Photographers Linda Bournane Engelberth and Valentina Sinis document the lives of working parents from Botswana to the UK for Unicef
If investing in family-friendly policies is good for business, then many companies are missing a trick. Giving parents and families adequate time, resources and services to care for children, while staying in their jobs and improving their skills and productivity, pays off according to employers. But for many, in all parts of the world, paid parental leave and childcare are not a reality. And that can compromise the first critical years of life – a time when the combination of the right nourishment, environment and love can strengthen a developing brain and give a baby the best start.
Evidence suggests family-friendly policies pay off in healthier, better-educated children and greater gender equality, and are linked to better productivity and the ability to attract and retain workers. Momentum for change is growing with an increasing number of businesses beginning to see the value.
Keneilwe Ditsile feeds and plays with her quadruplet sons in front of the family’s home in Gaborone, Botswana
Keneilwe Ditsile and Otsile Kgafela hold their seven-month-old quadruplet sons on a bed with their three older sons
Geralda November, 31, at the Codevi textile factory with her 10-month-old daughter, Dorine
Metelus Anouse feeds 10-month-old Dorine at the Codevi textile factory’s daycare centre where Dorine’s mother, Geralda, works
Brothers Khun, 6, and A Khin, 3, with their father, Trun, and mother, Nu, in the family’s coffee field.
The family before breakfast, at their home in Gia Lai, in the Central Highlands, Vietnam
Albert Monyo, 32, and his wife, Beatrice, 31, with their seven-month-old daughter, Audrey, at their home in the city of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
Beatrice and Albert Monyo at home with their daughter, Audrey
Noah, 3, is buckled into his carseat by his mother, Jennipher Mariel Gómez, 29, at their home in Santiago, the Dominican Republic
Noah, 3, with his parents, Jorge Ferreira, 33, and Jennipher Mariel Gómez, 29
Fatou Ceesay, 33, walks from the garden outside her home to her office in rural Soma, the Gambia. She is growing bananas and hopes to sell them soon to supplement her income
Fatou Ceesay works in her office with her son securely wrapped to her back
Robert and Ayooluwa with their daughter Forefulowa, 3, and son Folajimi, 1, at home in London
Robert reads a bedtime story with his daughter, Forefoluwa
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