Prioritising Young Children’s Development Through Multi-Sector Action

ISSA Member: International Step by Step Association ISSA, International

What happened?
In emergencies, funding for and attention to early childhood development (ECD) are often limited and fragmented. Over half of humanitarian responses focus on immediate needs—such as food or shelter—while neglecting the deeper developmental, learning, and psychosocial needs of the youngest children and their caregivers. Recognising this gap, ISSA leveraged its regional network advantage, i.e., its capacity to act swiftly through interconnected partnerships, to implement a coordinated, multi-sector response for young children affected by the war in Ukraine. This approach was deployed through collaborative streams of action involving War Child Holland, Amna Refugee Healing Network, UNICEF’s ECARO office, and the Minderoo Foundation.

What was needed? How did they respond?
Young children in conflict zones require more than basic relief; they need integrated support that combines psychosocial care, learning, inclusion, mapping of services, and strategic coordination across sectors and levels of governance. To answer this, ISSA activated five strategic streams of actions:

1. Building professional capacity: Delivered foundational training on psychological first aid and trauma-informed practices. Over 200 master trainers were certified, reaching thousands of early childhood development professionals and practitioners in several countries.
2. Empowering local governance: ISSA Members in Ukraine, Hungary, Slovakia, and Poland became licensed in the Primokiz methodology—enabling municipalities to embed inclusive, multi-sectoral early childhood strategies through inter-sectoral cooperation.
3. Creating non-formal, easy to access, inclusive services: Play-based, community-driven hubs were established, known as Spynkas in Poland, PrimoHubs in Romania, Center for young children and Famlies in Ukraine and Play Hubs in Hungary and Slovakia, to offer safe learning and psychosocial support for displaced children and families.
4. Championing inclusion and equity: ISSA provided “Embracing Diversity” training to 27 Member organisations from 13 countries. In Ukraine, the Transcarpathian Regional Charitable Fund Blaho transformed its early learning centre for Roma children into Station of Hope, a shelter that evolved into a community hub in Uzhhorod.
5. Fostering a learning community and policy advocacy: The ISSA network facilitated cross-country learning exchanges, webinars, and peer-support events like “ISSA Connects for Ukraine.” Simultaneously, it co-led the First Years, First Priority campaign to amplify ECD in emergency response agendas.

Key challenges:

• Fragmented efforts and underfunding: Despite ECD’s critical importance, fragmentation and underinvestment in emergencies undermined systemic coordination.
• Complexities in multi-sector action: Coordinating across education, health, social services, and local governance was complex yet essential. The Primokiz approach required alignment across vertical (policy to practice) and horizontal (cross-sector) levels.
• Sustaining momentum and equity: Ensuring inclusive practices and maintaining them under crisis strain demanded continual reinforcement through training, peer learning, and policy advocacy.

Solutions:
ISSA’s network-centric model proved uniquely effective. Rapid mobilisation of expertise and resources, integrated local strategies, and adaptable programming enabled strategic responses when they were needed most. Each of the five action streams translated into tangible outcomes like capacitated professionals, cohesive local planning, inclusive services, community-driven inclusion, and stronger advocacy and learning platforms

What emerged clearly is that interagency coordination is not optional but foundational. Fragmented funding and siloed approaches severely limit ECD’s effectiveness in crises. A coordinated response, from skilled workforce development to inclusive programming and strategic advocacy, yields resilience and amplifies impact. ISSA’s model shows how leveraging network advantage makes complex, integrated ECD response viable and rapid.

What's in place?

• A skilled professional workforce trained in psychosocial-first aid and trauma-informed care.
• Municipal-ready strategies: Local governments are now equipped to embed ECD strategies using the Primokiz methodology.
• Inclusive community services: Non-formal hubs like Play Hubs are operational and growing.
• Active learning and advocacy platforms: ISSA Connects, webinars, and campaign actions sustain momentum and keep ECD on the agenda.

What's missing?

• Long-term funding to sustain integrated initiatives: Emergency contexts are inconsistent; continued investment is needed to uphold programming.
• Deeper institutional integration: Embedding these interagency and multi-sector approaches into national ECD policies remains a work in progress.
• Capacity & resource equity: Ensuring that all regions and communities, including the most marginalised, benefit equally from network-driven initiatives.

Recommendations

National policymakers:

• Establish formal coordination structures across ministries (education, health, social protection) and humanitarian actors—defining roles, shared protocols, and communication channels in emergency plans.
• Anchor ECD coordination in national response mechanisms and streamline institutional partnerships (e.g. UNICEF, multi-laterals, CSOs, networks like ISSA) to accelerate joint action.
• Encourage municipalities to adopt integrated frameworks like Primokiz that translate interagency collaboration into local practice—supporting coordinated planning, service delivery, and monitoring.
  

Local/national actors

• Participate in local and regional coordination forums, enabling NGOs, universities, municipal bodies, and health/education services to align ECD planning and referral systems.
• Join inter-organizational learning communities and joint workshops to share operational issues, harmonize protocols (e.g. PFA, play-based resilience), and avoid duplication.
• Co-develop shared referral pathways and service mapping tools across institutions to ensure seamless linkages between sectors and levels—especially in emergency hotspots.
  

Private donors

• Prioritize network‑based grants that support coordination platforms (like ISSA), joint planning events, and systems-strengthening across local and national actors.
• Fund joint training or convenings for multi‑agency teams—such as PFA, Primokiz, or PlayHub launches—to establish aligned implementation practices.
• Require collaboration as a component of grant design—encouraging consortia, shared accountability frameworks, and coordination structures in funded proposals.

Professionals/practitioners

• Engage in multi-agency learning events or communities—e.g. ISSA Connects or region-wide practitioner webinars—to stay aligned with peers across institutions.
• Collaborate in team-based planning with local health, education, protection, and NGO colleagues to coordinate ECD response activities, referral, and messaging.
• When possible, contribute to or lead master trainer initiatives or peer learning sessions, promoting cascade training across institutions and strengthening collective practice coherence.

Explore Further:
The ISSA Network Advantage - Prioritizing young children's development in emergencies

‍