NPOs collaborate to make early childhood education accessible

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KNYSNA NEWS - Annually, an estimated 1,24 million South African children aged three to five do not have access to age-appropriate, quality learning programmes. Investing in early childhood education is important if we want to close the wage gap and put a stop to intergenerational poverty.

From the moment a child is born up to age six is the most crucial time for development.

Skills learnt during these first years set the development trajectory for the rest of one's life.

In communities that have no access to learning programmes, children's development is delayed.

This continues the vicious cycle of poverty as children grow up without the foundation knowledge and skills to thrive and grow at formal schooling, affecting their ability to successfully finish school and go on to financially stable careers.

Since 2006, Knysna Rotary has worked with Knysna Education Trust (Ket) to grow early childhood development in Knysna. In 2021 Knysna Rotary approached Ket with a challenging goal: for every young child in the Knysna municipal area to have access to a quality ECD programme by the year 2025.

This challenge aligned with Ket's strategy to deliver ECD services and programmes through a hybrid ECD delivery model to all young children, irrespective of where they live in Knysna.

The Global Grant provides for four areas of delivery, namely:

A collaboration with SmartStart, a social enterprise franchise. SmartStart equips practitioners (day-mothers) with the training and resources to open their own ECD facilities in their homes. These ECD services will be supported and incubated for one year to ensure their sustainability.
Food security for these entities is supplied by ePap, supported by the Global Grant and funds raised by ePap and KET. This will provide children attending with at least one nutritious meal a day to support their healthy development.
20 ECD preschool sites will receive infrastructure support to achieve government registration which will facilitate their progress towards achieving government funding.
KET will implement a relational database – SalesForce, to improve their ability to track, support and manage the implementation of the SmartStarters and over 100 ECD facilities that access KET’s programmes and services.

In the greater Knysna area, there are an estimated 3 500 children (aged three to five) who do not have access to an ECD service. The growth opportunity for ECD through the SmartStart franchise is extraordinary.

In the first week of February, Ket hosted 30 women for a week-long training intervention. SmartStart provided essential training such as how to set up a school day, how to conduct age-appropriate classes, business skills, budgeting and much more.

Earning Seta-accredited certificates and becoming franchisees of SmartStart, these women from communities such as Rheenendal, Karatara, White Location, Khayalethu, Plett and Wittedrift are now able to open their doors to young children in need of a safe space to learn and grow.

ECD presents a triple benefit opportunity. The most direct benefit is that children are more likely to succeed when they reach formal school and earn a good income later in life.

The full impact of early childhood development runs deeper. Its availability also impacts women being able to access the economy. Traditionally, women have been the ones to stay at home and care for children, leaving them reliant on men to provide an income.

Although we have seen an increase in women's participation in the labour force - from 38% in 1995 to 54% in 2020, they continue to bear the majority of responsibility when it comes to childcare. With ECD facilities in place, mothers are able to seek work knowing that their children are in a safe, enriching environment.

ECD centres also provide direct employment for women, contributing to economic growth. Given the gendered norms surrounding child care, it is no surprise that 95% of the South African ECD workforce is female. The more facilities that we help to open, the more women can be employed.

This collaboration with SmartStart, made possible by Rotary Knysna and the Global Grant Committee, demonstrates the effectiveness of pooling collective resources to advance the community. In the months to come we will see small changes - new facilities opening and children playing at centres rather than in the streets.

In the years to come, we hope to see all these children reach their full potential and become economically active citizens. This investment has the potential to change so much. Our children are our future.

If you or your business have an interest in community development and envisage a future where Knysna's youth thrive and are sustainable, please do not hesitate to contact Ket on 044 382 4638.

SmartStart instructors used role-play to present classroom activities and show how to interact with children.