News

Dr. Mihaela Ionescu, Program Director at ISSA, wrote an inspiring article on the pivotal role of systems in improving the quality of early childhood services. An extract: 'We are making a deliberate choice to not begin this article by evoking the…

Study reflects social and emotional wellbeing of young children in ECEC settings. ICDI assessed the social and emotional well-being of children using the Universal Psychosocial Indicator for Five-Year-Old Boys and Girls (UPSI-5). The team was also…

Dear ISSA Members & Friends, As the holiday season approaches we look back at 2018. It was a busy and inspiring year, full of learnings and great achievements. We thank you for your endless support and the…

ISSA seeks to hire a Program Manager to serve as coordinator for the Romani Early Years Network The International Step by Step Association (ISSA) is a vibrant network that connects professionals and non-profit organizations working in the field of…

ISSA's new member Opportunity International is working with over a 1000, mainly low-cost, private schools in countries such as Ghana, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Kenya, Colombia and recently also in India. They work with a network of microfinance…

We are delighted to announce that our project TOY for Inclusion has received the Lifelong Learning Awards 2018 in early December. The prize is annually awarded by the Lifelong Learning Platform to initiatives that set up creative and inclusive…

We have been accepted as a member of the European Commission Education and Training 2020 (ET2020) Working Group on Early Childhood Education and Care. The working group is tasked with exploring ways to improve social inclusion and promote the…

A study by the government of Vietnam and the UN showed that more than half of women in Vietnam – 58 percent – had suffered domestic violence at least once in their lifetime, whether physical, sexual or emotional. What is more, the study…

Blessed with the opportunity to speak face to face with so many people from our member organizations at the Annual Council meeting, we took the opportunity to sit down and ask how things are truly going. In the professional atmosphere and on a…

An international event held by TOY for Inclusion shared achievements and lessons learned over the past two years. Thanks to the work of local communities and professionals, the TOY for Inclusion Play Hubs became the gateway to kindergarten and…

World Children’s Day is celebrated in an effort to promote awareness of children’s wellbeing and rights around the globe. November 20th is the date in 1959 when the UN General Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child. It is…

For the first time in ISSA’s near twenty year’s history, we are joined by a coalition that operates from Africa. The Malawian Early Childhood Development Coalition (ECDC), is a joint venture comprised of various partners that all concern themselves…

Come join ISSA on this wonderful learning opportunity. A two-day training, designed to help associations, networks and other non-profit organizations to become more sustainable by exploring how to successfully raise funds from private sources such…

The Wide Open School is working with seriously disadvantaged people: the Roma community. They live in very poor settlements. At the same time, through their expert work for universities (in cooperation with professional consultancies) they are…

A row concerning the basic 'right to settlement' emerges in the Netherlands. Several Traveller groups, including Roma and Sinti, have occupied vacant trailer lots that were once appointed to their community. So far, 34 former Traveler locations have…

Against School Aggression Project has released a vision document with recommendations against bullying for anyone involved in education and school policy making. The document comprises the outcomes of a three year project, in which several…

A Peer Learning Activity to reinforce quality education in Kosovo. In Kosovo, the need to further develop a durable modus for quality early childhood education, has brought several organizations to produce a manual with best practices. The outlook…

INTESYS shows we are stronger together when striving toward goals. ‘INTESYS certainly opened new dimensions of cooperation,’ says Majda Fajdiga, principal of the Preschool Kekec Grosuplje. These are telling words from an administrator who has worked…

A Systemic Approach to Quality in Early Childhood Services for children from 3 to 10 years of age.   Over the past two years, ISSA has put a lot of effort and thought into developing a documentation study about its networks’ efforts on…

The Know How Centre has worked with Roma communities for the past 6 years. This year's program however was their most successful until now: they managed to motivate and support Roma parents of 29 children to apply for kindergarten. A huge milestone…

Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon announced last week that he and his wife, MacKenzie Bezos, would create and operate a national network of Montessori preschools. The gesture, a promised 2 billion dollars, particularly surpirsed Montessori organizations and…

Ukrainian Step by Step Foundation and the International Renaissance Foundation are at the very heart of the National School Reform program. Maryna Poroshenko, the first lady of Ukraine, recently opened a four-day Train the Trainer session on…

The TOY for Inclusion project and the Early Childhood Education and Care Play Hubs, received support for another 2 years. The project will now run up to January 2021, adding a new location to each country in which they are currently involved. Also,…

The INTESYS approach makes services more responsive to real-world situations. ‘The INTESYS project enables us to highlight the processes that lead to joint, early and effective strategies in addressing vulnerable situations…’ says Norma…