AÇEV’s earthquake region Early Childhood Development Centers transition to local government: a replicable model for humanitarian response
As families move from temporary shelters to permanent housing, AÇEV has begun formally transferring its Early Childhood Development Centers to local government authorities. This is not an exit. It is the design. AÇEV builds interventions structured for public adoption, ensuring continuity for children and offering a blueprint for post-disaster early childhood programming globally.
Since the February 2023 earthquakes, AÇEV established Child and Family Centers within temporary shelter areas, spaces designed not only to serve children and families immediately, but to demonstrate a replicable public service model. From the outset, the intention was clear: AÇEV would build capacity, document evidence, and then hand over operational ownership to local government bodies. That process is now underway.
The transition protocol involves formal agreements with municipal and district authorities, capacity-building for public staff who will assume program management, and the transfer of physical infrastructure, materials, and program documentation. AÇEV continues to provide technical support and monitoring during the handover period, consistent with its broader Program Transfer System used in similar transitions across Türkiye and internationally.
For the global humanitarian community, the model carries an important message: early childhood programming in crises does not have to be a temporary intervention that disappears when emergency funding ends. When designed with sustainability in mind, with documentation, local partnerships, and government engagement built in from day one, ECD programs can become permanent features of public service infrastructure.