This edition of Early Childhood Matters looks at the effects of community violence on young children. Articles explore the idea that violence shoud be thought of as a public health problem analogous to infectious disease; examine from a scientific perspective the impacts on children's social, emotional and cognitive development of growing up in a violent community; share first-hand insights from children and caregivers; and explore various interventions, from the favelas of Recife to the inner cities of Chicago and Glasgow, which are offering a tangible sense of hope.

The latest edition of Early Childhood Matters explores the links between the living conditions that children grow up in and their health and development. Articles look at the effects of air pollution, the significance of accidents and how to prevent them, issues involved in designing child-friendly cities, the importance of access to nature for young children, and reaching young children by involving unemployed youth in building projects. It includes contributions from Uganda, Israel, India and Brazil, and an interview with Alexis Tsolakis on the living conditions of the Roma in Europe.

The latest edition of Early Childhood Matters looks at the question of how to scale up early learning provision without sacrificing quality. Articles consider lessons that can be learned from national-level experiences in South Africa, Kenya, the US, the UK, Macedonia, Cuba, Chile and Peru, as well as examining lessons at an organisational level with input from Reggio Emilia in the US, India's SEWA, the Caribbean's FDCC, ISSA in Central/Eastern Europe, and the OECD. Other articles discuss what "quality" means in the context of early education services, outline the World Bank's new SABER-ECD tool to collect evidence on what works, and ask how interactive technology can help to scale up early learning. Printed copies can be pre-ordered and will be available soon.

Violence against young children is often hidden from view when it takes place in the home and the family. Articles in this issue of ECM explore the need for good data on how many children are affected, and for better evidence about what works to tackle violence in the home; among the strategies discussed in this issue are programmes to strengthen families, engage fathers in the early years and challenge social norms. Contributions include an interview with Maud de Boer-Buquicchio on the Council of Europe's action plan; Professors Jack Shonkoff and Nathan Fox on the neuroscience of children's exposure to violence in the home; Marta Santos Pais, UN Special Representative on violence against children, discussing what legislation can do; Chris Mikton on the WHO's quest for evidence and UNICEF on their approach to violence in the home; and contributions from the Netherlands, Sweden, Brazil, Uganda and Peru among others.

This edition of Early Childhood Matters looks at young children’s experiences of growing up in urban settings. A quarter of the world’s children live in poor urban settlements - a fact which presents opportunities to deliver accessible services cost-effectively, but also poses many challenges. The challenges explored in these articles include violence in Venezuela and Mexico, fear of "stranger danger" in Australia, domestic violence and space to play in Rotterdam, involving communities in Peru and Brazil, social structures of the European Roma, and emergency response in Nairobi. The articles feed into an understanding of one of the Bernard van Leer Foundation's programming goals, to improve young children's physical environments - in this case, the various root characteristics of urban  environments that impact the physical and mental development of young children throughout their lives.

This edition of Early Childhood Matters offers a first introduction to the Bernard van Leer Foundation’s thinking as we flesh out our new goals for the period 2010 to 2015. In a keynote article programme director Michael Feigelson explains the foundation's preliminary thinking behind each of the new goals - why they excite us, and what we hope to achieve. The other articles explore various aspects of the new goals and include contributions from the Wolfensohn Centre, WHO and UNICEF; an interview with UN special representative on violence against children, Marta Santos Pais; and country-specific insights from Brazil, the Netherlands and Turkey.

We invite our readers to reflect on how the theme of a sense of belonging relates to young children. After a conceptual overview by Martin Woodhead and Liz Brooker which philosophically roots the subject firmly in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, this edition of ECM goes on to include contributions from the field in Israel, Germany, Turkey, the Netherlands, Mexico, Lebanon and Australia, together with an interview with Cameroonian academic A Bame Nsamenang and reflections on promoting a sense of belonging in the especially challenging circumstances of conflict zones and refugee camps.

This edition of Early Childhood Matters seeks to focus attention on how quality early childhood programmes can lay the foundations for quality primary education. Among the articles there is an overview of the complex topic of ?quality? in early childhood education, an interview with a specialist in basic education for children that highlights the importance of respect for the right to education, and a look at Innocenti Research Centre?s Report Card 8, which suggests benchmarks for measuring the quality of early childhood education and care services in the OECD countries. Examples from ECD work come from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Peru, Tanzania, Brazil and India.