Welcome to the site of OMEP UK! We are concerned for the welfare and education of children from birth to eight. We are part of a world-wide organisation and concern ourselves with children everywhere but we are particularly involved with those in the United Kingdom. There is an Executive Committee responsible for directing the activities. We are part of the European Region.

For details of current activities, events and publications please explore our site. These were last updated in December 2007.

Membership is open to individuals and organisations that support the aims of OMEP. Members may be professionals from any discipline with an interest in the well-being of children and their families, administrators, parents or politicians. No person or group may be excluded by reason of race, gender, creed or political opinion.

Benefits of membership

• Participation in a world-wide movement for children from birth to eight, and pre-school education
• International contacts
• Information exchange
• Global meetings
• Professional enrichment

Aims & Objectives

• To defend and promote the rights of the child with special emphasis on the child's right of education and care worldwide.
• To this end, OMEP shall help any undertaking, which improves accessibility to quality early childhood education and care.

Activities

• To collect and disseminate information and to facilitate the understanding of the needs of young children worldwide.
• To promote study and research related to early childhood education and care.
• To encourage family education in connection with early childhood education and care.

• To encourage the training of personnel for early childhood education and care.
• To organise international and regional conferences and symposia.
• To facilitate direct links and personal contacts between all members by various media.
• To establish working relationships with other appropriate World Organisations.
• To encourage the establishment of National Committees.

History
After World War II, a strong humanitarian concern led a small group of educators and others concerned for the welfare of young children to seek a way to engage others committed to these aims.

In 1946 Lady Allen of Hurtwood (UK) and Alva Myrdal (Sweden), with others from France, Denmark, and Norway, presented their plan for the creation of a world organization. The UNESCO Assembly in Paris greeted the plan with warm support, and the founders invited representatives of 19 countries from 5 continents to a World Conference on Early Childhood Education in Prague in 1948. At that Conference, OMEP was born and Alva Myrdal was elected its first World President. The new organization was recognized then, as it is now, as the principal mechanism to bring together people from all over the world, without any criteria other than an objective to share information and initiate actions to benefit young children everywhere.

The second World Assembly, in 1949, drew representatives from 33 countries, and the third, in 1950, was attended by observers from the major intergovernmental agencies with related interests: UNESCO, UNICEF, and WHO.

Since then, triennial World Assemblies of OMEP have been held in: Mexico City, 1952; Copenhagen, 1954; Athens, 1956; Brussels, 1958; Zagreb, 1960; London, 1962; Stockholm, 1964; Paris, 1966; Washington, DC, 1968; Bonn, 1971; Caracas, 1974; Warsaw, 1977; Quebec, 1980; Geneva, 1983; Jerusalem, 1986; London, 1989; Flagstaff, Arizona 1992; Yokohama, 1995; and Copenhagen, 1998, Santiago, Chile in 2001, Melbourne, Australia, 2004. Beginning in 2004, the World Assembly will be held annually. The next World Assemblies will be held in Havana, Cuba July 11-15, 2005, Tromso, Norway August 7 - 11, 2006, and Mexico City in 2007.