What is the life course approach?
The life course approach recognises that human development unfolds across distinct but overlapping stages — prenatal, infancy (0–2), early childhood (3–5), middle childhood (6–9), early adolescence (10–14), late adolescence (15–18), and young adulthood (19–24). Each stage builds on the previous one. Investments in early childhood create the foundation, but they cannot stand alone — without continued support through adolescence, even the strongest early gains can erode.
Programmes that follow a single age band in isolation tend to underperform. A child who benefits from excellent early childhood care but enters a poorly resourced school system loses momentum. An adolescent who receives strong sexual and reproductive health information but lacks economic opportunity faces compounding risks. The life course view connects these dots.
Why sustained investment outperforms fragmented spending
Decades of research, including landmark studies published in The Lancet, show that the highest returns on investment in children come from sustained, multi-sectoral programmes that move with the child across stages. The often-cited figure of $17 returned for every $1 invested in adolescent health and development comes from this kind of integrated thinking.
When governments fund early childhood but defund adolescent services, they undermine their own earlier investments. When schools are well-resourced but mental health and family support services are absent, learning outcomes suffer. Life course investment requires breaking silos between ministries of health, education, social protection, and youth — and aligning their budgets to a shared developmental vision.
Mapping investments across age bands and sectors
A practical first step for any government or large NGO is to map current expenditure across sectors (health, nutrition, education, child protection, WASH, social protection, mental wellness, creativity, digital access, employment, civic participation, life skills) and across age bands. Most countries find significant gaps in middle childhood and early adolescence — the so-called 'forgotten middle'.
Thrive Path's Life Course Investment Visualizer is built specifically for this purpose. Practitioners use it to map programmes, identify gaps, and build the evidence base for policy change. It supports both routine analysis and one-off advocacy products.
From mapping to action: budget advocacy
Once gaps are identified, the next step is advocacy. Budget advocacy works best when it is specific, evidence-based, and tied to outcomes. Generic calls to 'spend more on children' rarely move ministries of finance; specific proposals tied to measurable returns are far more effective.
The Budget Assessment Template and the Advocacy & Communication Template available on Thrive Path are designed to help practitioners translate a mapped life course analysis into concrete budget proposals and communications campaigns.