Childhood Development Initiative
CDI is an Irish non-profit, founded in 2007 in Tallaght, Dublin, delivering evidence-based childhood development programmes (literacy, oral language, parenting, STEAM, youth mental health) to children and families and running an accredited training and consultancy arm.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2007
- HeadquartersDublin, Ireland
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B and B2C
- OfferingServices
What Childhood Development Initiative does
Childhood Development Initiative (CDI) is an Irish not-for-profit, structured as a Company Limited by Guarantee (CLG), founded in 2007 in Tallaght, Dublin, through a partnership between the Irish Department of Children and Youth Affairs and The Atlantic Philanthropies. It delivers evidence-based Prevention and Early Intervention programmes targeting children, families, schools, and early-years services, with the bulk of its activity concentrated in the Tallaght West area and a national footprint across Ireland via its training arm and licensed curricula.
Its core product set comprises manualised childhood development programmes — including Doodle Den, Doodle Families, Doodle STEAM, Chit Chat (oral language), Powerful Parenting, Preparing for Life, Nova (youth mental health), restorative practices, and Building Bright Beginnings (launched November 2025) — alongside the Irish roll-out of Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, which reached the 400,000-books milestone in February 2026. CDI also operates a social-enterprise training arm offering EIQA- and CPD-accredited courses, online learning, and consultancy to external organisations such as Oberstown Children Detention Campus and the Irish Prison Service.
CDI's revenue model is primarily grant-funded through the Irish Government's Area-Based Childhood (ABC) Programme, administered via Tusla, supplemented by project-based income (e.g., Erasmus+ for Doodle STEAM), and training-arm fees priced at approximately €67–75 per course, reaching around 840 learners annually. Its go-to-market blends direct programme delivery in Tallaght West with national licensing/training of practitioners and increasingly international collaborations (e.g., STEM Robotics Academy Greece, DCU) under Erasmus+.
Childhood Development Initiative firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Childhood Development Initiative
- Legal name
- Tallaght West Childhood Development Initiative CLG
- Website
- https://cdi.ie
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2007
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- CDI is an Irish non-profit, founded in 2007 in Tallaght, Dublin, delivering evidence-based childhood development programmes (literacy, oral language, parenting, STEAM, youth mental health) to children and families and running an accredited training and consultancy arm.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Childhood Development Initiative industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Early Childhood Development Services
- NAICS
- Child and Youth Services (624110), Individual and Family Services (6241), Educational Services (611), Educational Support Services (611710)
- SIC
- Services-Social Services (8300), Services-Educational Services (8200), Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Wraparound Student Support & Case Management Services (At-Risk K–12) (EDAJAEAJ)
Keywords
Where Childhood Development Initiative is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Dublin
- HQ country
- Ireland
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
Childhood Development Initiative business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B and B2C
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales, Others
Revenue model
- Government Programme Funding: CDI is largely funded under the Government's Area-Based Childhood Programme (ABC) administered by Tusla. The organisation was established in 2007 through a partnership between the Department of Children and Youth Affairs and The Atlantic Philanthropies.
- Training and Consultancy Services: CDI Training and Consultancy is a social enterprise offering accredited training courses including Restorative Practices, Speech Language and Communication, and PEAR parental engagement training. Revenue generated is reinvested in CDI's work in disadvantaged areas.
- Corporate Sponsorship and Donations: Dolly Parton's Imagination Library is supported by corporate sponsors including An Post, ESB, Toy Show Appeal, and other benevolent organisations who fund the book gifting programme delivering 5,000+ books monthly.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| One time/ perpetual license | Pay-as-you-go | Restorative Practices Online Summer Course for Teachers |
| One time/ perpetual license | Pay-as-you-go | Speech, Language & Communication Online Summer Course for Primary Teachers |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels5 records
Marketing channels7 records
Childhood Development Initiative product offering
Product offeringCore offering
CDI is a not-for-profit that designs, delivers and evaluates evidence-based childhood development programmes (literacy, oral language, parenting, youth mental health, restorative practices) directly to children, families, schools and communities in disadvantaged areas, primarily Dublin 24. It also runs CDI Training and Consultancy, a social enterprise providing accredited professional development, Restorative Practices training, and organisational consultancy to schools, government agencies and community organisations across Ireland. All interventions are manualised and delivered through existing community structures with built-in monitoring and outcomes evaluation.
Product overview
The Childhood Development Initiative (CDI) is a not-for-profit organisation providing a portfolio of evidence-based childhood development programmes and professional training services. The core programmes include literacy initiatives (Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, Doodle Den, Doodle Families, Doodle STEAM), oral language development (Chit Chat), parenting support (Powerful Parenting, Preparing for Life home visiting), and youth mental health (Nova). CDI Training and Consultancy is a social enterprise offering Restorative Practices training and consultancy services, Speech, Language & Communication courses, and Quality Services Better Outcomes professional development courses. These programmes and services work together to support children, families, and communities in Tallaght and throughout Ireland.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Dolly Parton's Imagination Library: A book-gifting programme for children aged from birth to 5 living in Dublin 24, brought to Ireland by CDI in 2019.
- CDI Training and Consultancy Service
- Cool It Restorative Practices Programme
- School Avoidance Toolkit
- Nova Youth Mental Health Programme
Products and services
- Dolly Parton's Imagination Library A book-gifting programme for children aged 0-5 living in Dublin 24, delivering age-appropriate books monthly until each child's 5th birthday at no cost to families, distributed through CDI's partnership with An Post.
- Doodle Den Evidence-based literacy programme for Senior Infants, delivered 1.5 hours three times weekly over 32 weeks in small groups of up to 15 children in DEIS schools.
- Doodle Families Eight-week school-based literacy programme for First Class children and their parents that strengthens home-school connections and promotes reading enjoyment.
- Doodle STEAM Evidence-backed programme taking schools and parents through Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths topics, designed for parents of children aged 6-8 to build confidence in promoting STEAM learning at home.
- Chit Chat Oral language programme operating at three levels of service delivery (universal, targeted and specialist) in partnership with parents, early years services and primary schools to support young children's listening, communication, understanding and speaking skills.
- Powerful Parenting Parenting support programme model supporting parents of children antenatally and up to age five across Tallaght, with Parent/Carer Facilitators delivering the programme across Early Years Services and within communities.
- Preparing for Life (PFL) Home Visiting Programme Home visiting programme supporting families from pregnancy through their child's first year of school, with trained Home Visitors and Parent Carer Facilitators delivering one-to-one support, group sessions and connection to community supports.
- Nova Youth Mental Health Programme Youth mental health programme supporting schools and practitioners in responding to emotionally driven school avoidance.
- Cool It Restorative Practices Programme Eight-week programme helping children aged 8-12 develop practical skills to communicate effectively, build positive relationships, resolve conflict constructively and take responsibility for their actions.
- Restorative Practices Training Evidence-based conflict resolution training programme with multiple courses including Getting Started, Facilitation Skills, Training of Trainers, and Summer Courses for Teachers, delivered online or in person as part of CDI's accredited training and consultancy social enterprise.
- Restorative Practices Consultancy Flexible, evidence-based consultancy services fostering cultural change and resolving conflicts for organisations and communities, including implementation support, mentoring, communities of practice and restorative meeting facilitation.
- Speech, Language & Communication Online Summer Course Department of Education approved 20-hour self-paced online course helping primary school teachers address students' speech, language and communication needs, combining speech and language therapy approaches with primary teaching practice.
- Restorative Practices Online Summer Course for Teachers Department of Education approved online self-paced course on Restorative Practices: Skills for Promoting Wellbeing in Classrooms and Schools, providing teachers with 3 EPV days entitlement and accredited CPD.
- Quality Services Better Outcomes (QSBO) Professional development courses for not-for-profit and statutory family and child services covering organisational context and change management, leadership, reflective practice, planning, monitoring and evaluation, needs assessment, logic modelling, evaluation in depth, and capacity and competence building.
- Parental Engagement and Relationships (PEAR) Training Short course for Early Childhood Educators and Services to promote parental engagement through a toolkit covering six strategies including strength-based approach, building relationships, inclusion and partnership, home learning environment, supporting transitions, and supporting childhood difficulties.
Quantifiable outcome
- 98% of parents recognise their key role in supporting children's reading and writing after completing Doodle Families
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use Childhood Development Initiative
Customer profileNamed customers10 records
Segments5 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
Childhood Development Initiative technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration1 record
Feature5 records
Childhood Development Initiative partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core and major.
- An PostcoreAn Post provides national distribution network, postage and logistics support for Dolly Parton's Imagination Library programme, enabling delivery of over 5,000 books monthly to children in Dublin 24. Partnership has enabled over 400,000 books delivered since 2019.
- STEM Robotics Academy, Larissa, GreececoreErasmus+ collaboration partner in STEAM education. Giannis Baras and team shared experience of participating in learning exchange with CDI Tallaght and insights from STEM robotics education in Greece. Collaboration produced Doodle STEAM Scoping Report and STEM Robotics Activities Booklet.
- Oberstown Children Detention CampusmajorCDI has worked alongside Oberstown over several years providing Restorative Practices training to staff and managers, developing internal team of skilled RP Trainers, and guiding creation of practical sustainable RP implementation plan.
- Irish Prison ServicemajorPartnership delivering RP training to Senior Managers, supporting development of IPS Tutors as in-house RP Trainers, and facilitating regular group supervision and reflective practice with frontline staff teams.
- Oide (Support Service for Teachers)majorCDI trained Oide staff as RP Trainers and continues to support quality assurance of training they deliver, building ripple effect of restorative approaches throughout education system.
- Maynooth UniversitymajorCollaboration on Ubuntu Pilot Project improving relationships between An Garda Síochána and young Black Irish people through restorative dialogue circles. CDI delivered RP training as part of this ground-breaking initiative.
- Dollywood FoundationcoreLicensing partnership enabling CDI to deliver Dolly Parton's Imagination Library book gifting programme in Ireland. Fully compliant with EU regulation through Privacy Shield Framework.
- Dublin City UniversitymajorDr Eamon Costello (Associate Professor of Digital Learning) provided keynote at Innovation in STEAM Education event. Nicola O'Reilly (Lecturer and Researcher in Early Childhood Education) co-led development of CDI's Doodle STEAM programme and authored Doodle STEAM Scoping Report.
- Dublin City UniversitymajorPartnership for Doodle STEAM programme development and scoping report authorship.
Scale indicators7 records
Recent moves2 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Childhood Development Initiative competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- ISPCC: Ireland's longest-standing national children's charity, operating Childline and support services. Overlap with CDI in child-welfare mission and Irish non-profit funding model, although ISPCC operates at national scale rather than place-based.
- Barnardos Ireland: Irish children's charity delivering family support, early years, and school-based services through locally rooted teams. Directly comparable in targeting disadvantaged children and families via community-based delivery.
- Youngballymun: Dublin-based place-based childhood initiative funded through the same Area-Based Childhood (ABC) Programme as CDI, delivering prevention/early-intervention services in a disadvantaged community. The two are the closest matched 'sister' initiatives under Tusla's ABC architecture.
- Jigsaw: Irish youth mental health charity with similar evidence-based, manualised interventions and a hub-and-spoke model across Ireland. Closest direct peer to CDI's Nova Youth Mental Health and School Avoidance Toolkit work.
- Foróige: Ireland's leading youth work organisation, delivering services to children aged 10-18 in clubs and projects nationwide. Already a CDI training customer (Cool It delivery); overlapping in target population and school/community delivery, but broader in age range.
- Early Years Ireland: National membership organisation for early childhood educators — comparable in EIQA-affiliated CPD/training work, ECEC training revenue, and government-facing early years policy positioning to CDI's training and consultancy arm.
- Archways: Irish childhood development project working with families and young people in disadvantaged areas, including restorative- and trauma-informed practice. Comparable in mission, evidence-base, and ABC-style community-led delivery to CDI.
Broad incumbents
- Barnardo's UK: Large UK children's charity running evidenced family-support and school-based programmes — analogous programme mix (literacy, parenting, mental health) operating at much larger scale and with mixed public/grant funding.
- International Institute for Restorative Practices (IIRP): Global leader in Restorative Practices training, graduate school, and consulting. CDI's RP programme is comparable in practice and consultancy offering, but IIRP operates at international scale rather than an Irish community-anchored model.
Emerging players
- The Children's Society (UK): UK charity providing specialist support for children and young people, including mental health and youth justice work — comparable in mission overlap (youth mental health, restorative approaches) but operating in a different policy and funding regime.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Childhood Development Initiative social profiles
Digital presenceChildhood Development Initiative compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance5 records
Childhood Development Initiative financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Childhood Development Initiative leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles13 records
Childhood Development Initiative funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Childhood Development Initiative M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Childhood Development Initiative
What does Childhood Development Initiative do?
CDI is a not-for-profit that designs, delivers and evaluates evidence-based childhood development programmes (literacy, oral language, parenting, youth mental health, restorative practices) directly to children, families, schools and communities in disadvantaged areas, primarily Dublin 24. It also runs CDI Training and Consultancy, a social enterprise providing accredited professional development, Restorative Practices training, and organisational consultancy to schools, government agencies and community organisations across Ireland. All interventions are manualised and delivered through existing community structures with built-in monitoring and outcomes evaluation.
Is Childhood Development Initiative a public or private company?
Childhood Development Initiative is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was Childhood Development Initiative founded?
Childhood Development Initiative was founded in 2007. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Childhood Development Initiative based?
Childhood Development Initiative is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, in the Europe region.
How does Childhood Development Initiative make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Government Programme Funding is the primary driver. The others are training and Consultancy Services and corporate Sponsorship and Donations.
Who are Childhood Development Initiative's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are ISPCC, Barnardos Ireland, Youngballymun, Jigsaw, Foróige, Early Years Ireland and Archways. Broad incumbents are Barnardo's UK and International Institute for Restorative Practices (IIRP). The Children's Society (UK) is listed as an emerging player.
Does Childhood Development Initiative have an API?
No public API is recorded for Childhood Development Initiative.
What industry is Childhood Development Initiative in?
Childhood Development Initiative's product category is Early Childhood Development Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is EDAJAEAJ, Wraparound Student Support & Case Management Services (At-Risk K–12). Its NAICS code is 624110 and its SIC code is 8300.