The purpose of the Together Old and Young (TOY) Programme is to promote intergenerational learning and to create new possibilities for older adults and young children to learn together and benefit from each others’ company. People are living longer but older adults and young children are having less and less contact with each other. Parents and grandchildren are migrating to cities and countries far away from grandparents. For many grandparents, it is also sometimes difficult to keep in touch with grandchildren.

Aflatot: Early childhood education for sustainable development. This study took place in the following countries: Albania, Serbia, Slovakia, Kenya, Zambia, Bolivia, Ecuador, Honduras, India and the Philippines to document the effects of the Aflatot programs on social emotional outcomes for young children. The program is implemented in 45 countries by NGOs that are partners of Aflatoun International as well as on governmental level, for example in Ukraine and Indonesia.

Early Childhood Intervention (ECI) services started to develop in Ukraine as an initiative of NGO organizations in 2000. During the last years, ECI has been actively developing in several Ukrainian regions. A Consortium of Ukrainian and international organizations started in 2008 lobbying for the development of a mational ECI system in Ukraine. The consortium consists of SOFT Tulip, four NGO from different regions of Ukraine and the National Assembly of People with Disabilities, which are actively involved in the process at regional and national levels.

The COVID-19 pandemic and its mitigation measures have created an extra burden for grass-roots organizations and the communities they serve. Although ensuring sustainability of their programmatic work and finding innovative ways to meet the diverse needs of the families and children, especially of those living in vulnerable and adverse contexts, have always been at the core of their everyday work, the shock caused by COVID-19 is unprecedented in terms of speed, scope, and intensity.

The intervention “Building of an Early Childhood Intervention system in Ukraine” is based on the strategy that was developed for building four good ECI practices in four pilot regions and combines lobbying and advocacy at the regional and national level. The experience gained during the four pilots form the basis for the policies at the national level.