Despite progressive policy commitments, Uganda continues to face systemic implementation challenges that undermine equitable and holistic ECD service delivery. These include fragmentation in programming, limited cross-sectoral coordination, inadequate financing, weak community engagement, insufficient data use for planning, and inconsistent accountability mechanisms across national and sub-national levels. NECDA was therefore established to address these coordination and systems gaps by serving as a sector-wide convening and collaboration mechanism that facilitates shared learning, joint advocacy, integrated planning, and strengthened accountability for improved outcomes for young children and their caregivers. To operationalize this mandate, NECDA is organized around five thematic clusters focused on Child 2 Protection, Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE), Health and Nutrition, Parenting, and Research and Academia. During its foundational phase (2024–2025), NECDA prioritized establishing governance structures, cluster leadership, membership engagement mechanisms, and initial partnerships. As the network now transitions from formation to consolidation and strategic growth, it requires a comprehensive 5-Year Strategic Plan (2026–2030) to define its institutional identity, value proposition, strategic priorities, operational framework, partnership agenda, and resource mobilization pathways. The Strategic Plan will also articulate NECDA’s advocacy and systems-strengthening objectives, outline coordinated action across thematic clusters, and establish a results and learning framework to support ongoing monitoring, adaptive management, and accountability. This Strategic Plan will therefore serve as NECDA’s central guiding document, anchoring its coordination function, strengthening its institutional sustainability, and positioning it as a catalyst for systems change in the ECD landscape.