Opportunity 4: Reflection and Analysis
Why zero-rated mobile phone content is a nation-builder
Cellphones have possibly been the most powerful societal bridge-builder of the post-Mandela era. Their introduction to South Africa coincided with the advent of democracy in 1994 and now, almost every household has at least one. However, their potential contribution to socioeconomic development has never been fully exploited, and in an increasingly digital world, they now […]
Tags: cost of data, data cost, data free, date-free, zero-rating
Posted on 22 Feb 2021
Protecting the gains from the Covid disaster
The Covid disaster showed up much that is wrong in South Africa, but it also demonstrated that many things can be made a lot better – fast. The ban on alcohol sales proved that women and children can feel safer in their communities, especially over weekends. While the sales ban can’t continue indefinitely, a ban […]
Posted on 27 Nov 2020
Responding creatively to the ECD sector COVID crisis
The ECD Working Group of the C-19 People’s Coalition recently released a statement that the early childhood development (ECD) sector is at risk of being “decimated by government inadequacy” during the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. That statement may appear harsh, but it holds a lot of water. The impacts of COVID-19 and the lockdown on the […]
Posted on 6 Nov 2020
Learning quickly from Covid-19
It was a bit like waiting for a hurricane, except that we knew that it would definitely make landfall. So we battened down the hatches and waited in the eerie calm until the Covid-19 storm hit. As a South African foundation, the DG Murray Trust (DGMT) quickly pivoted its work to key areas which we […]
Posted on 7 Aug 2020
COVID-19 must be used to disrupt long-term mortality trends – and radically improve our education system
The clinically cold term ‘excess deaths’ has worked its way into the global lexicon. It means the number of deaths that occur in excess to that which would typically be expected in any given time period. If the death rate for whites is an acceptable norm for South Africa, then there are roughly 200,000 excess […]
Posted on 11 Jun 2020
Homeschooling during lockdown
Turn off the sport reruns and put down the braai tongs – interacting with your child could be the most powerful thing you do during COVID-19, writes Kwanda Ndoda. As any sound Asset Manager will tell you: all crisis begets opportunity! Even though COVID-19 has restricted our movements, this doesn’t mean we have to stand […]
Posted on 14 Apr 2020
In the midst of the Covid Crisis, we cannot leave half our children behind
Why zero-rating of mobile services of PBOs is so crucial The poorest children have the least access to digital learning – and yet we are currently zero-rating mobile content that only wealthy children can use! Schooling is going to stop for three months and we’ve got to: Stop pretending that most children will have access […]
Posted on 7 Apr 2020
Bent, but not broken
In this article Professor Nonkhanyo Mdzanga, who was a contributing editor to our Human Factor publication, poignantly describes the difficult journey of parents to come to terms with having a child who has autism, but she also offers inspiration and shows how networks of parents can support each other. Read the essay below – choose […]
Posted on 20 Jan 2020
‘I love the feeling of keeping them safe’ – Men as early childhood development practitioners
“I’m the one that’s struggling here, not her.” This was a father’s response to my umpteenth reassurance that his daughter was okay in her new playgroup. At that moment she was happily arranging mud cakes on a log under the plum tree. I realised later he was observing me to be sure that his daughter […]
Posted on 16 Oct 2019
Commentary on the proposed migration of ECD functions from DSD to DBE
The commentary below was delivered by DGMT CEO, Dr David Harisson, on the proposed migration of ECD functions from DSD to DBE at the NECT 2nd Education Dialogue on ECD on 12 April 2019 Time of opportunity The President’s SONA announcement of a transfer of responsibility for ECD centres from DSD to DBE and the […]
Tags: DBE, Department of Basic Education, Early Childhood Development, ECD, NECT, Opportunity 4
Posted on 17 Apr 2019
