The GrowWell project is an international initiative focused on strengthening social-emotional learning among children of early and preschool age (3 – 6 years), with the aim of laying the foundations for mental health, emotional resilience, and healthy relationships from an early age.
Funding and Duration
The project lasts two years, starting on 1 September 2025, and ending on 31 August 2027. It is co-funded by the European Union, with a total grant value of €400,000, and its implementation is overseen by the Agency for Mobility and EU Programmes in Croatia.
Core Objectives and Educational Focus
The core idea of the GrowWell project is the prevention of violence, the reduction of risks related to mental health, and the development of children’s emotional, interpersonal, and intrapersonal skills. Within the project, educational content and tools will be developed to help children recognize and understand their own and others’ emotions, foster empathy, self-regulation, positive communication, and social skills.
Special emphasis is placed on the education of educators, as well as parents and caregivers, as the key adults in a child’s development.
The International GrowWell Consortium
The project brings together a diverse partnership from several European countries:
- Čigra Kindergarten (Croatia) – project coordinator
- Pomoć deci (Serbia) – a non-profit organisation providing support to children and young people in Serbia
- National College of Ireland (Ireland) – a higher education institution with expertise in education and research
- Otvoreno učilište Littera (Croatia) – an education institution with experience in child and adult education and the development of educational programmes
- Profil Klett (Croatia) – a publishing house and educational partner
- European Parents Association (Belgium) – a European network of parent organisations
- Matrix Internet (Ireland) – a digital agency specialising in communications and online content development
GrowWell Think-Tank Workshop in Zagreb
As part of the project, an international workshop and the first in-person partner meeting were held in Zagreb on 11 and 12 December 2025. On this occasion, partners presented early childhood education curricula from different countries and
exchanged examples of good practice and research in the fields of social-emotional learning and mental health.
The meeting also included a visit to Čigra Kindergarten, where educators demonstrated ways of integrating mindfulness into everyday pedagogical practice through a variety of activities in which children participated actively and with enthusiasm.
Through joint work, the partners selected 12 key themes in the field of social-emotional learning, which will serve as the foundation for the development of future educational content within the GrowWell project.
The GrowWell project represents an important step towards creating a supportive, safe, and empathetic
environment in which children develop the skills they need for a healthy, happy, and balanced life from an early age.
