Early Childhood Literacy Network

Linguistic literacy – both spoken and written – is key to children’s development and academic achievement, and therefore is a crucial lever for social mobility. Its impact is most critical in the first years of life, when gaps between children growing in nurturing environments and those from disadvantaged populations emerge and deepen.

Despite its importance, linguistic literacy in early childhood has received only limited national attention. With the transfer of responsibility for daycare centers to the Ministry of Education, and the approval of a national literacy plan, the topic has begun to receive more focus, but the state has yet to formulate a clear policy in this area.

The Literacy Network was established jointly by JDC-Ashalim, Yad Hanadiv, Maoz, and Rashi, with the ministries of education and health involved in the planning and design process. The initiative is based on the belief that pooling knowledge and efforts among local authorities and other relevant bodies will help to spread effective local interventions, as well as to advance system-wide solutions and national policy promoting linguistic literacy.

At present the network includes around 40 municipalities and 40 organizations – government agencies, NGOs, academic institutions and philanthropies that have early linguistic literacy on their agenda. The network’s activities address key challenges in the field of literacy, while also responding to the unique issues caused by the war. Activities include mutual learning and professional development sessions, extraction and dissemination of practical knowledge through digital and other platforms, development of assessment tools and technologies to advance literacy, promotion of local initiatives through innovation grants, raising public awareness about the importance of early childhood literacy, and more.

Partners

Government | Local authorities | Philanthropy