning around early childhood development in Guatemala. Over time, this work also contributed to a broader shift: institutions and organizations became more willing to seek out, use, and adapt evidence to improve their programs. What began as PROSA has since evolved into Growing Futures, a broader platform that builds on this foundation through strategic partnerships, capacity building, applied research, and support for evidence-informed adaptation and scale.

How PROSA worked

PROSA worked with government institutions, civil society organizations, and other partners implementing or supporting promising early childhood development interventions in Guatemala. Through these collaborations, the project helped:

Strengthen partners’ capacity to use and generate evidence through training and technical support;
Identify opportunities to adapt, improve, and test programs in response to relevant policy questions.

Partner

Funding partners

Explore the next phase of this work in Guatemala through Growing Futures

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