We are a 'glocal' Early Childhood Development (ECD) Movement, preparing children for a better future.
The WED Movement promotes innovation through its work with ECD experts from around the world, uniting their focus on the children of Abu Dhabi and its early childhood development ecosystem
What Is WED Movement?
WED brings together the world’s leading experts, innovators, and disruptors to focus on key themes for discussion and output through its Breakthrough Working Groups (BWGs). These outputs are created as actionable initiatives to positively impact the lives of children and are intended to empower the collective ECD sector.
Why Is WED Needed?
The WED Movement's vision is to create a more collaborative, innovative, and effective early childhood development sector. It aims to curate and generate an exchange of insights between experts, educators, and community stakeholders that can be shared globally for all to learn from.
The WED Movement aims to guide parents, caregivers, and other community stakeholders through navigating some of the most common obstacles they are facing in the ECD sector.
WED focuses on connecting a pluri-disciplinary team of global experts and creating innovative networks for change.
2021 Themes
WED Movement strives to equip children to meet the challenges related to technology’s evolution, while leveraging technological advances to their fullest potential. The team proposes to move “from technology determinism to human determinism”, reversing the relationship between little humans and big technology to grow resilient children.
The objective of this theme is to respond to lifestyle-related health problems by re-imagining an energetic 21st-century lifestyle around early childhood development. To center ourselves, we firmly believe that the child must become the focus of all decisions we make. The vision of our team is therefore to support the holistic development of healthy, active and happy children.
Social interaction is the non-negotiable component of optimal social development and overall well-being in children aged 0-8 years. This theme is devised to tackle aspirational approaches and outputs to create a nurturing environment for children’s socio-emotional development and extend the scope of social interaction, ensuring that young children are future-ready.
Constituents of WED
The Platform
The WED Movement provides a vibrant space of creativity, collaboration, and innovation in early childhood development
Our Experts
Through the Breakthrough Working Groups (BWGs), WED Movement is harnessing the expertise of a multidisciplinary group of local & global experts that includes academics, healthcare practitioners, policy influencers, children’s entertainment specialists, global business leaders, innovators, and technocrats.
Our Partners
WED Movement works in collaboration with key partners, uniting local, regional, and global entities. Our collective goal is to inspire and contribute to the creation of a movement to overcome current and future challenges within the ECD ecosystem.
The Forum
The WED Forum aims to create an interactive conference experience that positions Abu Dhabi Early Childhood Authority (ECA) at the forefront of the field of ECD. The event, which is the first of its kind, will not only be a place to learn but a place to devise creative solutions and uncover new research findings. Our main goal is to inspire our stakeholders to be active change-makers across ECD, rallied around clear objectives and solutions.
The Platform
The WED Movement provides a vibrant space of creativity, collaboration, and innovation in early childhood development
Our Experts
Through the Breakthrough Working Groups (BWGs), WED Movement is harnessing the expertise of a multidisciplinary group of local & global experts that includes academics, healthcare practitioners, policy influencers, children’s entertainment specialists, global business leaders, innovators, and technocrats.
Our Partners
WED Movement works in collaboration with key partners, uniting local, regional, and global entities. Our collective goal is to inspire and contribute to the creation of a movement to overcome current and future challenges within the ECD ecosystem.
The Forum
The WED Forum aims to create an interactive conference experience that positions Abu Dhabi Early Childhood Authority (ECA) at the forefront of the field of ECD. The event, which is the first of its kind, will not only be a place to learn but a place to devise creative solutions and uncover new research findings. Our main goal is to inspire our stakeholders to be active change-makers across ECD, rallied around clear objectives and solutions.
Breakthrough Working Groups (BWGs)
BWG members are global experts who come from world-renowned institutions and are tackling the most important initiatives related to early childhood development, grounded in the context of our key themes. Follow us on social media to learn about our progress!
...have held around 110 BWG Team Meetings, 35 Cross-BWG Sessions, more than 60 Formal Stakeholder Interviews, and 10 Knowledge Transfer Sessions as part of their work towards the creation of a series of innovative solutions that promote the holistic, healthy development of Abu Dhabi’s young children.
...is focused on a unique and important aspect of how children’s mental, physical, and cognitive abilities develop in the earliest years of life, from pregnancy up to the age of eight.
...Cecilia Vaca Jones, Executive Director of the Bernard van Leer Foundation, alongside His Excellency Omar Saif Ghobash, Assistant Minister for Cultural Affairs at the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MoFAIC), Co-Chair of the BWGs.
Innovation & Knowledge
In a world of the here and now, and competing priorities, the ECA is committed to placing a robust framework at the forefront to ensure that children receive the best possible start in life—benefiting generations to come.
This begins with understanding the issues that face these demographics, which means working with and empowering experts and organizations aligned with our mission to produce research and inform action.
This allows us to further our aim of redefining the global perspective on ECD.
WED Movement Innovation & Output Report
Urban Thrive Report
Our Partners
