ISSA Launches 2010-2012 Strategy

The year 2009 has been a momentous one for ISSA – marking not only ISSA’s 10th anniversary, but also the beginning of a new phase of ISSA’s development, with the launch of its strategy for 2010-2012.  During two Council Meetings in 2009, the ISSA Council developed and adopted a Program and Advocacy Framework for 2010-2012. A Funding Plan and a Members’ Charter were also developed to guide and support strategy implementation. 

Throughout its history, ISSA has supported a wide array of programs that provide a comprehensive set of educational services and advocacy tools intended to influence policy reform for families and children, with a special focus on the years from birth through primary school. Ten years after it was established, ISSA continues building upon the substantial investment and success of OSI’s Step by Step Program in CEE/CIS and upon the vibrant network and movement resulting from this program, with the aim to improve the lives of children and their chances for success in life. Since the time of ISSA’s establishment, many countries in CEE/CIS have made significant progress in reforming their educational systems. A lot remains to be done however, both in terms of designing effective national strategies and in terms of ensuring their effective implementation, monitoring, and evaluation. It is clear that there is still a great need for civil society organizations to be involved in this process. At the same time, networks are increasingly recognized as sources of innovation and as effective mechanisms for knowledge creation and dissemination. Networks are also powerful instruments for policy changes, since policy is often the result of better knowledge and wider civil society engagement.

Over the years, ISSA has grown to become the pre-eminent ECD network in CEE/CIS. While striving to continue to be at the forefront of innovations in early childhood care and education, ISSA is now positioned to broaden its membership, by engaging and supporting more civil society actors and national coalitions, in order to have a stronger impact at the national/regional level in pursuing the mission. Beginning with the second half of 2010, ISSA is ready to recruit and welcome new Voting and Affiliate Members, thus enhancing the capacity of the network to pursue its mission. 

Taking stock of its current strengths and successes, and of the changing environment, both internally and externally, after ten years of existence, ISSA engaged in a process of re-assessing the relevance of its mission and of envisaging what kind of organization it needs to be in order to successfully pursue its vision during the next 10 years. In this new phase of its development, the association will expand to be a broader professional and advocacy network. Building upon the network’s strengths, by the end of the next 10 years ISSA envisages itself as an organization which:

• supports learning communities and effectively empowers various civil society actors to play an active role in promoting equal access to quality care and education in their countries
• is a promoter of state of the art research-based practices, supporting the development and implementation of holistic, comprehensive approaches to early childhood development (ECD)
• is an advocate and resource both for formal center-based early education, and for broader early childhood development concerns, which will be identified taking into account the diverse situation in the sub-regions of the wider ISSA region
• works together with bilateral and multilateral agencies, as well as with international financing institutions on influencing decision makers at all levels, for the benefit of young children, families, and communities
• is a membership-driven association, building upon and working for the diversity of the network, as well as adequately catering to the diverse needs of its members

The first phase of this new chapter of ISSA’s development, the period 2010-2012, is intended to lay strong foundations for the association to become this enhanced vision.

In this period, ISSA’s overarching goal will continue to revolve around promoting inclusive, quality care and education experiences that create the conditions for all children to become active members of democratic knowledge societies. Thus, ISSA’s mission is to support professional communities and develop a strong civil society that influences and assists decision makers to:

• provide high quality care and educational services for all children form birth through primary school (birth through 10 years old), with a focus on the poorest and most disadvantaged
• ensure greater inclusion of family and community participation in children’s development and learning
• ensure social inclusion and respect for diversity.

Strategic Goals for 2010-2012

ISSA will pursue the following strategic goals in the coming two years, laying the foundation for anticipated achievements in the coming decade:

1. Promote access and equity of care and education for young children in the region with a special emphasis on children from disadvantaged socioeconomic groups, from isolated rural areas, and from other vulnerable groups, such as ethnic/language minorities and children with disabilities.
2. Promote high quality and professionalism in providing care and education for young children with a special emphasis on development and education in the early years, and for children of preschool and primary school age.
3. Promote civil society participation, community-based ECD services, and parental education to help ensure greater support for and inclusion of family, as well as community participation in children’s development and learning.
4. Enhance the capacity of the ISSA network to deliver its strategy through developing the skills of its membership, ensuring good governance, practices, and management systems to achieve its program/advocacy goals and building the sustainability of the association in the medium to long term.

ISSA will accomplish these goals through: raising awareness of the importance of quality care and education, developing resources, disseminating information, supporting professionals and communities, advocating, strengthening alliances, and building capacity to create conditions where all children thrive.

Operational Principles and Mechanisms

In order to pursue its mission and achieve its strategic goals and objectives, ISSA will use three operational mechanisms that enable it to be more inclusive in its approaches with its own members and with other partners, who share the same mission. Each of these mechanisms will be used in an integrated approach and in a coordinated manner for the realization of the strategic goals:

a) Capacity Building/Strengthening Professionalism in Education 

• develop and disseminate ECD resources
• engage in partnerships and collaborative programming, as well as in piloting and evaluating projects for scale up
• collect and disseminate information on trends and latest international research findings on education and on other relevant issues
• share lessons learned in international policy and program implementation
• provide professional development opportunities: trainings, conferences, workshops, roundtables
• promote cross-regional cooperation and facilitate horizontal exchanges within the network and across other networks, by supporting the work of programmatic Communities of Practice/Special Interest Groups (SIGs) 1, organized thematically or geographically
• offer technical assistance to members in program and advocacy activities

b) Advocacy and Information Exchange

• support members’ advocacy efforts at national, regional, and international levels
• raise awareness among different stakeholders on issues closely linked with ISSA’s strategic goals
• engage in coalitions with civil society organizations and other stakeholders at international, regional, and country levels, in order to influence decision makers and advocate for access, equity, and quality of ECD services for all children in the region, with a focus on economically weak and vulnerable families
• develop position statements on issues connected to the strategic goals
• monitor and analyze policies
• provide advice to relevant Ministries and national/regional agencies to inform policy development

c) Partnership Building, International Representation and Networking

• act as a platform/clearing house through regular on-line exchanges and support web-based professional communities 2
• strengthen national, regional, and international alliances among members and other stakeholders
• support horizontal exchange of information, experience, and professional expertise in the network
• use external networking to share the network’s innovations and to bring expertise and ideas back into the ISSA network
• promote members at national, regional, and international levels

Philosophical Foundations of ISSA’s Work

ISSA’s work is firmly placed within the framework of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), Comment 7 on the UNCRC, the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) and the Education for All Goals (EFA). In its advocacy work, ISSA shares principles developed and endorsed by the Consultative Group for ECD: 4 Cornerstones to Secure a Strong Foundation for Young Children 3: Start at the Beginning (early stimulation, child development, parental support, services for birth-three), Get Ready for Success (access to quality pre-school services), Improve Primary School Quality, and Include Early Childhood in Policies.

ISSA believes that the early years are the foundation for children’s well-being and success in life. As citizens today of their communities, countries, and of the global society, children’s rights and needs must be recognized and their voices be heard. Every child has the right to quality care and education, including stimulating quality early childhood development experiences that honor his/her unique characteristics and provide love, warmth, and strong foundations for positive and successful learning experiences throughout life. Families must be supported and empowered as children’s first educators, including through encouragement and support from their community, so they can achieve their own goals and provide a safe and nurturing environment for their children.

These beliefs are incorporated in the foundation of ISSA’s work to provide quality care and education experiences for all children through the ISSA Pedagogical Standards, Competent Teachers of the 21st Century: ISSA’s Definition of Quality Pedagogy. Grounded in the belief that inclusion and access to educational provisions without quality is of little merit, ISSA’s understanding of quality is synthesized in its principles, which define quality using the following key elements: 

• Equitable access to high quality services for all children
• Child-centred, child friendly, individualized teaching and learning that combines high level instruction with support for the needs of each child’s well being
• Stimulating, physically safe, and healthy learning environment
• Involvement of families and communities
• Development of skills and dispositions for lifelong learning and participation in a democracy
• Community engagement in public education
• Respect for diversity, inclusive practices, and culturally appropriate learning environments and methods
• Self improvement and reflection for teachers
• Systems of supportive supervision and ongoing professional development

For more information about ISSA’s Strategy for 2010-2012, please contact Liana Ghent.