Places to Grow | Empowering Early Years:Collaborative Projects Enhancing Early Childhood Development

Places to Grow’s* online public event led by grantees of Joint Action Fund “Early Years: Collaborative Projects Enhancing Early Childhood Development” September 17 2024.

In 2024, Places to Grow launched the Joint Action Fund, a grant scheme aimed at fostering innovation, learning, and cross-sectoral collaboration to drive systemic change in the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia. This initiative was designed to strengthen collaboration among Places to Grow partners and other key stakeholders, contributing to the creation of a robust and evolving Early Childhood Development (ECD) ecosystem. It provides both financial and non-financial support and facilitate knowledge-sharing within a community of practice. During our Collective Learning Event, our four partners presented their projects.

Shoshana Chovan and her team are diving into Cesta Von’s flagship Omama program to figure out what’s working and what’s not. Their insights will help adapt the program for families and Omamas, and they’re also pushing to get their work recognised at the national level.
Vladislav Matej and his crew at SOCIA - Social Reform Foundation are all about making early care support services in specific localities in the Banská Bystrica Region more connected and effective. They’ve already met with a mayor, hired and trained a project coordinator, and are considering other integral collaborations.
Kateřina Sirotková introduced the Czech ECD Platform, which collaborates with four municipalities across Czechia to understand local ECD needs and explore if the Primokiz methodology addresses those, as well as to engage with various stakeholders from the ECD ecosystem. Their activities involve study visits workshops, regional research - and more.
Michał Kociszewski presented our ECD Ecosystem Mapping and Visualization Project, where we’re creating easy-to-understand maps that highlight all the different ECD actors, services, institutions and socio-economic conditions in the Banská Bystrica Region. So the regional government could make more data-driven, informed decisions.

The event was open to all and was hosted by Holis as part of the Places to Grow Program.

*Places to Grow is a catalyst for excellence in early childhood development, education and care in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia, aiming at strengthening relationships between organisations active in social services, education, advocacy and research.
Find out more at www.placestogrow.eu