This report was commissioned as a state-of-the-art paper on policy development and implementation of integrated or coordinated services of early childhood education and care (ECEC) within a systemic perspective. The report compares main ECEC policy issues in developed and developing countries, focusing on practical implications and mechanisms especially useful for policymakers in developing countries. Information sources included country background reports for the OECD and interviews with delegates of various nations. The report is organized into five sections. Section 1 presents an overview of the current situation and recent changes in ECEC policy in developed countries (United States, Netherlands, Great Britain, Portugal, Czech Republic, Sweden, Australia, Belgium, Finland, Denmark, Italy, Norway) and developing countries (Brazil, Cambodia, China, Vietnam, Gambia, Kenya, Senegal, and Uganda). Section 2 discusses the parallel development of different types of institutions for young children and political, cultural, and economic events influencing the adoption of more or less integrated ECEC approaches. Section 3 argues for a broad theoretical framework to support an integrated or coordinated approach to ECEC systems. Section 4 discusses the practical challenges of coordination and integration in terms of policy (state responsibility, administrative auspices, the target population, age range served, and financing) and program implementation (types of service, setting, pedagogical approach, staffing, and parent involvement). Section 5 discusses the benefits and risks of an integrated approach. The report concludes by noting that the use of a variety of terms to refer to the early childhood field in developing countries reveals differences in underlying assumptions reflected in the resulting programs, and that many developing countries have unresolved fundamental issues regarding the kind of education envisioned for young children. (Contains 92 references and lists 11 relevant Web sites.) (KB)