The early years of a child’s life present a critical window of opportunity for cerebral, emotional, linguistic and social development.
These years lay the foundation on which the child’s welfare, health and skills will develop and mature in later years. Research shows that the investment in quality education and care programs in early childhood – particularly for at-risk children – yields high social and economic returns in the long-term, as well as reduces future health, education and welfare expenses.
Over a third of the children up to three years old in Israel are educated in unsupervised home settings, with most operating without suitable professional guidance, adequate conditions or government aid. This gap leads to developmental disparities already in the first stages of life.
The Reshit initiative aims to improve the care for young children in unsupervised home settings, and was developed in the footsteps of the successful ḥalaqāt program, that was developed in collaboration with Yad HaNadive and the Northern Goals Foundation, dedicated to the improvement of educational care among primary caregivers for young children in Israel’s Arab society.
Program objectives:
Raising the quality of education and care in thousands of private home settings (including home nurseries), which are not under government supervision, while strengthening the child caregiving infrastructure within the communities and driving a national policy change in this field.
The initiative is based on the understanding that local municipalities are a key player in the promotion of early childhood systemic and community-based education.
Its main objective is the improvement of education and care in non-supervised settings, by means of reciprocal processes:
- Professional training for educators and caregivers in home settings – to increase professional knowledge, raise awareness, and improve professional practices.
- Organizational guidance and support for local municipalities – for creating a professional integrative and responsible young-age care system.
- Engagement with parents to allow early detection of developmental delays.
Northern Goals operates this service in Ma’alot Tarshiha, with the support of the Shashua family foundation and the Yad HaNadiv Foundation.
