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OneSky for all children

Seeing the potential in every child

OneSky partners with communities to provide quality responsive care and early education training so vulnerable children can thrive. For over two decades, OneSky has worked with governments to transform systems of early care and education for young children in low-resource settings across Asia.

HundrED 2022
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Overview

Web presence

1998

Established

275K

Children

3

Countries
Target group
Students early
Updated
October 2022
We see the potential in every child — real potential that’s worth real investment — and we show adults that they have the power to make a difference starting in a child's formative early years.

About the innovation

Why did you create this innovation?

Neuroscience has shown us that during the formative early years, the brain is developing at lightning speed — and the quality of care and education in that critical period shapes the trajectory of a child’s future. Yet across Asia, an estimated 58 million children under five are at risk of not reaching their full developmental potential.

What does your innovation look like in practice?

Over the last two decades, we have developed an evidence-based approach to train the adult caregivers in a vulnerable child's life (early educators, child welfare workers, childcare providers, parents, family members, and more) to provide high-quality early childhood care and education. The OneSky approach is inspired by Reggio Emilia's child-centered principles, globally informed by developmental science, and locally adapted for low-resource settings. OneSky’s curriculum empowers caregivers to establish a responsive relationship to the child, create safe and nurturing learning environments, promote play and discovery, and cultivate holistic child development as a lifelong foundation to thrive. Our blended learning approach includes classroom training, hands-on mentoring by early childhood specialists, and continuing education through 1BigFamily, our mobile-friendly online learning community platform which has been especially valuable during the COVID-19 pandemic.

How has it been spreading?

OneSky was founded in 1998 to improve the lives of children in China’s welfare institutions. In 2011, China's Ministry of Civil Affairs and OneSky launched a groundbreaking partnership to train every child welfare worker in the country. Recognizing that the needs of young children are universal, OneSky has expanded programs to train caregivers of children in various low-resource settings across Asia - from community centers in China's rural villages to childcare in Vietnam's industrial zones to home environments in Mongolia's urban informal settlements. In Vietnam, the Ministry of Education and Training recently invited OneSky to scale its home-based childcare provider training program nationally. To date, we have trained 75,878 caregivers to transform the lives of 274,521 children.

If I want to try it, what should I do?

OneSky is committed to systemic change and has worked, always in close partnership with communities and government, to advance the quality of early care and education for the vulnerable children we serve. We adapt our approach to the local context, demonstrate its impact, and build the capacity of partner organizations and governments for scale. Please contact us to learn more.

Impact & scalability

Impact & Scalability

The importance of community involvement in Early Childhood Education is crucial. OneSky facilitates this by training caregivers from the community who can provide quality education to the children. This model ensures sustainability and a positive mindset on ECE in the community.

HundrED Academy Reviews
OneSky's system-level approach to the problem of childcare - by tackling the lack of resources and training for mothers and caregivers - makes this a high score on my impact scale, as it's not just helping one target user group but also its most directly adjacent one.
This innovation is an effective response to the impact on children that have structural imbalances in social and economic policies. Training of caregivers and care provision is crucial to the ultimate development of children in such situations.
- Academy member
Academy review results
High Impact
Low Scalability
High Impact
High Scalability
Low Impact
Low Scalability
Low Impact
High Scalability
Read more about our selection process

Media

OneSky is featured in the World Bank's Global Teacher Professional Development Campaign
https://blogs.worldbank.org/education/how-enhance-teacher-professional-development-through-technology-takeaways-innovations
Harvard research validates the impact of OneSky’s program in Vietnam - OneSky
https://onesky.org/harvard-research-validates-the-impact-of-oneskys-program-in-vietnam/
OneSky cited in the Tackling Childcare Vietnam report by IFC, World Bank
https://www.ifc.org/wps/wcm/connect/region__ext_content/ifc_external_corporate_site/east+asia+and+the+pacific/resources/tackling+childcare-the+business+case+for+employer-supported+childcare+in+vietnam
OneSky's innovation in Vietnam featured in the Early Childhood Matters journal
https://earlychildhoodmatters.online/2020/onesky-blended-learning-for-home-based-childcare-providers-in-vietnam/
Video: OneSky Program for China's Left-Behind Children highlighted by ARNEC
https://youtu.be/-TZkRHw-n2E
OneSky featured in Spring Impact's global study on Home-Based Child Care
https://www.springimpact.org/2020/10/support-programs-for-hbcc/
OneSky program to help migrant workers’ children set for expansion in Vietnam
https://onesky.org/news-onesky-program-to-help-migrant-workers-children-set-for-expansion/
Taking Our Solution to Scale in China
https://archive.skoll.org/2014/03/02/half-sky-taking-solution-scale/
OneSky Responds to Coronavirus Outbreak
https://onesky.org/onesky-responds-to-coronavirus-outbreak/
Six days a week they care for children – on the seventh, they are the students
https://onesky.org/six-days-a-week-they-care-for-children-on-the-seventh-they-are-the-students/
Abandoned as a baby, now Lili’s caring for orphans
https://onesky.org/lilis-story-on-coming-full-circle/
Hope in China: “After the dark clouds, the warm sun shall come.”
https://onesky.org/hope-in-china-after-the-dark-clouds-the-warm-sun-shall-come/
Meet Vietnam’s most under-pressure child carers—now they want to give even more
https://onesky.org/meet-vietnams-most-under-pressure-child-caregivers-now-they-want-to-give-even-more/
How a hard-working single mother found the childcare she’d dreamed of.
https://onesky.org/a-new-life-for-thoa-and-her-baby-boy/

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