Mobile units bring ECD services to undeserved areas

ISSA Member: XXX

What happened?

On February 6, 2023, two major earthquakes struck southeastern Turkey, affecting 11 provinces, causing large-scale displacement, and disrupting essential services for children and families. Many communities, especially in rural areas and small settlements, faced long-term interruptions to early childhood education and support.

 
What was needed? How did they respond?
Children in remote villages and small container settlements were left without safe learning spaces, structured activities, or developmental support. Caregivers lacked guidance on supporting their children’s well-being in the aftermath.

In addition to setting up Child and Family Centers in major temporary shelters, AÇEV deployed mobile education units to deliver six-week structured early learning for children and POWER Program for women directly to underserved areas in Hatay and Gaziantep. These mobile units brought play-based learning, art activities to children aged 3–6 and women empowerment sessions to women, ensuring that even those far from centralized services could access early childhood development opportunities.

Key challenges:

• Geographic dispersion of families in smaller, rural settlements.
• Limited transportation and infrastructure in disaster-affected regions.
• Maintaining program quality and consistency outside of formal centers.

Solutions:

• Use of fully equipped mobile units staffed with trained early childhood educators.
• Tailored program design to fit shorter, intensive six-week cycles.
• Continuous monitoring and supervision to maintain fidelity to AÇEV’s evidence-based methods.

Collaboration with the Ministry of Family and Social Services and donors such as UNICEF, Vodafone Foundation, Fondation de France, James Dyson Foundation and CitiBank enabled rapid mobilisation of resources, staff recruitment, and local permissions. Local community leaders facilitated access to villages, increasing reach and trust.

Through ISSA’s network, AÇEV could draw on global ECD in emergencies guidance, share mobile outreach practices with peers, and position its model as an adaptable approach for other crisis contexts. The network link also amplified advocacy for integrating mobile delivery into national emergency preparedness plans.

What's in place? What's missing?

AÇEV’s prior expertise in program delivery and trained local staff provided a foundation for adaptation, but the absence of ready-made rural delivery systems created a risk of leaving remote families without services. Mobile units bridged this gap, ensuring inclusion and continuity.

Being part of a regional network: Advantages of ISSA membership

Being part of a regional network like ISSA helps members learn from each other, share knowledge, and improve their work through training and support. The network also makes it easier to build partnerships and work together across countries. For example, ISSA helped AÇEV share its programs by supporting translation into different languages and encouraging others to use them. These kinds of networks help good ideas grow and reach more people.

Recommendations

National policymakers:

• Developing emergency response plans that prioritize children and families at risk.
• Building partnerships between government, local officials, NGOs, and community organizations in order to achieve a more inclusive and comprehensive solution.
• Providing psychosocial support to the families in order to sustain the well-being of the children.

Local/national actors

• Flexibility of programs to adapt to diverse needs and cultural contexts.
• Partnerships
• Creating community centers for all children, teenagers, women and families as a safe space to connect and engage.
• Regular monitoring to confirm that all families and children are participating in the programs without challenges.

Private donors

• Invest strategically in ECD as a foundational area.
• Ensure funding is adaptable, timely, and long-term.
• Direct financial support toward mental health programmes for children, families and the workforce.

Professionals/practitioners

• Access resources to cultivate their inner strength and well-being.
• Collaboration with local communities to have a holistic and trauma-informed approach.
• Creating a learning environment that encourages family involvement.
• Creating an inclusive learning environment that is free from bias and discrimination.

Explore further:
AÇEV website: AÇEV- Deprem Bölgesi Çalışmaları
AÇEV in the earthquake zone on the first anniversary of the earthquake report: Depremin Birinci Yılında Deprem Bölgesinde AÇEV
AÇEV Mobile Learning Units YouTube video: AÇEV Mobile Learning Units in the Earthquake Region