Investing in children: Both a moral imperative and a strategic necessity
- Katy Anis
- Mar 2
- 4 min read
At a time when international aid has declined by 17% and progress towards global goals is faltering, faith-based investors are uniquely positioned to catalyse investing in children for a better future for us all, says guest writer Katy Anís, founder and principal at Coalescence Advisory Services.
Throughout history, faiths have galvanised action to protect and nurture children. Today, that moral foundation is reinforced by strong evidence and a compelling investment case. Investing in children is central to human capital formation, and economic growth and resilience.
Yet global investments in human well-being are contracting. Overseas development assistance has declined sharply, public commitments are being rolled back, and progress toward global development goals is faltering.
Faith-based investors as catalysts
In this context, faith-inspired investors are uniquely positioned to act as catalysts –shifting child-focused investing from the margins of philanthropy to a core pillar of mainstream investment practice.
Faith-inspired investors bring strengths that conventional finance often lacks: value of long-term impact, comfort with early-stage risk, and readiness to deploy concessional and catalytic capital to prepare child-focused ventures for market-rate investment.
At a moment when public finance and aid for human well-being are shrinking, their engagement is not only timely but transformative. The case for investing in children is no longer simply moral; it is economic, social, and strategic.
The strategic case for investing in children
The globe’s most valuable source of wealth is its human capital, according to a 2018 World Bank report. Investing in children is among the most effective ways to strengthen human capital – the foundation of global economic prosperity and vital to societies' ability to tackle challenges such as climate change, inequality and the AI transition.
Children and youth make up 38 per cent of the world’s population, the largest cohort of the world’s population, the largest cohort of young people in history.
Yet one billion children lack access to basic education, nutrition, sanitation and health services, according to UNICEF's Child Lens Investing Framework. Failure to invest in children undermines not only individual futures, but the collective capacity of economies and societies to thrive.
Private capital – more than US$120 trillion in assets under management – remains largely untapped for human capital investment. Faith-inspired investors, grounded in principles of dignity, justice, and stewardship, can reposition children not as peripheral beneficiaries, but as foundational assets stimulating development.
How faith traditions honour the child
Every major faith tradition elevates the child as a bearer of dignity, promise, and responsibility. Bahá’í, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and Indigenous traditions all emphasise the obligation to protect, nurture, educate, and care for children.
Across traditions, the message is consistent: caring for children is central to human flourishing and moral responsibility. Through the ages this has been achieved through charity; investing scales resources to achieve these ends.
Early investment works
The economic evidence for early childhood investment is unequivocal. Nobel laureate economist James Heckman’s research demonstrates that high-quality early childhood programmes generate lifelong, cross-generational returns, including improved health, reduced crime, higher educational attainment, stronger families, and increased lifetime earnings with 7-8 per cent annual lifelong returns and nearly US$8 in societal benefits for every dollar invested.
In low-income countries, returns are even more pronounced. In Jamaica, simple parenting interventions increased adult earnings by 43 per cent and higher education participation by 26 percent three decades later.
Investment opportunities in children
Child-focused investments represent one of the largest untapped opportunities in the global economy. For example, increasing preschool enrolment to 50 per cent in least developed countries could generate US$ 34 trillion in lifetime earnings, according to UNICEF's Child Lens Investing Framework.
The global mother and child healthcare market is growing at a 13.7 per cent compound annual growth rate. If remunerated, the care economy would add US$10.8 trillion globally, while universal childcare alone could add USD 3.4 trillion by 2030.
Yet, the cost of inaction is immense. Countries can lose up to 12.7 percent of GDP by failing to invest in young children. Impact funds, pension funds, private capital and blended finance are just a few of the vehicles suited to scale child-focused innovation, including digital tools, climate-resilient services, and family-strengthening enterprises, among others.
Promising efforts
Momentum is building. A few illustrative examples include:
UNICEF has developed tools for Child Lens Investing;
Trinity Church Wall Street integrates human dignity in investment decision-making through its Wellbeing and Fairness Framework;
Triodos Future Generations Fund applies a child lens to investment decisions;
Save the Children Global Ventures invests in enterprises making a transformative impact for children;
Mission Driven Finance invests in childcare real estate access; and
Opportunity International supports low-cost Investing in schools and preschools.
Call to action
With overseas aid down by 17 per cent in 2025 and most of the Sustainable Developent Goals not on track, public and development finance alone cannot close the US$4 trillion annual financing gap. We call upon faith-inspired investors to:
Incorporate a child lens across investment vehicles
Pioneer bold investments in early childhood
Catalyse the impact finance market with concessional capital
Support early-stage, impact-first interventions
Build runways for long-term investment in human flourishing
The future of global prosperity depends on children. Investing in them is not only an act of faith – it is an investment in the enduring resilience and capacity of humanity.
More information
Read an unabridged version of the article on the Coalescence Advisory Services website: https://www.coalescenceadvisoryservices.org/resources
Coalescence is an advisory firm that accompanies thought leaders, decision makers and entities to effectively catalyse positive change, based on their values and priorities. Find out more at www.coalescenceadvisoryservices.org
