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Background Every year more than 200 million children under-five years fail to achieve their full developmental potential in low- and middle-income countries. We explored whether mothers’ empowerment is associated with early childhood development in 26 African countries. Methods We used data from Demographic and Health Surveys and Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys ranging from 2010 to 2018. Four developmental domains were assessed among children aged 36-59 months using the Early Childhood Development Index: literacy-numeracy, physical, learning and socioemotional. Women’s empowerment in attitude to violence, social independence and decision-making was evaluated using the SWPER Global, a validated survey-based index. We used logistic regression to estimate the associations between mother’s empowerment level in each domain and the development of their children controlled by wealth. Results Across all countries, 15·1% of the children were on track in the literacy-numeracy domain, 92·3% in physical, 81·3% in learning and 67·8% in socio-emotional. The odds of a child being on track in literacy-numeracy increased by 11%, 34% and 18%, with a one standard deviation increase in the scores of attitudes to violence, social independence and decision-making domains of empowerment, respectively. No effect of empowerment was observed for the other domains of child development in most countries. Conclusions We found a consistent and positive effect of mothers’ empowerment on the literacy-numeracy domain of child development. The null effects in other developmental domains may be related to lower variability in these outcomes, or to specific effects on literacy-numeracy. Key messages Womeńs empowerment has a potential to improve child development and their future human capital

369Womeńs empowerment benefits early childhood numeracy-literacy in 26 African countries