What is child-lens investing?

What is ‘child-lens investing’?

Mauricio Preciado-Awad: Child-lens investing is a form of impact investing focused on supporting businesses that positively impact children and families – placing children’s rights and wellbeing at the centre of investment decisions. Instead of children being passive or indirect beneficiaries, this approach asks investors to intentionally consider how a deal, fund or enterprise can improve outcomes for children now and in the future. That might mean backing businesses that expand access to healthcare, education, safe housing or youth employment, and then measuring the impact on children as rigorously as financial returns.

Why do we need it? When and where did the term first emerge?

Mauricio Preciado-Awad: At a personal level, many of us already practise “child-lens investing” without calling it that. My own spending and investment choices are overwhelmingly driven by my child’s future – from housing to healthcare, education to entertainment. And I know I am not alone: for a significant share of the world’s population, children shape financial decisions every day. Yet when it comes to professional investment decisions, children are rarely a consideration.

This gap matters because children make up a third of the world’s population, and yet their needs remain largely invisible to capital markets. We face a $4 trillion annual funding gap to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, much of it in areas directly affecting children: a $97 billion annual shortfall in education in low- and middle-income countries, and hundreds of billions in health. 

Child-lens investing emerged in the early 2020s, pioneered by UNICEF. We at Save the Children are now working with them and the Impact Investing Institute, to mainstream child-lens investment across the investment sector and catalyse billions more in funding towards businesses and programmes that positively impact children. 

Many of us already practise “child-lens investing” without calling it that. Yet when it comes to professional investment decisions, children are rarely a consideration

What are some examples of deals or funds that follow these principles?

Mauricio Preciado-Awad: One example is the Save the Children Global Ventures’ advised Fund, Impact Investment Fund I, which invests into enterprises improving health, education and protection for children. Recent investments include Primaku, an Indonesian health-tech company digitising child growth and vaccination records. Backed by the Ministry of Health, its app has led to children being three times more likely to stay on vaccination schedules and has helped over 96% of users to avoid malnutrition. 

Another is Triodos Investment Management’s Future Generations Growth Strategy, which invests in companies and social enterprises delivering measurable benefits for children and families, while diversifying portfolios for investors.

How widespread is child-lens investing as of 2025?

Mauricio Preciado-Awad: Momentum is growing quickly but the field is still emerging. UNICEF’s Child-Lens Investing Framework was recognised by Time magazine as one of the “Innovations of the Year” in 2024, spurring uptake by investors. Save the Children Global Ventures, the Impact Investing Institute, Triodos, Calvert Impact Capital and Opportunity International are among early adopters and there are a number of projects in the pipeline, including bond issuances. Field-building projects are now mapping investors, testing strategies and aiming to bring in larger institutional capital.

What are some of the challenges in pursuing this approach?

Mauricio Preciado-Awad: One of the main barriers today is the misperception that investing in children is “too niche”, often seen as closer to philanthropic giving than as a source of commercial returns. While it is true that many child-focused projects (especially those focused on underserved and marginalised children) have traditionally relied on grants, there is in fact a large pool of investment opportunities that affect children directly or indirectly while generating competitive returns. These can stand alone as commercial deals or be structured as part of blended finance transactions that share risk and attract larger pools of capital.

Another challenge is the need to embed stronger metrics for child outcomes in investment monitoring. Unlike financial returns, which are straightforward to track, measuring how an investment changes a child’s health or education, for example, requires new tools, data and commitment from investors. Building these systems takes a dedicated effort at the start, but without them, it is difficult to prove the true value of child-lens investing and to scale.

A large pool of investment opportunities affect children directly or indirectly while generating competitive returns

How does it align with other ‘lenses’, such as refugee-lens or gender-lens investing?

Mauricio Preciado-Awad: Child-lens investing is highly complementary to and overlaps with other ‘lenses’. Because a child's intersectional experience is greater than the sum of individual characteristics, when making investment decisions, child-lens investing should consider other factors that may shape a child's identity and experience, such as gender, refugee status and disability. Many other investments made through other lenses also impact children – e.g., refugee-lens investing that creates safe housing or job opportunities inevitably impacts displaced children, and gender-lens investing that empowers women also benefits the children they care for. Rather than creating complexity, combining lenses to intentionally consider different characteristics and vulnerabilities often deepens impact and sharpens risk analysis. 

How can investors new to this field get started?

Mauricio Preciado-Awad: Investors can begin by asking simple but powerful questions: how will this investment affect children’s lives today and tomorrow? Practical first steps include adopting UNICEF’s Child-Lens Investing Framework (e.g. for due diligence guidance), exploring case studies from Triodos or Save the Children, and starting with blended finance vehicles that share risk while demonstrating impact. Joining collaborative networks, such as the effort being led by the Impact Investing Institute, Save the Children and UNICEF, also offers entry points for learning, co-investment and co-creation.

• Mauricio Preciado-Awad is executive director, blended and innovative finance, at Save the Children.