Western Area Childcare Partnership

The most significant development in the Early Years sector in rect years has been the implementation of the Northern Ireland Childcare Strategy - Children First. The Children First Strategy is built on the concept of Childcare Partnerships, which have now replaced Early Years Committees.

The role of the ChildCare Partnership is to:

• co-ordinate activity within the sector,
• assess need,
• promote collaborative work and good practice,
• participate in arrangements for funding programmes when required.

The Western Area Childcare Partnership remains committed to building an inclusive Partnership, in which the key aim is to place children at the centre of the process of accurate assessment of needs and needs-led planning of universal and specific Family Support Services.

The review of 2002-2003 will demonstrate the progress made in relation to needs assessment, inter-agency agreement on the holistic planning and targeting of services of childcare provision. However it will also highlight key areas of potential development as described in the Work Plan for 2003 - 2004 such as: -

• The development of a strategy for long-term sustainability-with economic regeneration, influencing mainstreaming and community development as its central themes.
• The ongoing drive to maintain high levels of quality service provision.
  
• The promotion of effective information / communication strategies to enhance partnership working and inform needs-led planning.
  
• The development and implementation of a coherent Integrated Family Support Strategy

The Child Care Partnership is working to integrate all family support strategies into a framework, which will complement multi-agency and inter-sectoral working and increase the co-ordination of all planning of children's services.

The Plan also continues to put the work of the Child Care Partnership into the context of current childcare needs within the Western Board area and sets targets for the development of services. This is in line with the principles outlined in Children First.

• Assessing need;
  
• Increasing childcare provision;
  
• Making childcare provision more accessible and affordable for all families;
  
• Improving quality;
  
• Making childcare an attractive career through the development of a training strategy and career structure.

The Plan continues to complement other Plans such as the Children Services Plan and The Pre-school Education Advisory Group's Development Plan and incorporate recommendations made by the Interdepartmental group on Early Years (IDGEY) and Children First Advisory Forum (CFAF).

Early Years Fora in the West

There are five early years Fora in the West - one in each of the five district council areas.

Limavady

Derry

Strabane

Omagh

Fermanagh

Areas Covered by the Early Years Fora

Further Details can be accessed by contacting:

15 Gransha Park, L'Derry

Tel: 028 71 860086 Fax - 028 860311