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Acknowledgments
the Bank, which include Bona Kim, Zafiris Tzannatos, Catalina Villamizar, and Kate Schecter and are coordinated by Stephen Commins. In this framework, the conference participants had the opportunity to attend a series of events and workshops related to early child development, child labor, and street children. We also thank Vision, Strength and Artistic (VSA) Expression and their affiliates, for organizing and showcasing its programs and artists and for an exhibition of beautiful artwork created by disabled children from around the world, and Jennifer Dickson of Counterpart Canada, for facilitating the participation of Raffi, child advocate and singer, who premiered his song “It Takes a Village to Raise a Child” and shared his vision at the conference. Thank you, Raffi. Thanks are also extended to the Multilateral Development Department, Royal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Norway, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Netherlands, for partially funding preparation of the conference background papers. In addition, many thanks are due to the team that helped organize the conference: Simone R. Kirpal, Amber Surrency, Claudine Cobra, and Julie Wagshal in the Bank’s Education Sector, Human Development Network, and Ruth Hubbell-McKey and Bethany Chirico of Ellsworth Associates. A special note of appreciation goes to Francis James Dobbs, Christopher M. Walsh, and Peter Knight for liaison with the media and guidance on the design of media messages. Special thanks also to Gaby Fujimoto-Gómez and Carolina Gomez, from the Organization of American States (OAS), for coordinating the participation of ECD practitioners from Latin America; to Helen Keith, Early Childhood Services Planning and Development, for coordinating with participants from the Caribbean and providing guidance to develop the SERVOL case study; and to Marito Garcia and Susan Opper in the World Bank’s African Region, Venita Kaul and Ward Heneveld on the Bank’s India country team, and Antonio Lim in the Bank’s Europe and Central Asia Region, for supporting the participation of several delegates from the countries in their respective regions.