The COVID-19 pandemic paralysed South Africa’s early childhood development (ECD) sector, forcing sites to close and threatening livelihoods and child wellbeing. Unregistered programmes serving the poorest children were most at risk. Ilifa urgently mobilised resources and partnerships, raising R36mn in funds and launching the ECD COVID Response Project in September 2020. The Project’s objectives were to provide a humanitarian response to the crisis – ensuring unregistered ECD sites could reopen as soon as possible and providing nutrition support to vulnerable children – but also to test various hypotheses for longer-term systems change in the ECD sector.
This summary report outlines the implementation of the ECD COVID Response Project, which was implemented by Ilifa Labantwana and three implementing partners: SmartStart, The Unlimited Child, and Violence Prevention through Urban Upgrading. Lessons from the project are shared, along with recommendations for ECD ecosystem reform and design beyond the pandemic.
