News

Marking International Roma Day with the CHAVORE Quest

April 14, 2026
This year, we are marking the day with the launch of the CHAVORE Quest, an interactive, multilingual experience available in five CHAVORE languages. The Quest introduces a new way of supporting children’s mental health, well-being, and inclusion inviting users to explore, reflect, and learn through a more playful and participatory format.

International conference on children’s rights in alternative care

November 24, 2016
The international conference on Children’s Rights in Alternative Care, “Walk the Talk” took place on 8 November in Paris. The event was the closing conference of an international project co-funded by the European Commission and coordinated by SOS…

Stronger Together: ISSA members coordinate action on European Quality Framework

November 18, 2016
18 November 2016 – ISSA’s Peer Learning Activities (PLAs) are an instrument of change and a vehicle for sharing best practices among the membership. This week in Amsterdam, organizations from five countries met to strategize on how to introduce the…

Call for Evidence to inform Landscape Analyses on the Early Childhood Workforce

November 18, 2016
In 2015, Results for Development Institute (R4D) and ISSA (International Step by Step Association) jointly launched the Early Childhood Workforce Initiative (ECWI). This global effort supports and empowers those who work with families and young…

Sharing a Treasure of Parenting Resources

November 9, 2016
ISSA members together with UNICEF Regional Office for Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States and UNICEF Country Offices have worked together to create this database of Parenting Resources in both English and Russian…

ISSA experts contribute article to first book in the 'under threes' Springer series

November 9, 2016
ISSA’s Program Director Mihaela Ionescu and Program Specialist Dawn Tankersley have contributed to the first book in the new Springer series, Under-three Year Olds in Policy and Practice. Their chapter, A Quality Framework for Early Childhood…

American Institutes for Research looks to Europe for Promising Strategies

November 9, 2016
The American Institutes for Research's (AIR) recent study Connecting All Children to High-Quality Early Care and Education has looked at European countries, and identifies how Early Childhood Education being considered a 'child's right' impacts…

More New Members

November 3, 2016
ISSA is delighted to welcome three new members to our network. Over the last couple of month we have successfully processed applications from For Our Children, Bulgaria Rushdi Inclusia, Tajikistan Educational and Social Center SOS Kindergarten,…

Discrimination still the number one issue affecting young Roma and Traveller children

October 28, 2016
Experts and advocates for child’s rights, early childhood development, and Roma inclusion met in Leiden on October 27 to support the growth of REYN-Romani Early Years Network. Building on the network’s experience in providing professional…

In their own words: reflections on ISSA Conference 2016

October 25, 2016
Representatives of ISSA Member Association 21 July, Dzemila Salkanovic and Francesca Colombo share their reflections what it meant and how it felt to be involved in ISSA Conference 2016. Dzemila Salkanovic 'ISSA conference was an experience of…

Early Childhood in Times of Rapid Change delivers meaningful growth for participants

October 20, 2016
Over 300 professionals and experts gathered in Vilnius, Lithuania between 11 and 13 October 2016 to discuss future pathways in the field of Early Childhood Development (ECD). Early Childhood in Times of Rapid Change addressed issues of concern to…

Countdown to ISSA Conference 2016

October 7, 2016
We are now just four days away from ISSA's 2016 Conference. On Tuesday October 13th, over 300 teachers, NGO workers, early years paractitioners and experts will join ISSA to discuss Early Childhood in Times of Rapid Change. The conference looks to…

ISSA’s Powerhouse – Results of the 2015 Membership Survey

September 27, 2016
Last year, 2015, was an outstanding year for ISSA: new members, a new strategic framework for growth until 2018, Peer Learning Activities - which produced dynamic learning and cooperation among members, and a growing portfolio of programmatic…

ISSA and Members: Promoting inclusion of Romani children – through TOY

September 25, 2016
Combatting segregation of young Romani children and enhancing social cohesion of local communities are the core principles of TOY for Inclusion project, implementation of which starts in the beginning of 2017. Toy libraries and intergenerational…

Putting the Early Childhood Inclusion of Romani children in the policy spotlight

September 16, 2016
Roma empowerment and support for early childhood inclusion were the core topics during the roundtable meeting in Brussels hosted by ISSA and Bernard van Leer Foundation. The event brought together implementing organizations, leading European…

New Early Childhood Workforce Initiative launches its website

September 5, 2016
A new global initiative co-hosted by ISSA and Results for Development Institute (R4D) is now online. Both organisations are very happy to share this new online platform which promotes knowledge and information on the Early Childhood workforce. The…

ISSA welcomes four new members

September 1, 2016
ISSA is proud to announce that four organizations have joined our association as new members. They are welcome additions to the ISSA community of early childhood experts and we look forward to working with them to deliver high quality early years…

The new Lancet series on Early Child Development at ISSA’s Annual Conference

August 31, 2016
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) call for universal access to quality early childhood development, care and pre-primary education as well as healthy lives and the promotion of wellbeing for all at all ages. Renowned for its commitment to…

ISSA's 2015 Annual Report

July 7, 2016
Deepen you knowledge of the work of ISSA by exploring our 2015 Annual Report. In this review you will discover how the breadth of our vision is matched by the scale of our ambition: to be a leading early childhood network in Europe and Central Asia…

ISSA welcomes four new members

June 28, 2016
ISSA is proud to announce that four organizations have joined our association as new members. They are welcome additions to the ISSA community of early childhood experts and we look forward to working with them to deliver high quality early years…

If you don’t find good teachers, make them

June 24, 2016
Recently covers of The Economist magazine have been typically powerful. Brexit, US presidential candidates, China’s leader, the war in Syria, Europe’s threat from terrorism, North Korea’s nuclear program, freedom of speech and… how to make a good…

Creating Learning Opportunities for Young Refugee Children

June 13, 2016
Over the past few years, ISSA has partnered with the UNICEF Regional Office for CEE/CIS to improve learning and nurturing opportunities for vulnerable young children. ISSA's latest partnership focuses on children of refugee and migrant families in…

EYRA launches Manifesto

June 2, 2016
On June 1st, as many countries around the globe celebrated Children’s Day, the Early Years Regional Alliance (EYRA) released their Manifesto.. An inspiring declaration of the common values, beliefs and intentions, of the Alliance, for the rights of…

New Publication from ISSA

May 30, 2016
Building on the network’s vast expertise of providing professional development support for those who work with children under three years of age, ISSA developed A Quality Framework for Early Childhood Practices in Services for Children under Three…

Reflections on Parenting in War Time

May 27, 2016
On Thursday 26th June 2016, Zorica Trikic ISSA’s Senior Program Manager, shared her personal experiences of what is like to be a War Parent and to work with other parents who were raising their children in violent conflicts. During the European…