The early years shape every aspect of a child’s future—yet crises increasingly disrupt the services children and families rely on. Preparedness is therefore not optional; it is a shared responsibility.

This Compendium on Early Childhood Development in Emergencies introduces a practical framework built around five interconnected components—Emergency Response, Flexible Service Delivery, Workforce Capacity and Well-being, Integrated MHPSS, and Governance & Coordination—to help systems anticipate, adapt, and recover.

It is grounded in real experiences from ISSA Members, whose stories show what preparedness looks like in practice and how networks strengthen responses through shared learning, collaboration, and solidarity.

This resource is an invitation to collective action: to center young children in emergency planning and to build resilient systems—and networks—that enable every child to thrive, even in adversity

The Early Childhood System on a good day

ECD System Elements

Disaster strikes

Preparing the ECD System for Emergencies

ECD System Elements

ISSA’s Journey

By Elements By Emergencies

Take-Aways

Conclusion Resources

ISSA’s Journey

Explore ISSA members' stories as they faced different types of emergencies in Europe & Central Asia and what we learned.

Station of Hope shelter and learning centre

Station of Hope shelter and learning centre

ISSA Member: Transcarpathian Regional Charitable Fund Blaho, Ukraine What happened?When the war in Ukraine erupted, the Transcarpathian Regional Charitable Fund Blaho, already serving Roma children in Transcarpathia, transformed its child education centre into a Station of Hope shelter.

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Take-Aways

Read a brief recap of our key take-aways, and explore the full compendium in PDF format.

By Elements

By Emergencies

Preparing the ECD System for Emergencies

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