About this site
A starting point for taking early years action at municipal and national level
The Early Years Starter Kit is designed by the Bernard van Leer Foundation to help municipal or national governments and their partners understand the value of investing in their youngest inhabitants and the people who care for them, and to provide actionable ideas and guidance on how to do so.
What is the Starter Kit?
A collection of knowledge and insights from initiatives across the world.
The Starter Kit is based on learnings gathered from our Parents+ and Urban95 initiatives across nine countries, including insights from country staff, surveys and reports, desk research, site visits and from partnerships with academia and multinational or local technical organisations.
The Starter Kit includes:
- an introduction to early childhood development
- an introduction to Parents+ and Urban95
- promising ideas for action
- implementation guidance.
The Starter Kit’s Urban95 content was also tested and refined in 15 different countries in 2018, with the input of 23 experts from government, NGOs, and urban planning and design.
Who is it for?
A guide for leaders and teams working in or with municipal and national governments.
Taking into account their unique needs, perspectives, and opportunities for impact, we developed the Starter Kit for leaders and teams working in or with municipal or national governments, including technical staff, managers, urban planners and designers, and community conveners. We kept in mind that many Starter Kit users are neither early childhood specialists, nor do they typically focus on families and children at all in their day-to-day work. Despite their overt focus on totally different fields and sectors, we see enormous opportunities for them to have a positive influence on child development.
Additionally, the Starter Kit will also be useful for anyone else involved in improving the lives of babies, toddlers and their caregivers, whether as a healthcare provider, social service professional, educator or otherwise. For these individuals and organisations already established in the early childhood field, we see an opportunity to connect and bundle dedicated services and approaches in creative ways.
How should it be used?
A starting point to spark discussion and planning.
As its name implies, the Starter Kit offers a launchpad for discussion and planning. It illustrates what is possible, why it matters and how to make it happen. We invite you to browse through our Ideas for Action and Implementation Guidance at your own pace and in the order that makes sense for you. We designed each section to stand alone so that users can pick and choose which elements they need, when they need them: stay with high-level overviews or dive into the details and examples.