The UK has some of the highest rates of childhood inequality in Europe, with a negative impact on children's development, life chances, and wider society. We believe that to drive real change, we need a well-evidenced story about the wide-ranging value and practical possibility of investment into early childhood, shared by a broad coalition, to mobilise a transformational shift. Nesta is part of Start Strong - a long-term strategic communications and coalition-building vehicle that unites everyone working in early childhood. 

Our vision is a society that prioritises and invests in the early years of a child’s life, because of a shared understanding that this is essential to our nation’s health and wealth.

Find out more on the Start Strong website.

Through an evidence-based approach to advocacy and communications, we will unite the early childhood community into a powerful coalition that cuts through, shifts public attitudes, and places early childhood development at the heart of our society and economy.

Our aim is to create a new and transformational story about the pivotal importance of early childhood. This story will drive multiple policy, industry and civil societal goals and be underpinned by shared societal values.

We are currently in the foundational stage of this project. 

So far, we have scoped what a collective advocacy effort, specifically focused on tackling systemic drivers of early childhood inequality, would entail. During this scoping stage, we consulted with over 50 stakeholders and carried out comprehensive research on the current landscape of early childhood advocacy in the UK. 

We also looked beyond the UK to learn from global campaigns that have changed societal narratives around complex issues. We put in place the governance and operations for the coalition, and agreed upon a 10-year goal:

• Transform UK understanding and prioritisation of early childhood with the public, government, politicians, media and business as an investment that benefits us all, and that all individuals and institutions have a role in enabling.
• Transform understanding and action (public and institutional) that recognises that primary caregivers and the home environment are the critical contexts that determine early childhood development and outcomes, and that the home environment does not exist in a bubble, but within the systems and structures that influence it.