Early childhood solutions

The Rashi Foundation is involved in several system-wide initiatives to advance the field of early childhood in Israel:

Community of Practice

The heads of municipal early childhood departments have a key role in developing and managing comprehensive solutions for children and their families. The Community of Practice that was established as a joint initiative of Rashi, JDC-Ashalim, and the Education Ministry’s Early Childhood Division, serves as a platform for sharing of knowledge and experience for managers of early childhood departments. The community is based on the expertise of its members and supports their professional advancement.

The dialogue and learning with the community focus on issues such as: child development and its impact on social mobility; planning and management tools, and more. There is an emphasis on response to needs that arise from within the community and the ongoing work of its members.

Forum of child development units

Child development units treat children with developmental delays in Israel’s geo-social periphery. These units help to close development gaps through early detection and holistic intervention based on a community-oriented approach.

The forum of developmental units is a coalition of some 100 clinics that was established with the support of Rashi and the Agnes and Beny Steinmetz Foundation. Its goal is to ensure the long-term sustainability of the units, so that they will be able to continue and enhance their work of providing high-quality professional services to all Israeli children.

In Good Hands – investing in early childhood

Today, at least half of early childhood education workers in Israel do not receive the necessary training for their challenging roles. This is felt in the low quality of care that many children receive, as well as in the high turnover among the staff.

In Good Hands is a coalition of dozens of partners – civil society organizations, parent groups, academic experts, and operators of childcare frameworks – working together to advance quality public education for children from birth to age 3. Its main goal is to ensure state-funded professional training for all the staff in public and private daycare. To this end, it drafted a proposal for vocational training that has been adopted in large part by the government, while also working to increase public awareness and parents’ involvement.

Partners

Government | Local authorities | Philanthropy