We, the undersigned partners and supporters of Ukraine’s education recovery (listed in Annex 1), recognize the urgent need to advance quality, inclusive, and resilient early childhood and preschool education (ECPE) as a foundational pillar for Ukraine’s reconstruction and future development.

Today, 320,000 young children in Ukraine lack access to in-person ECPE. In frontline regions, 86% of children under six face delays in social and emotional development. These are children born just before the COVID-19 pandemic, whose earliest years have been marked by disrupted environments—exposed to toxic stress and without stable access to play, learning, and nurturing care.

The consequences are severe, and, if unaddressed, may cause lasting harm. The first six years of life represent a critical window for brain development and lifelong potential - and this window cannot be reopened.

The current ECPE system was not built for the realities Ukraine faces today. While many kindergartens offer valuable services, they were designed for a different time. War, displacement, and demographic shifts now demand diversified delivery models - especially in areas where traditional facilities are no longer viable or cost-effective.

Ukraine’s transformation requires reaching children where they are:

• through mobile kindergartens;
• home- and workplace-based care;
• other flexible forms of provision.

These approaches are essential not only to adapt to today’s challenges but also because access to early learning directly supports economic recovery—encouraging displaced families to return and enabling women to re-enter the workforce. This is especially critical as Ukraine advances toward EU integration, where reform momentum spans all education sub-sectors, including ECPE.

Ukraine’s ECPE Strategic Framework, finalized in June 2025, guides national efforts to rebuild and modernize the system—ensuring that no child is left behind and that services respond to the needs of today’s families, communities, and educators.

The framework is built around three strategic pillars:

Pillar 1: Inclusive Education

• Access: Flexible Early Childhood & Preschool Education network able to meet diverse community needs.
• Supply: Early Childhood & Preschool Education system able to respond to uncertain and changing demographics.
• Inclusion: Early Childhood & Preschool Education network with suitable infrastructure & human resources to support inclusion of children with special educational needs.

Pillar 2: Quality

• Workforce: Early Childhood & Preschool Education workforce sufficient in number and capacity to effectively implement curricula and maximize children’s learning and development outcomes.
• Parent & Community Engagement: ECPE system which engages and empowers parents & caregivers as partners in supporting young children’s learning and development.

Pillar 3: Enabling environment and system strengthening

• Foundational activities for an ECPE QAS: National ECPE standards & improved ECPE data to drive quality service delivery.
• Comprehensive & Coordinated ECPE QAS: Design & development of ECPE QAS with implementation plan.

This Strategic Framework advances Ukraine’s commitment to achieving the EU Barcelona Targets: by 2030, ensuring at least 45–50% of children under age 3 and 96% of children aged 3–6 are enrolled in high-quality ECPE.

Reaching these targets will require coordinated action—bringing together technical expertise, policy leadership, and sustained investment to deliver a lasting impact for Ukraine’s youngest citizens.

Investment in ECPE is not only urgent but smart. A 2024 analysis showed that every USD 1 invested in high-quality ECPE in Ukraine, up to USD 5 could be returned by 2050. This comes through gains in human capital, increased participation of parents—especially women—in the workforce, and a reduced long-term impact of war on young children.

This joint statement, announced at the Ukraine Recovery Conference 2025 in Rome, affirms our shared endorsement of Ukraine’s vision for ECPE transformation. We believe ECPE is not only a human right, but a strategic investment in Ukraine’s future resilience and prosperity.

Together, we declare: Ukraine’s youngest children cannot wait. Their right to care, learning, and protection must be guaranteed — starting now.

Annex 1: List of development partners endorsing the Joint Statement.

Governments and governmental agencies:

• Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine
• Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine
• Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine
• Ministry of Education and Merit of Italy
• The Ministry of Education and Culture of Finland
• The Embassy of Belgium in Ukraine
• Belgium Development Agency ‘Enabel’
• Finnish National Agency for Education (EDUFI)
• Estonian Center for International Development (ESTDEV)

Financial institutions and international organizations:

• The World Bank Group
• Global Partnership for Education (GPE)
• United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
• United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
• Theirworld
• Tallinn University
• Save the Children
• Finn Church Aid
• Swiss Foundation for Technical Cooperation (Swisscontact)
• Plan International Ukraine

Private sector:

• Aurora Multimarket

This Joint Statement, and the growing alliance of key national and international partners endorsing it, build on the outcomes of the official pre-URC event “First Step Forward”, held in Kyiv, Ukraine on 13 May 2025 and convened by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine.