«Strengthening family centers - for the benefit of children and families»

We want this innovative programme to give more children and parents access to a stimulating environment. The particular focus here is on fragile and isolated families with young children.

If children can be given attentive support when discovering creativity, movement, play and language alongside others, this opens up hugely important learning opportunities for them.

Heidi Simoni, Director of the Marie Meierhofer children’s Institute (MMI)

Content and target groups

We offer support in the areas of

• Development of offers
• Organizational development
• Advocacy

The offers are designed to be results-oriented, build on what has already been achieved and take human and financial resources into account in their implementation.

Our objectives in numbers

Until 2025

• 60 family centres and other meeting places actively participating in the programme;
• around 24,000 parents and children in fragile family situations, from birth to kindergarten, benefitting from the offers;
• at least 25 municipalities actively supporting new family centres or intensifying their collaboration.

The programme in detail

The programme uses three levers to achieve its objectives:

•  Knowledge transfer: family centres are given the ability to develop impactful services for children and families or to take over well-established services. As part of this process, the focus is on training and supporting experts and volunteers at the centres.

• Empowerment: family centres receive support with reinforcing their structures and developing further. Their networks are expanded so that they can learn from each other.

•  Anchoring: municipalities are advised on how they can support family centres for their citizens. This starts by demonstrating why family centres are so valuable, which, in turn, lays the groundwork for greater involvement on the part of municipalities and the public sector.

Further information

Overview of the MegaMarie^plus Programme, ZOOM-Meeting of 13 february 2023
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Programme description, short version, version june, 2023
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Media release«The Human Safety Net Switzerland», 2022
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Basics of the family centres and meeting places
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Overview of the family centres and meeting places in Switzerland
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Information about the parent-child groups
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