[WEBINAR] Scaling access to quality ECD for every child: How CSI can play a role

Early childhood development (ECD) and early childhood education are critical as they shape children’s future: how they learn, whether they will be ready for school, or whether they will need remedial education later on.

Worryingly, South African children are being left behind – more than 60% of children aged 0-5 currently have little to no exposure to early learning programmes (ELPs), and 45% of children who attend ELPs are not on track for physical and/or cognitive development, according to the Thrive by Five Index 2021.

The Department of Basic Education (DBE) has identified five strategic priorities in South Africa’s 2030 Strategy for Early Childhood Development Programmes: universal access to age-appropriate early learning programmes (ELPs), improved coordination, sufficient funding with resources targeted more effectively, a capable ECD workforce, and enhanced programme quality.

In January, Trialogue partnered with the Oppenheimer Memorial Trust to host a webinar exploring effective ways for companies to support ELPs, highlighting the DBE’s mass registration programme Bana Pele.

Panellists included Nomsa Muthaphuli, ECD and Youth Fund Manager at the Oppenheimer Memorial Trust, Janeli Kotze, Acting Director: Early Childhood Development at the Department of Basic Education, Dr Vuyelwa Nhlapo, CEO of Assupol Community Trust, and Mareldia Tape, Director of the Grassroots Educare Trust.  

CSI support for early childhood education

Research published in the Trialogue Business in Society Handbook 2024 indicates that 92% of companies supported education in 2024, which received 45% of average CSI expenditure. Encouragingly, there has been a steady increase in support for ECD, which received just under a third (31%) of education spend in 2024 – an increase from 26% in 2023 and 18% in 2014.

The importance of registration

Nationally, at least half of all ECD programmes are not registered under the Children’s Act, which means more than 20 000 of them operate outside the regulatory net. This is problematic as only legitimate programmes can apply for subsidies for children from low-income households.

The Bana Pele ECD Mass Registration Drive is a government initiative to register as many ELPs as possible, said Kotze. It is part of the Department of Basic Education’s strategy to build a system for universal access to quality programmes.

“The strategy is built on the idea of a social compact,” said Kotze. “Our slogan – Bana Pele – means ‘Children first’ in Sesotho, and the intention behind registration is to provide access to safe spaces conducive to learning for all our children.”

Successful registration unlocks bronze certification. Registered programmes receive site visits to ensure they comply with the norms and standards – if successful, they will receive either silver or gold certification, making them eligible to apply for the subsidy. 

Strategic priorities in early childhood development

The Oppenheimer Memorial Trust

The Oppenheimer Memorial Trust, which places its focus on ECD and youth employment, has recently reviewed its strategy, according to Muthaphuli.

“Our work has been deep, extensive and localised, but we haven’t reached as many children as possible,” she said. “We identified a need to shift, to work on initiatives that are systemic and catalytic, and which can support scale.

As such, the trust has identified three focus areas: systems change (how to support an enabling environment for the sector), increasing access to quality early learning (increasing access for children, supporting the registration and compliance of ELPs as well as improving teacher skills and qualifications), and getting more youth to participate in the sector (improving the sector’s sustainability so it attracts and retains skills).

Its intention is to set up a centralised infrastructure fund, jointly with corporates and philanthropy, that will be deployed according to ELP need, working with the sector to enable compliance of ELPs in a streamlined and coordinated way, to enable the registration process and help programmes become eligible for subsidies.

“We want to align the work we do to ensure the country moves forward, and we’re not hindering but enabling the work the DBE wants to do,” said Muthaphuli.

Assupol Community Trust

Assupol Community Trust has been motivated to invest in early childhood education as a strategy to tackle multidimensional poverty, inequality and unemployment.

“ECD is a catalyst for addressing important developmental challenges, especially for the most marginalised in society,” Dr Nhlapo said.

The Trust supports the government in its goal to ensure universal access to quality ELPs. It focuses on several challenges – registration, compliance, infrastructure development (the bulk of its budget goes into this) and improving the skills of both centre-based and non-centre-based practitioners – and takes a multistakeholder approach to problem-solving.

It encourages young women to seek employment in the sector, and it pays stipends to those centres in the communities in which it operates that are not yet eligible for government subsidies. “We respond to needs on the ground – we have a long history of engaging with communities,” said Dr Nhlapo.

Additionally, the Trust sets out to ensure that children with disabilities aren’t left behind. Inclusivity is a cross-cutting theme for the government, which is revising White Paper 6 to ensure strong inclusivity from a legislative perspective, according to Kotze. The DBE is also developing a screening tool for ELP practitioners, with the Department of Health, to identify children with different learning abilities and needs, and support them with specialists and adapted activities.

Grassroots Educare Trust

Nonprofit organisation (NPO) Grassroots Educare Trust works with around 3 000 preschools in the Western Cape, assisting them with registration (and re-registration, where applicable).

Uniquely, the organisation establish playgroups for children that live far from formally established preschools or ECD centres, and raises funds to provide a stipend for the playgroup leader and nutrition for the children. It also runs a Playgroup Site Learning Programme for at-risk children who fall outside the ECD ecosystem as their parents can’t pay to enrol them in a preschool. Playgroup leaders receive a stipend of R4 a day per child towards a food subsidy through the ECD Cadet Scheme enabled by the Expanded Public Works Project.

The NPO also focuses on governance, offering training sessions to governing body members to ensure preschools are well run and comply with funder and government requirements. In addition, it is involved in training parents to bolster their roles as educators and facilitators for their children at home.

On-site support is a priority for Grassroots – something Kotze considers vitally important since most ELPs have a coaching or mentoring element to them. “We have seen sustained behaviour change as a result of this – it’s at the heart of our service delivery model,” said Kotze.

“Government is keen to strategically partner with resource and training organisations to provide ongoing support and upskilling for ECD practitioners, and the Education Outcomes Fund should assist with this.”

Recommendations for companies

The Department of Basic Education will launch an education outcomes fund – a results-based financing initiative – later this year. The fund’s purpose is to leverage government funding so that implementing partners can expand ELP access and quality. However, input from the private sector will be necessary to scale this initiative.

Because ECD funding is deeply constrained, it is challenging to cover more than the basic operational costs, but funds are needed to increase access and improve quality. “We need to consider blended finance with blended outcomes,” Kotze pointed out.

Access in deep rural areas is a particular stumbling block. “It would help to have financial support to allow verifiers to assist these centres on-site, since practitioners may not have access to Wi-Fi or have money for data,” said Tape. “Our findings will be skewed if we can’t capture data from these deep rural areas.”

Other than assisting with access, Tape recommended that companies consider investing in upskilling teachers, supporting school governing bodies, and running parent involvement workshops. Teachers should also be able to work with special needs children. Food security is also a pressing issue. “We partner with Peninsula School Feeding Association, and a priority is to address the 60% of children who fall outside of the ECD ecosystem,” Tape said.

Muthaphuli suggested that companies and philanthropists come together to contribute to a central independent fund.

“We are in conversation with the Development Bank and would like to raise up to R150 million to support the current registration drive, but also to expand access to early learning,” she said. The fund could also contribute to assisting with infrastructure development as well as various aspects of compliance. Supporting around 5 000 sites with health and safety packs, for example, would cost around R58 million, she said.

In addition, R62 million in funding is required to improve infrastructure at ECD centres. It is estimated that the cost of infrastructure upgrades could range from R30 000 to R150 000 per site, depending on the extent of the improvements needed. The priority upgrades include safe water and sanitation facilities, secure structures and to ensure adequate environments for children to learn and play.

The investment of the R120 million target will allow compliant and registered programmes to qualify for government subsidies, unlocking R589 million in government aid. It is estimated an additional 120 000 children could benefit from this support in 2025/2026.

All webinar delegates emphasised that “working in silos” won’t achieve much, and collaboration is necessary to achieve the DBE’s ambitious goals around access and quality.

“The elephant is very big, and it must be eaten bit by bit,” Dr Nhlapo reminded attendees. “However, 2030 is around the corner, so we need to join hands to work together.”

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