About ECOS Institute

Our Purpose: Powering the ECD Ecosystem

The ECOS Institute is a transformative response to one of the most urgent needs in early childhood: equitable, relevant, and accessible professional learning for those who shape young children’s lives. Too often, systems are fragmented and siloed. We exist to change that. We are more than a platform.

The Institute is a catalyst, a collaboration engine, and a voice for the field. We connect practitioners, policymakers, networks, and partners across borders to co-create certified, multilingual learning that strengthens practice, grows collective capacity, and fuels systemic change.

By bridging research, policy, and practice, mobilizing networks to scale high-impact offerings, and elevating the expertise of professionals, we lay the foundation for a more equitable, connected, and future-ready early childhood ecosystem. Together, we are shaping brighter futures for children everywhere. 

Mission & Vision

We envision a world where everyone shaping young children’s lives has access to transformative learning, shared knowledge, and global collaboration — so that every child can thrive.

Our mission is to co-create high-quality, contextually relevant learning experiences that are locally grounded, regionally connected and globally relevant, and designed to strengthen daily practice, deepen expertise, and empower professionals to act with purpose.

Why the Institute? Why Now?

The field of early childhood is at a crossroads. Demand for quality services is rising, yet access to training remains uneven,  especially in local languages or remote regions. Meanwhile, global challenges like climate change, pandemics, and rapid social shifts demand fresh solutions.

The ECOS Institute answers this moment with clarity: we create spaces for connection, reflection, and growth. Here, professionals and leaders don’t just adapt to change, they co-create what comes next. 

Our Roots and Reach

The Institute grows from the International Step by Step Association (ISSA) network’s 25 years of leadership in equity and quality, but it belongs to much more than one network. It is a collective undertaking uniting regional networks, civil society, universities, governments, and funders, alongside the practitioners whose daily work creates real impact.

We carry forward ISSA’s heritage while opening the door to bold innovation, digital collaboration, and a truly global community shaping early childhood together.

What We Offer

The ECOS Institute is a one-stop platform for learning, impact, and community:

  • Academy – Certified professional development in multiple languages and formats, from self-paced and live online courses to hybrid and in-person trainings. The Academy also delivers tailored support for ministries, NGOs, and funders seeking to strengthen systems.
  • Resources – Coming soon: A growing library of downloadable guides, tools, and open-access materials co-created with practitioners and grounded in daily realities.
  • Community – A vibrant space for peer exchange and collaboration. Through forums, masterclasses, virtual study visits, and thought leadership events, professionals and system leaders connect, reflect, and grow together.


Alongside established priorities, the Institute also tackles urgent, underexplored themes such as emergency response, technology, and psychosocial wellbeing. Always adaptive, always forward-looking, we remain responsive to the evolving needs of children, families, and communities.

Our Approach

At the ECOS Institute, how we work is just as important as what we offer. Grounded in values of equity, sustainability, and justice, our approach is built on co-creation, quality, and trust.

We embrace a transformative pedagogy that treats professionals not as recipients but as co-creators. Every offering is rooted in local realities, shaped by lived expertise, and designed to equip people to act with confidence and purpose.

A rigorous Quality Framework underpins all that we do. Courses and resources are co-designed with practitioners, reviewed by peers across contexts, and tested in practice to ensure both excellence and relevance. Multilingual access, contextual sensitivity, and cultural responsiveness are not add-ons, they are built in from the start.

We also increase access everywhere, from urban centers to rural communities, through learning designed in local languages, sensitive to cultural realities, and shaped by how adults learn best. By blending the reach of a global platform with the depth of local partnerships, we deliver solutions that are trusted, relevant, and adaptable.

Who We Serve

We are here for the full ecosystem of early childhood:
  • Practitioners: educators, trainers, caregivers seeking flexible, certified learning.
  • Ministries and municipalities needing scalable, quality-assured workforce development.
  • Civil society organizations expanding training impact without duplicating infrastructure.
  • Universities and training centers enriching curricula and extending reach.
  • Funders and philanthropies investing in sustainable, measurable system-level change.

Ways to Engage

The ECOS Institute is built with and for the people shaping childhood. Together, we are creating a learning movement that strengthens practice, transforms systems, and builds brighter futures for young children everywhere. More than a platform, this is our shared movement — an invitation to join us in building the future of early childhood: equitable, connected, and ready for every child to thrive. Wherever you stand in the early childhood ecosystem, there is a place for you here:
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Stay Connected with The ECOS Community!

Follow ECOS Institute on LinkedIn to stay connected with the Early Childhood community. Receive updates on the latest events, thought leadership, and learning opportunities. and join conversations that matter.

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