Early relationships are also the building blocks of economic blocs.
More than half of the world’s children reside in G20 countries, yet there was no dedicated working group focused on them as the foundation for long-term economic growth and prosperity.
As one of the founding organizations of the Children20 initiative, itotheN | Intergenerational Impact helped change that.
itotheN | Intergenerational Impact argues for mothers as changemakers of the world through their intergenerational impact on the global economy, health and peace.
During India’s presidency of the G20 in 2023, itotheN | Intergenerational Impact, in partnership with the Harvard Kennedy School Women’s Network, presented the scientific research behind early relationships and their importance to national economies, health and peace. As part of the Women20 discussions, itotheN positioned motherhood as a form of grassroots leadership for women-led development in the G20 agenda. Tackling a rare angle in feminist economics, itotheN | Intergenerational Impact spoke to the power of early relationships in shaping us and, in the aggregate, our societies. Bringing together research from early childhood development, mental health, economics, peace-building, the care economy, maternal wellbeing and family policy, itotheN argued that motherhood is one of the most powerful engines of global change. The undervaluing of motherhood and care, the lack of support for mothers and children, and the absence of choice, agency and freedom, we argued, leads to limiting women’s powerful contribution to humanity and to the foundation of our economies. G20 countries must, therefore, work to change legislation, policies and social norms to better support mothers, children and families.
"...commit to provide antenatal and postnatal care to reduce maternal mortality... increased funding to... implement policies that protect and improve maternity/parental benefits and support gender-equitable care responsibilities, including family leave programs. "
-Women20 Communique to G20 Leaders
itotheN | Intergenerational Impact brings early relationships into the G20 policy agenda during Brazil's Presidency.
During Brazil's presidency of the G20 in 2024, itotheN | Intergenerational Impact and other organizations built and activated the "Children in the G20" initiative: a coalition of Brazilian and international organizations dedicated to integrating the rights and well-being of children in the G20 agenda. Collectively, we presented a Children in G20 Policy Pack to G20 leaders. itotheN | Intergenerational Impact proposed recommendations that support positive child-parent relationships as foundation of long-term human capital, incentivizing an intergenerational lens on economic policy. "Prioritize and fund programs that support emotionally responsive relationships during early childhood, particularly before age 3. Design, implement, measure, evaluate and fund efforts to create positive environments for parent-child relationships, including expand access to parent support programs and implement policies that support parents as caregivers at home in the earliest years, such as paid parental leave, child benefits, family services, and parental empowerment, assuring future parents with access to mental health services and counseling. In addition conduct Childhood Impact Assessments on policies and programs across all sectors."
"Prioritize and fund programs that support emotionally responsive relationships during early childhood, particularly before age 3. Design, implement, measure, evaluate and fund efforts to create positive environments for parent-child relationships, including expand access to parent support programs and implement policies that support parents as caregivers at home in the earliest years, such as paid parental leave, child benefits, family services, and parental empowerment, assuring future parents with access to mental health services and counseling."
-Children in G20 Policy Pack, 2024
itotheN | Intergenerational Impact contributes to the official recognition of Children20 by the South African Presidency
During South Africa's presidency of the G20 in 2025, itotheN | Intergenerational Impact and other partner organizations played a key role in integrating the rights and well-being of children and adolescents in the G20 agenda. For the first time in the history of the G20 bloc, children and teens directly participated in the G20 producing a G20 Children's Declaration. Children across South Africa, Africa, and the world engages in structured dialogues to produce a Children’s Declaration which forms part of the larger declaration that was handed over to the President of South Africa, for consideration by G20 Leaders at the G20 Social Summit. Through the Johannesburg Leaders Declaration of 2025, G20 leaders commit to "advance a comprehensive approach to Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) policy development and implementation that engages both government and society, including their shared values and cultures, as a vital investment for a country's social and economic future." President Ramaphosa of South Africa recognizes Children20 as an official engagement group of the G20 Social Summit. This milestone embeds children’s voices and priorities into one of the world’s most influential global forums for economic and social policy.The South African Presidency builds on the groundwork laid during the Brazilian Presidency of 2024, when leading child rights organizations prepared a policy pack and letter addressed President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva urging the meaningful inclusion of children and adolescents in the G20 process.
"Trade should help families, not harm children. Trade affects our families, communities and environment. Sometimes trade brings good things, sometimes it brings harm. We have seen... parents working long hours with little time for their children. Trade must support children, not exploit them."
-Children20 Declaration, 2025