Our Innovation Award Winners

The Early Years Movement is committed to improving the social and emotional development of children, challenging the formation of gender biases, and enhancing gender diversity by recruiting more men into the Early Years. They aim to dismantle unhelpful tropes about the roles of men and women, fostering a more optimistic and supportive society that acknowledges that men care, too.

Charly Young MBE, a social entrepreneur with over 13 years of experience and co-founder of The Girls' Network, has been instrumental in helping charities start and build their strategies and their impact.

“I conceived the idea for The Early Years Movement after seeing first-hand the downstream impact of gender biases and inequity. I recognized the importance of early intervention, the challenges brought by a lack of diversity in the first years of a child’s life, and the positive impact that having a greater representation of men can bring to early education. By supporting more men to work in the early years, The Early Years Movement will enrich the diversity of thought, problem-solving, and pedagogies in early education.”