Strategic Plan

ECHO’s strategic plan defines five interconnected priorities that shape the network’s shared vision and collective action. By fostering collaboration, strengthening advocacy, and building capacity across the membership, the strategic plan supports ECHO’s mission to deliver the highest quality care for children and young people.

Strategic Objectives

 ECHO’s strategic objectives aim to strengthen collaboration among children’s hospitals, advance paediatric care and outcomes, and ensure that children’s needs are reflected in European policy, research, and innovation. Through collective action, ECHO seeks to:

A plan for Action

The strategic plan translates ECHO’s mission and vision into concrete actions through coordinated work across the organisation. Implementation is driven by collaboration between ECHO members, governance bodies, working groups, and the Secretariat, ensuring alignment between strategic priorities and operational activities. 

Pillars

ECHO’s strategy is structured around five core pillars, each addressing a critical area of action for children’s hospitals in Europe.

Advocating for Children’s Health

Paediatric Health & Research  |  Rare Diseases

Building a Paediatric Health Data Space

Data Sharing & Benchmarking | Operations  |  Quality  |  Research

Consolidating the Organisation

Governance  |  Communications  |  Management

Governance · Communications · Management

Strengthening ECHO’s governance, operational capacity, and member engagement to ensure a robust and sustainable organisation capable of delivering long-term impact.

Data Sharing & Benchmarking · Operations · Quality · Research

Enabling a secure and collaborative infrastructure for paediatric health data sharing and benchmarking that supports quality improvement, research, and innovation across European children’s hospitals.

Patient-centred care · Workforce · Sustainability

Facilitating collaboration and knowledge exchange to define and advance excellence in paediatric care, enhancing the quality, safety and experience for children and young people, while promoting sustainable investment in the workforce and infrastructure needed to meet current and future healthcare needs across European children’s hospitals.

Clinical Research Coordination · Technological Innovation · New Therapeutic Tools

Promoting and fostering collaboration in research, innovation, and the development of new therapies and medical devices that address the specific needs of children and young people, particularly those with complex and rare conditions.

Paediatric Health & Research · Children’s Rights · Rare Diseases

Positioning ECHO as the collective voice of Europe’s children’s hospitals, championing children’s rights, highlighting the unique needs of sick children – including those with rare and complex conditions – and fostering collaboration, innovation, and strategic partnerships across the paediatric healthcare community.