We’re proud to have co-produced this exciting new framework from Place Matters in collaboration with a number of organisations with deep experience in place-based approaches to early childhood.
Last week, Place Matters published Collective Change: A Place-Based Framework for Early Childhood and Beyond. It was a response to a longstanding problem - fragmented services and short-term projects that delivered a lot of good for children but arguably not in the most cohesive, optimised and effective way.
“Real change comes from sustained, collective effort,” as the new website detailing the framework explains. “Building local systems around a community’s long-term interests, with that community as the architect, not just the recipient.”
We’re proud to have been one of the seven “backbone” organisations that have contributed to its development, alongside A Better Start Blackpool, Nottingham Trent University, Reach Foundation, Right to Succeed, Save the Children and Thrive at Five.
This included sharing learning from our many years of experience in place-based early childhood work to begin to document how real, ongoing and lasting change happens at a local level, as well as explain the vital role that convening organisations play in bringing partners together, building shared purpose and helping sustain collective action over time.
This approach is something we wholeheartedly believe in and champion. After all, the idea of working in partnership with kindred spirits and stakeholders have long sat at the heart of everything we do, whether it’s been working across strategic systems to deliver structural changes or enabling early years practitioners to join forces with parents to ensure their children have the best start to life.
As we highlight in our case study – which also features case studies from members of Place Matters’ Place-based Early Years Community of Practice – our 50 Things To Do initiative is emblematic of place-based collective change.
At its core is a model and core ethos that can be adapted to any location not just across the UK, but internationally, too, ensuring that the universal theme of play, which is so fundamental to early learning and development, can be brought to life in a way that responds positively to the particular characteristics, culture, landscape and economics of a place, as well as its unique challenges.
And, importantly, all co-designed in collaboration with partners across the early years, education, health, and cultural sectors within a specific place. You can read more about how all of that work has unfolded in Bradford, which is not only the birthplace of 50 Things To Do, but also one of the most deprived places in England and also one of the youngest cities in the UK.
We’re privileged to have been a part of this three-year project and we’re over the moon with what Place Matters, with support from Dartington Service Design Lab and the Henry Smith Foundation, have achieved
It’s now time for the exciting part - seeing the framework being used as a springboard for new thinking, new ideas and new ways of developing place-based collective change, whether you’re a practitioner, funder, commissioner or policymaker
Discover more here.