As part of our Places to Grow (P2G) Program, we launched the Joint Action Fund (JAF). This grant scheme encourages innovation, learning, and collaboration across different sectors to drive systemic change in the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia. JAF aims to strengthen the cooperation among P2G partners and other relevant stakeholders, therefore contributing to a robust and evolving early childhood development (ECD) ecosystem. 

One of our JAF projects is the ECD Ecosystem Mapping project, based in the Banská Bystrica region in Slovakia. In collaboration with the Banská Bystrica Regional Government (BBSK), Socia, information designer Ivett Kovács, data visualisation UX/UI designer Michał Kociszewski, and with the Centre on the Developing Child of Harvard University as our advisor, P2G is conducting this project to present at the P2G conference in Prague in November 2024.

We are currently developing resources that will be essential tools for key stakeholders, such as local governments, to allocate limited resources for ECD better. We are gathering data from public sources and conducting workshops with the municipality and relevant regional organisations. Additionally, we are creating easy-to-understand maps that display different ECD actors, services, institutions, and socio-economic conditions in the Banská Bystrica Region. These resources will empower the regional government to make more informed, data-driven decisions.