Give every child the benefit of
early childhood development
International evidence shows that sufficient investment in early childhood development (ECD) can significantly improve national educational, health, social and economic outcomes. This is the time when the building blocks for one’s entire life course are being laid down, and the rate of physical and mental development is at its highest. Without this solid foundation, children start to fall behind and additional investment is then needed to help them catch up.
We know that children are imbued with potential, but for most of South Africa’s children – more than 60% of whom are multi-dimensionally poor – this potential is constrained by a constellation of social, psychological, economic and political factors. They are stuck in a cycle of poverty that limits social mobility. The first five years of a child’s life lay the groundwork for their lifelong development – a crucial period where access to early learning, good nutrition, care and safety can set a child on a pathway of compounding positive effects as they enter school and beyond.
Investment in young children may be the single greatest opportunity to escape the inequality trap.
We invest in programmes that seek to scale access to quality early learning and prioritise the public demand for early learning. This is done through advocacy and stakeholder engagement; unlocking opportunities for increased government financing; supporting innovations that improve access to data and support data-driven decision-making. Working with coalition partners (including funders, academics, NGOs, training organisations, implementers and corporate allies), we aim to formalise an ECD agency within a public-private partnership that will focus on increased coordination and leadership across the sector.
Our support for programmes aims to strengthen socio-economic networks in the informal sector (e.g. childminder and early learning sites that do not yet receive state subsidies) and strengthen their interface with the government to ensure progressive formalisation, quality assurance and financing.
What we are working on…
- Ensuring that all children in quintiles 1–3 have access to quality early learning.
- Increasing prioritisation and demand for early learning.
- Driving sector-wide coordination and leadership.
- Supporting systems innovation that enables the roll-out of quality early learning programmes (ELPs).
- Unlocking public financing for early childhood development.
SmartStarter in training, Noluvuyo Wesi, attending a SmartStart training session in Duncan Village in the Eastern Cape (May, 2018).
Escaping the inequality trap requires a twist in our thinking.
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Flagship projects addressing this opportunity
Civil society projects addressing this opportunity
These projects are by no means a comprehensive list of the work of civil society. This list represents a small selection of organisations that will be updated from time to time
Building child-friendly communities
In the villages of Tsholomnqa in East London, ECD practitioners are supported through practical training and mentoring to improve the quality of early learning in rural communities. Practitioners are better prepared for partial care registration so that the government knows about their centres, which is a pre-requisite to receiving state subsidies. The institute also promotes advocacy and awareness around the need for quality ECD and the importance of the first 1000 days of a child’s life.
Language, learning and connection for every deaf child
Hi Hopes, is the only home-based Early Intervention Programme for families and their deaf infants in South Africa. Through a home-based visiting programme, Hi Hopes supports families by providing emotional support as well as equipping families with the skills needed to take on this journey with their infant with unique needs. This work is critical as Hearing loss impacts all areas of development for babies, including language, socio-emotional, perceptual, cognitive and future academic performance. Hi Hopes works with children to prepare them for school entrance with solid language foundations and healthy socio-emotional relationships with their families.
Quality early learning development for every child
Masikhule trains educators in marginalised communities in Early Childhood Development (ECD) and early learning skills. Through the provision of Occupational Therapy (OT) services to early learning programmes. Through research, including the Thrive By Five Index, we know that children coming from lower socio-economic environments typically require more support during the early years. Masikhule, through its Teacher Enrichment Workshops, creates an opportunity to screen for learning issues and accelerate understanding of specific learning domains that help prepare the child to be ready for school. Ultimately, Masikhule seeks to provide responsive interventions that support and develop ECD practitioners and children to achieve their full potential, and thus also the sustainable wellbeing of the community.
Enabling ECD, Unlocking the future
TREE is a non-profit organisation that specialises in ECD resource provision and training. A key ecosystem player, TREE has been operating for the last 35 years with a mission to promote quality holistic early childhood development and care for children aged 0-4 years. The core drivers of TREE’s work include improving practitioner development and capacity through the provision of accredited training, supporting monitoring and assessment visits to over 1500 ECD sites to monitor and evaluate their programmes, resource provision to early learning programmes and building an active ECD network through collaborations with other ECE stakeholders and government.
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