Like many children in Ai village, on the outskirts of Yichang city in Hubei Province, 3-year-old Yangyang was left behind by parents who migrated to a coastal city for better-paying jobs. They visit their daughter once or twice a year. Yangyang’s grandmother said the little girl’s parents sometimes call home and explain they left to earn money so that she can have a better life. “Yangyang once cried during a phone call, saying ‘I don’t want money. I want mom,’” recalled her grandmother. Credit:©UNICEF/China/2015/Xia Yong

Yangyang’s grandmother said the girl was shy and felt lonely. When the village opened an Early Childhood Development (ECD) centre, the grandmother took Yangyang. Surrounded by children her age, she opened up to the thrill of toys, music, games and books and to strangers. Her grandmother finds her happier these days and easily talks and laughs with others. Credit:©UNICEF/China/2015/Xia Yong

The centre in Ai village is one of 40 trial sites for the community-based ECD programme that UNICEF and the All-China Women’s Federation set up in Hubei, Hunan and Hebei provinces, where there are many children affected by migration. Credit:©UNICEF/China/2015/Xia Yong

The community-based ECD programme aims to give every child a helping hand for the best start in life through equitable access to good-quality services for children aged up to 3 years and their families in resource-poor communities. The sites were carefully chosen to deliver services to those who need them the most. Credit:©UNICEF/China/2015/Xia Yong

Zhongshujie community is a shantytown in the centre of Yichang city, with shabby residential buildings and narrow alleyways. Yang Yuman and her 18-month-old daughter Yaya daily visit the community ECD centre because it provides a safe and colourful environment to play. Credit:©UNICEF/China/2015/Jingjie Yang

Xiao Zeng and her husband migrated to Yichang city from Fujian Province five years ago and live in a rental apartment in Zhongshujie community. They have two boys aged 5 and 3 years. When the community-based ECD centre opened to local residents for no fee, Xiao Zeng did not inquire about participating, presuming her family was not eligible without a household registration permit, or hukou. A community official later came to her and made it clear that every child in the community is welcome in the ECD centre. After dropping off her elder son at kindergarten, she brings her younger child, Qiaoqiao, to the centre every day and feels included in the community. Credit:©UNICEF/China/2015/Jingjie Yang

Volunteers at the community ECD centres help caregivers move from rote learning to more creative ways to engage and stimulate children through games and storytelling. Credit:©UNICEF/China/2015/Xia Yong

Li Tong, the ECD programme’s advisor and a child-rearing expert, shows caregivers in the Ai community ECD centre how to play with their children at home. Credit:©UNICEF/China/2015/Xia Yong

For the ECD programme, 12 storybooks were written and designed by popular Chinese authors and artists to promote children’s cognitive development. Caregivers can borrow the books to take home. According to child-rearing expert and ECD advisor, Li Tong, the goal is not to have children learn to read but to instead “make friends with books”. Credit:©UNICEF/China/2015/Xia Yong

The bells, balls and books are all designed to help children interact with volunteers, caregivers and other children at the ECD centre and thus help their young brains develop socially and emotionally. Credit:©UNICEF/China/2015/Xia Yong

Jia Yadi (kneeling), a young mother from Tanxihu community in Xiangyang city in Hubei Province, described her 18-month-old daughter, Qiqi, as lively and outgoing. But she worried about Qiqi’s unwillingness to share toys. “She was reluctant to let others play with her toys and used to fight with others for toys because she is the only child in the family. Now with the experience at the ECD centre, she has learned to share things with others,” said Jia. Credit:©UNICEF/China/2015/Xia Yong

More than 100 volunteers in the 40 project sites had received two rounds of training by the end of 2014, and around 1,000 children aged up to 3 years and their families had benefited from the ECD programme. The volunteers in in Hubei Province (above) engaged in a third round of training in Xiangyang in April. Credit:©UNICEF/China/2015/Xia Yong

When Yang Rong, from Lingbao village in Yichang City, began volunteering in the community ECD centre, she felt flustered and confused working with children and caregivers. Within months, she had learned to relax and confidently lead children in play. She sometimes asks her 6-year-old daughter (middle) to be her assistant. Now pregnant with her second child, Yang Rong is excited for her new baby to benefit from the child-rearing knowledge and practices she has learned through her volunteer work at the ECD centre. Credit:©UNICEF/China/2015/Xia Yong