Children’s development is heavily influenced by their home environments, caregivers, communities, and the interplay between these factors and formal services and programmes. Interventions that support children’s healthy development are important, but their design and delivery can be complicated.
Some services that support children (such as immunisation) are easily mandated to a single government department and can be done in a facility. Others are not.
Since 2024, in collaboration with the DG Murray Trust (DGMT), we have supported the Presidency in creating a coordinated and cohesive plan for children that addresses all aspects of their development and prioritises services that are difficult to mandate. This is the draft National Strategy to Accelerate Action for Children (NSAAC). It is operationalised by Hold my Hand – an accelerator currently being incubated by DGMT, which will eventually be incorporated into government.
The NSAAC establishes a common understanding of national priorities for children and strengthens institutional mechanisms to achieve them. Since the priorities require a whole-of-society effort, Hold my Hand works across sectors to strengthen data, public communication, resource mobilisation, and the provision of priority services for children.
Hold my Hand current has five priorities:
- closing the food gap;
- supporting responsive caregiving and language development;
- providing early hearing and vision screening and referral;
- protecting children and teens by reducing heavy drinking; and
- building identity, agency and connectedness for teenagers.