Knowledge Hub

“Immunization is one of the most cost-effective ways to save lives and promote good health and well-being. Every year, vaccines save 2-3 million lives, and millions more are protected from disease and disability. It routinely reaches more households than any other health service and brings communities into regular contact with the health system. This provides an effective platform to deliver other primary health care services and upon which to build universal health coverage”. (Gavi – The Vaccine Alliance, 2019)

You can access the whole package here. 

This module presents key information on what you can do as a service provider to help parents understand the importance of quality early childhood education and care (ECEC).

The information and guidance presented in this module is most applicable to parents and teachers of ECEC-aged children, and particularly those aged between 3-6 years.

The aim of this module is to enhance and update your knowledge regarding the value and importance of young children attending high-quality, inclusive preschool programmes and how you can support parents in this matter.

You can access the whole package here. 

Competent Educators of the 21st Century: Principles of Quality Pedagogy is a policy document that defines quality teaching practices when working with children from 3 to 10 years old, and their families, to better support the child's holistic development and well-being.

After a brief description on how these principles came to pass and to whom they apply, the resource clarifies 7 Focus Areas of Quality that form the framework. Thereafter, 20 specific principles are being explained, followed with no less than 85 indicators on how and where to apply the principles in Early Childhood Education and Care daily practices.
 

Click on the cover to download the PDF in the other languages

 French                            Spanish                          
          

Russian

Competent Educators of the 21st Century: Principles of Quality Pedagogy is a policy document that defines quality teaching practices when working with children from 3 to 10 years old, and their families, to better support the child's development and well-being.  

This resource contains:

• A brief history of the development of the Principles, including references to the international documents on which they are built
• Explanations of the values the Principles represent for ISSA and its member NGOs
• Short suggestions for how they can be used and by whom
• Brief descriptions of each of the 7 Focus Areas that provide the framework for the Principles of Quality Pedagogy
• A list of the 20 Principles and the 85 Indicators that describe how to apply these Principles.

In addition to the to the four full PDF versions, ISSA has translated the Quality Principles into two Romani dialects: Vlaxicko and Rumungricko. Download the printable leaflet versions by clicking on the images below. 

Vlaxicko                                               Rumungricko

The Principles are accompanied by an enabling Quality Resource Pack that is meant to help unpack and translate the principles into practice. The Quality Resource Pack is available only to licensed ISSA members. For more information, contact us.

We used the method of “Social accountability and Legal Empowerment", with the to empower the Roma community, to learn their rights in the Social and Health domains. In Macedonia, Governmental prevention programs for reproductive and child health are offered. In those programs, it is also included the program for active protection of the mother and children. Our aim is to empower Roma women to take up benefits, measures and activities that are offered free to pregnant women, and families who use social welfare. In order to achieve our objectives, we organized trainings for the community and after this we looked at accountability from responsible institutions. These action are very important, especially during crisis, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. 

As a result of our engagement, the condition of Roma community in Bregalnica region is the best in Macedonia. More than 50 % of Roma women visit minimum one time per year a gynecologist, and the coverage of immunized Roma children is more than 90%. During COVID-19, we distributed  humanitarian packages and education materials to Roma families about how to manage with COVID-19five times. As a result,untill now no one from the Roma community in Bregalnica region is affected from COVID-19.

The Module “The care of small and/or sick newborns” is intended to support home visitors in providing advice and support to parents and families of small and/or sick newborns before and after the discharge from health facilities.

Part 1 provides information about supporting families while the baby is still in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) or Pediatric ward.

Part 2 focuses on the care for small and/or sick newborns at home.

You can access the whole package here. 

The foundations of a healthy life style – healthy weight, an adequate amount of physical activity, and sufficient sleep – have their roots in the early years.

Levels of physical activity and quality of sleep significantly affect child health, development and wellbeing. Good quality information and behaviors, starting at (or even before) conception through the early years, can create the foundation for life long health and wellbeing.

You can access the whole package here. 

As we close this year, we are reminded of a familiar moment in history. Before the Renaissance illuminated Europe, it was preceded by centuries often called the “Dark Ages”, a term that obscures the quiet breakthroughs, steady innovation, and determination that made later flourishing possible. 

This past year held a similar truth for us at the ISSA Network Hub. It was a year marked by resilience, adaptation, and honest reckoning as we navigated funding challenges, shifts in the early childhood landscape, and the emotional weight of saying goodbye to colleagues who have shaped ISSA’s journey for so long. Their dedication continues to live in our work, inspiring us as we step into the next chapter. 

At the same time, the internal transformations were deeply tangible. Downsizing our office meant opening cupboards and boxes that travelled with ISSA from Budapest to Leiden more than a decade ago. It took weeks of sorting through boxes, deciding what to keep, what to release, and what stories from our past deserved a place in our future. There were countless trips to the attic and, eventually, we all landed: team, files, and every office plant, together in a shared space which became its own small lesson in adaptation. We negotiated lamps versus ceiling lights, heating on versus heating off, quiet rhythms alongside lively bursts of collaboration. It took patience, humour, and a fair amount of compromise, but slowly our office transformed into a warm, collaborative oasis shaped by care and by the simple act of showing up for one another. 

Amid all this change, something forward-looking took root. What began as a conversation in the spring grew into the ECOS Institute. Over the months, we shaped its purpose, its scope, its identity, and the quality framework that will guide it. Built from the ground up, the Institute represents a bold new chapter for ISSA and for the early childhood field, one that will open new avenues for learning, collaboration, and elevating the work and expertise of our members and partners. 

Through every transition, our members remained at the heart of our purpose. Your commitment, insight, and trust grounded us, inspired us, and reminded us why this work matters. We are equally grateful to our partners and allies, whose collaboration strengthened our ability to continue delivering programmes, consultancies, and support that make a meaningful difference for young children and their families. 

As we turn toward the new year, the sense of an emerging renaissance feels real. With renewed clarity and strengthened community, we look forward to the full launch of the ECOS Institute, to deepening partnerships old and new, and to coming together again at next-chapter ISSA Conference in Lisbon in October 2026. 

We are grateful for everything we have weathered, learned, and created together this year. We wish you a joyful holiday season and a hopeful beginning to the new year. Together, we will continue building a brighter future for every child. 

The Team at the ISSA Network Hub 

The COVID-19 pandemic and its mitigation measures have created an extra burden for grass-roots organizations and the communities they serve. Although ensuring sustainability of their programmatic work and finding innovative ways to meet the diverse needs of the families and children, especially of those living in vulnerable and adverse contexts, have always been at the core of their everyday work, the shock caused by COVID-19 is unprecedented in terms of speed, scope, and intensity. ISSA Members have been proactive in tackling the challenges of the pandemic at the institution/program level but also at the level of the populations they serve. This brief provides an overview of ways in which five ISSA Members across Europe have responded to limit the impact of COVID-19 on the most vulnerable people they serve.

Eight candidates to be Play Hubs coordinator attended a three-day training in Croatia. “I felt understood; people accepted me as I am,” said trainee Tatiana Pastorekova.

Eight new TOY for Inclusion Play Hubs will open in 2020. The in-training coordinators followed a three-day international training session in Sisak (Croatia) this week.

“I like to work with children and people. It is in my heart and I want to give something back to society”, said one of the trainees, Tatiana Pastorekova. She is a preschool teacher and has been selected as a coordinator of the Play Hub that will open in Roskovce (Slovakia) next year...

Continue reading on reyn.eu.

From April 3-5, 2023, International Step by Step Association (ISSA) staff and trainers from ISSA member organizations in four countries gathered in Budapest, Hungary for the first in-person edition of the “Training of trainers” (ToT) on “Foundational psychological first aid (PFA) and trauma-informed practices for young children and their caregivers”. The participants included a large contingent of Ukrainian trainers, a large contingent of Hungarian trainers, and representatives of NestingPlay in Hungary, Partners Hungary Foundation, CIP-Center for Interactive Pedagogy in Serbia, and Step by Step Center for Quality in Education in Slovenia. 

The training was developed in 2022 in partnership with War Child Holland and ISSA Member, Amna, to support caregivers working with young children and families in Ukraine and in countries where they have fled and was held online four times in 2022. This first in-person edition was supported by the Minderoo Foundation and represented a unique opportunity to gather as a community of experts and professionals, to share stories and experiences, and to build new relationships with other practitioners.  

Building blocks of the training  

Over the course of two-and-a-half days, the training covered three key building blocks:  

1. Key concepts and guiding principles of PFA.  

1. Working with children and caregivers who have been through distressing situations.

1. Managing stress in professionals.

Day one began by setting the scene for the training and included energizer activities to help the participants get to know each other and get a sense of their combined experience. The training then explored how conflict and displacement affects young children, how to recognize when children are in distress, and how this can be seen in the way that children play.  

ISSA trainers, Zorica Trikic and Aljosa Rudas presented the guiding principles of psychological first aid, namely “Do no harm”, “Look, Listen, Link”, and highlighted the importance of remaining in ones’ own scope of practice and not trying to diagnose or label children. The first day of the training ended with a session on creating safe spaces for children and harnessing the healing power of play — using stress management activities, such as “squeezing the lemons”. This activity, and others done during the training were taken from the "Let's Play Activity Cards", developed by ISSA in 2022. 

Day two of the training explored the importance of self-care to help caregivers sustain themselves and their work, trauma and trauma sensitive practice, emotional regulation and returning to the “window of tolerance”, identity-informed practices, language and communication, and managing stress in professionals to avoid burnout.  

One session largely focused on language and communication — where we learned through various activities such as "My story rocks" conducted in mixed language groups, that language is not only the words we speak and that there are ways to overcome language barriers. The highlight of the day was an exercise on group formation using different colored post-it notes and the lesson that followed on stereotypes and unconscious biases. 

Day three of the ToT was a half day which consolidated all the learnings of the previous two days. The morning began by recapping the information from the day before and included a group discussion on identifying coping resources to help professionals handle stress.  

The final session of the training put knowledge into practice through a case study asking how Ivona, a kindergarten teacher, would console a crying child while simultaneously addressing the various needs of the other children in the room. This activity required the participants to draw on everything that had been discussed over the previous two days. The training concluded with the participants awarding each other their certificates. 

Reflections on the first in-person ToT on psychological first aid  

Having conducted this psychological first aid ToT online four times prior, this was a unique and valuable opportunity to hold the training in person. Being in the same room brought the activities to life, enabled the participants to experience the power of touch and connection, and sparked joy and laughter as participants took part in activities like “Elephant in jail” and “Dancing in the rain”. In turn, this created a sense of kinship, and enabled the participants to build new relationships.  

The materials aim to develop preventive skills of hygiene, behaviors of healthy lifestyle and awareness raising regarding COVID-19 for early childhood educators. The goal is to establish healthy lifestyle routines through age-appropriate thematic studies that can be incorporated in play time and time for reading.

The SBS team developed lesson plans and corresponding learning materials for preschool educators about introducing topic of hygiene and protection from coronavirus. The topic was introduced through series of thematic units and as a result the skills and knowledge are taught in an enjoyable and interactive ways, such as through play. This approach enables educators to integrate content from various subject areas for exploration of a central topic. In these times, when children listen a lot about coronavirus from different sources it is appropriate to use the momentum and based on emerging issue provide richer learning opportunities for them.

The SBS team outlined the following main sections of the thematic unit:
• What we should know about coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and how to protect yourself and your family members?
• What are the modes of transmission of COVID-19: what can children do to prevent spread of coronavirus (the book “Hello I am virus’’, handwashing posters, songs, etc.).
• Actions we need to practice for general hygiene (the story “Five actions before I go to sleep”).

During the thematic study we focus on developing some of the skills listed below: 
• Shaping healthy lifestyle behaviors, such as coughing and sneezing in the elbow and washing hands often.
• Singing songs while washing hands to maintain the recommended 20 seconds.
• Cleaning hands with disinfectant.
• Use puppets or dolls to show symptoms (sneezing, cough, fever) and developing empathy and safe care behavior.
• Keep the children away from each other, let them try to spread and shake their hands.

The lesson plans were developed according to ERR framework, and included all the necessary learning materials (thematic pictures, coloring sheets, small cards, activity sheets, etc.) and step by step guidance for teachers. Background reading materials for educators are also included in the lesson plans. In the thematic studies the adapted version of the Armenian translation of the book “Hello I am virus” was used. We have adapted and used handwashing song, posters and a text “Five things to do before going to sleep”.

The thematic unit is based on “Developmental and Education Standards for Children Birth to Six” as well as national preschool curricula for children from 3 to 6 year of age. The thematic unit consists of lesson plans with activities.

Deliverables:

Developed thematic units included all the necessary learning materials (thematic pictures, coloring sheets, small cards, activity sheets, etc.) and step by step guidance for teachers. Background reading materials for educators are also included in the lesson plans. In the thematic studies the adapted version of the Armenian translation of the book “Hello I am virus” was used. We have adapted and used handwashing song, posters and a text “Five things to do before going to sleep”.  

During the COVID-19 pandemic, food deprivation of households with young children has emerged as a priority among priorities.

Associazione 21 luglio applied the following method:

1) selecting five formal monoethnic settlements of special emergency housing;
2) carrying out a survey by telephone that highlighted the malnutrition of many children, particularly infants and young children;
3) designing a food aid program for three settlements (Castel Romano, Salone and Tor Cervara) which, in the study, was reported as the most disadvantaged contexts in Rome and for one of the most poor neighborhood in Rome (Tor Bella Monaca);
4) thinking to an operational strategy post-covid-19 to empower women and children.

The concrete intervention is focused on:

a. the fight against food deprivation for children 0 to 3 years old. The methodological elements that characterized this action were:
- personalizing the intervention (face-to-face interview with all the mothers to find out their specific needs and drew up a list of around 250 beneficiaries – 200 from the villages, 50 from the neighborhood);
- designing a typology composed of 5 types of baby packs, differentiated according to the size of the baby and the dietary needs for baby food and semolina, and according to the need or not for powdered milk;
- giving a personalized card to the mothers to pick up their personal package every week.

b. To overcome stereotypes and stigmatization of Roma communities:
- the request for help emphasize the dimension of food deprivation of children 0/3 years old and not ethnicity, according to a principle of our association. However, we underline the fact that these are children living in “slums”.

c. In addition to the food delivering we implemented some relational and political actions:
- we have created whatsapp groups through which we keep in touch with mothers to give them advice, listen to their discomforts, bring relief, send activities to do with their children;
- we have activated a service that allows to listen to fairy tales in Italian and Romanes (Romani chib): "Tales on the phone";
- we have provided children with some internet access so that they can connect to platforms designed by schools;
- we help the children to do their homework with remote volunteer support and the use of mobile phones;
- we periodically send to all 3-6 aged children attending a school of the neighborhood videos where a psychologist and a Roma paraprofessional read a story that can help them to process the lockdown period;
- we have reinforced the pressure and advocacy aspects with an appeal to Mayor Virginia Raggi and Prefect Pantalone for urgent measures to protect the right to health and school continuity.

d. Planning of sustainability interventions
- through our website, we have launched an appeal to the citizens of Rome to buy the products needed for baby parcels. We have favored the purchase of foodstuffs and consumer goods rather than sending money by bank transfer, convinced that this would strengthen solidarity;
- we asked additional funds to Foundations who support us in different projects.

The systemic approach has led to:

1. Research #IStayCamp. Health Conditions, Food Deprivation and Solidarity Problems in the First Days of Lockdown in the Roma Villages of Rome by Carlo Stasolla and Tommaso Vitale.
Quoting the research:
“During the lockdown we made the following urgent public policy recommendations:
• To map the conditions of greatest fragility within shantytowns and deprived public shelters with the aim of guaranteeing the distribution of basic necessities, particularly to minors and the elderly.
• To guarantee adequate sanitary conditions within each individual shantytown, primarily by rapidly ensuring access to drinking water.
• To ensure the presence of health workers and cultural mediators within the settlements who can carry out an information campaign aimed at illustrating the prevention measures recommended by health authorities and distributing personal protective equipment to inhabitants.
• To strengthen and coordinate a network of volunteers (Roma included) in order to monitor the hygienic and health conditions of those living in the shantytowns and to orient people with symptoms.
• To promote measures to safeguard the right to distance learning for students living in slums.
• To coordinate support and food supply actions for the needy, especially for babies and toddlers aged 0 to 3 years.
• To systematically listen to people living in shantytowns in order to understand their needs in a precise way, and to enhance and mobilize their skills, with precise reports that allow for concreteness and timeliness.
• To prepare in advance an adequate and timely intervention plan in case of a COVID-19 contagion within a village.”

2. During the lockdown we made 5 videos addressed to around 200 children attending a pre-primary school located in the disadvantaged neighborhood of Tor Bella Monaca. The videos represent a continuum of an emotional literacy intervention started two years ago in the school. There was one video sent every week until the end of June. 

3. One video was made on the goods stored in the community center "Polo Ex Fienile" that we manage in the area of Rome, Tor Bella Monaca. The parcels are packed there once a week on Saturday mornings in the open air in the garden of the community center by a group of well-spaced volunteers (divided into five groups, one for each type of baby food aid-package), in order to give maximum visibility to the preparation of the parcels.

4. Ten fairy tales told in Italian and eight of them translated in Romani languages.

Photo by Fabio Moscatelli

For the past two years, ISSA Member Step by Step Center for Quality in Education (Slovenia) has been piloting the Primokiz approach in eight municipalities in Slovenia to establish integrated early childhood support systems for families with young children by developing local strategies approved by the respective municipal councils.

The Primokiz approach outlines the main arguments for investing in early childhood services and offers a structured seven-phased process for building local leadership to develop, tailor, and improve local early childhood services, across sectors, with the contribution of trained Primokiz facilitators. Moreover, it provides guidance for every step of the process — building capacity at the local level to identify and respond to the needs of children and families.

As a result of the pilots, early childhood development is now on the political agenda in the municipalities involved. They are committed to a long-term, strategic vision and increased capacity of local actors. The pilots have set the groundwork for sustainable, intersectoral coordination to provide responsive services for children and their families. This increased focus is highlighted by the recommendation of one municipality to establish an ombudsperson to oversee the issues and priorities in the field of early childhood.

In February 2023, the ISSA Secretariat hosted an introductory Primokiz workshop in Bucharest, Romania. Experts from the ISSA Secretariat accompanied by experts from Step by Step Center for Quality in Education (Slovenia) and Centrul Step by Step (Romania) provided training to four peer organizations in the network on using the Primokiz methodology. The newly trained ISSA Members learned how to provide technical support to municipalities in assessing the needs of families, enhancing cooperation among sectors, developing, and implementing early childhood strategies.

After the workshop, ISSA spoke with Jerneja Jager, Head of the Step by Step Center for Quality in Education, and Mateja Rezek, researcher at the Center, to learn how this workshop was beneficial for their process and how their experience can benefit other ISSA Members.  

Can you share how helpful and useful the Primokiz approach was in your work with municipalities?

Jerneja
In our case, the Primokiz approach was very helpful for working with municipalities because before Primokiz we were mainly working with the education sector—with teachers. Now, through Primokiz we expanded the focus of our work. While we have worked with municipalities before, especially to address the inclusion of Roma children in ECEC services, through the Primokiz approach we expanded our focus to all children and families.

Mateja
Through the Primokiz approach we also moved to a system level change. If before we were more focused on content, now we are supporting systemic change. We think this is really important, but this was also a big change for us. And systemic change also means involvement of political actors, who are quite important in this work.

What are your key takeaways from the Primokiz workshop in Bucharest?

Mateja
For us, it was really helpful to be a part of this learning process because we had an opportunity to reflect. Although we have had a lot of opportunities to reflect on our work over the past two years, this workshop had an intensive reflection component, and helped us really grasp the essence of our experiences. It seemed like a good starting point if we were to start the process over again – to discuss what to focus on, and what is really important.

As an ISSA Member, how is it to have the opportunity to share your rich experiences in implementing the Primokiz approach in Slovenia with fellow ISSA Members that are present here?

Jerneja
First of all, we are very honored to be in a position where we have the opportunity to implement this initiative in Slovenia and share it with other ISSA Members. We have been an ISSA Member from the very beginning (1999), and we learned a lot from other Members. Now we are really happy that we can contribute with our experiences to other Members’ learning as their peers, as their mentors… this makes our organization stronger. It makes it stronger especially in the international field, but also at the national level. Because when we are disseminating this approach, we always mention that this is an international initiative, which is very important in this field.

Mateja
It's a nice flow of knowledge growing. When we started with the Primokiz implementation, we got theoretical knowledge from the ISSA Secretariat and information on concrete experiences from Centrul Step by Step in Romania (ISSA Member). Now we were able to give back our experience to other Members. I think it's really nice how this knowledge and understanding of the process is growing and spreading to other Members and how this transfer of knowledge is going on and on.

Could you share some highlights or feedback that you got from fellow ISSA Members, related to what we have been talking and sharing here.

Mateja
Colleagues shared that this exchange of experience is meaningful and valuable for them because it's a new process they are starting. Although they are really experienced in other areas, this is new for them. And they feel safe because they know that in this ISSA family, they have someone they can always rely on and always ask if they have questions if they have doubts. It's really important that you feel you have support. It's a big network of support they can have through ISSA.

Jerneja
If I reflect on the beginning of implementing the Primokiz approach, the support we got from our peers was a very, very big help. When we started, we got this support from our Romanian colleagues who started the process a little bit before us. While we got that general framework from ISSA, when we connected with Romanian colleagues, it really gave us an additional perspective in a more practical way. It was great to have someone in the network to rely on, to ask concrete questions. And that really helped us in planning the initiative in our country.

Read more about the achievements, and the process, of these pilots.

The Gender Transformative Parenting Training Resource Package for frontline workers from different sectors was created in partnership with UNICEF Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia (ECARO).

The package provides evidence-based information, recommendations, and training modules for frontline workers to support parents in implementing gender-transformative parenting practices at home and support positive gender socialization of children aging between 0 to 18, covering all childhood periods: early childhood, middle childhood and adolescence.

The package was designed to be a global resource, meaning that the modality of use allows flexible adaptation and contextualization.

Find the resources here:
- User Guide
- Resource Modules

The practice Supporting the early development of children in informal Roma settlements aims to improve the social inclusion of children aged birth to six and their families. The Know How Centre organizes activities aimed at enriching Roma parents' skills living in settlements to provide quality opportunities for their children to develop and learn and at enhancing the competencies of professionals working with young children.

This practice includes a component of direct outreach in communities and provides supervision to outreach workers. Additionally, inclusive workshops are held for children and their families, and both preparation and material support are provided for children attending preschool programs.