Save the Children and IKEA, A Committed Partnership
Early Steps to School Success
This summer, during the month of July, every time an IKEA customer scans the
IKEA Family card, a donation will be made to Save the Children’s Early Steps to
School Success program. To date, IKEA has donated over $625,000 to this
program.
“Simply put, early childhood education is essential to teaching kids how to learn. And
yet, two out of five kids in America today aren’t enrolled in any kind of preschool
program,” said Mark Shriver, Senior Vice President, Save the Children’s U.S. Programs.
“Without a quality early education program, children born into poverty will fall 18
months behind their peers by age four. Our partnership with IKEA supports programs
that help give these kids a fair shot at success in school and life.”

Since 2008, IKEA US has been committed to Save the Children’s Early Steps to
School Success (ESSS) program. To date, over $625,000 has been donated to
this program which supports low-income, rural families by providing early
childhood education services, including home visits by early childhood
coordinators.

IKEA became involved with Save the Children’s ESSS program because IKEA
strongly supports every child’s right to a healthy, secure childhood, and the
opportunity for a good education and a better start in life.

What is Early Steps to School Success?
Save the Children has been working for more than 20 years to develop and
support Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) programs and national
level policies that benefit young children and their families.
In the United States, Save the Children provides early childhood education
programs for children living in areas of rural poverty through Early Steps to
School Success (ESSS). With this program, Save the Children is building strong
foundations for parenting and school readiness, and serving as a powerful
catalyst to help children achieve a lifetime of learning.

In partnership with schools and community-based organizations, ESSS provides
early childhood education services to pregnant women, mothers and children 0 to
five years of age. They implement this work through a home visiting model for
expecting families and those with children age 0-3 as well as transition-to school
activities for children ages 3-5 which includes education services for their parents,
and ongoing training for Save the Children’s early childhood educators.

Currently, ESSS serves over 2,500 parents and caregivers, including expecting
mothers. The home visiting model is designed to: assist children with language,
social, and emotional development equip parents with the skills and knowledge to
successfully support their child’s growth develop strong home-school connections.

Home visits are the core activity for children 0-3 and their parents/caregivers.
The early childhood home visits help build a strong foundation of learning for
children and support parents with knowledge and skills to foster their children’s
healthy development and education. Each Early Childhood Coordinator makes
regularly scheduled, home visits and conducts child screenings and goal planning
based on the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ).

For pregnant women visits focus on prenatal health and understanding the baby’s
developmental progress. Visits supporting new parents teach how to provide an
appropriate environment for the infant, and provide support for personal health
issues such as smoking cessation and substance abuse. Parenting groups for
pregnant families are held approximately once a month and pregnant teens
receive special services to support their needs.

For families with children, coordinators often bring books with age- and culturallyappropriate books to leave with the child and family. Coordinators and parents
discuss child development activities and developmental gains the child is making.
Together, they focus on a child development area that the parent selected and
that fits the child’s individual development plan. All visits are conducted with an
approach that is culturally appropriate for the family.

Why is the Early Steps to School Success program important?
o
1 in 6 children in America live in poverty. In rural America that number is
one in five.
o
Four-year olds from poor families are 18 months behind other four-year olds
developmentally.
o
Poor children are less likely to attend preschool, their parents are less likely
to read aloud to them, and their parents are less likely to have graduated
high school.
o
85 percent of brain growth occurs in the first three years of life.
o
Research indicates that the early years of a child’s life shape a child’s
readiness for entering school. And that the parent-child relationship plays a
critical role in whether the child is cognitively, socially and emotionally
developed, leading to their motivation to learn.
o
The best way to improve the chances for lifelong success of children who live
in poverty is to reach them early and ensure that poor children have the
same opportunities to learn as other children.
o
With few, if any, early childhood education services available in poor,
rural communities, Early Steps to School Success is a cost-effective,
replicable initiative that begins with expectant parents and carries
children into their early school years.
SAVE THE CHILDREN AND IKEA PARTNERSHIP
BACKGROUND
INTERNATIONAL AND U.S. PROGRAM PARTNERSHIP

The IKEA Foundation, together with Save the Children, is focused on every child’s
right to a healthy, secure childhood and the opportunity for a good education.

In the mid 1990’s, IKEA and many other companies became acutely aware of the
wide-spread child labor situation in South Asia. This became the starting point
(1994) for IKEA’s fight against child labor in the supply chain. As a first step,
IKEA asked Save the Children to help formulate a child labor code of conduct, The
IKEA Way On Preventing Child Labor, which clearly states that all actions taken
shall be in the best interest of the child.

The IKEA Social Initiative Program was formed in 2005 to broaden and coordinate
investments in social involvement on a global level. In 2010, the IKEA Foundation
was created to take over and continue the good works of the IKEA Social
Initiative Program. The range of projects the IKEA Foundation is involved in takes
a holistic approach for creating a substantial and lasting change; improving the
health of mothers and children, enabling access to a quality education for
children, and empowering women to create a better future for themselves and
their communities.

The IKEA Soft Toy Program; during the holiday season at the end of the year, one
euro (about $1.45) for every Soft Toy sold in IKEA stores is donated by the IKEA
Foundation to Save the Children (as well as UNICEF) in support of educational
projects around the world – including China, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Russia,
Central and Eastern Europe and Africa.

Since 2003, the Soft Toy campaign has raised over $47 Million US Dollars. This
included over 45 projects in more than 26 countries.

IKEA also works with Save the Children to provide financial support as well as
gifts in kind to US child care centers and families that have been uprooted from
their homes after a disaster and are sheltering in temporary facilities. This
includes emergency response programs after the mid-west floods, the Myanmar
cyclone, and Haiti Earthquake to name a few.

Also, IKEA donated $500,000 to support the Save the Children education program
in Kosovo (2000).
About Save the Children:
Save the Children (www.savethechildren.org) is the leading independent organization for children in
need, with programs in 120 countries, including the United States. We aim to inspire breakthroughs
in the way the world treats children, and to achieve immediate and lasting change in their lives by
improving their health, education and economic opportunities. In times of acute crisis, we mobilize
rapid assistance to help children recover from the effects of war, conflict and natural disasters.
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