Our seven strategic goals

Our government must realise the right to ECD. All children and caregivers must be able to access the full Essential Package. There should be no barriers to access and caregivers who cannot afford to pay for services and support must be funded by the government. Access to the Essential Package is currently unequal with some key components such as income support for pregnant women not being in place. Expanding access to the Essential Package is just as important for women as it is for children, offering plentiful opportunities to upskill and create income-earning opportunities. All of society, caregivers included, should be empowered to hold the government accountable to this obligation.

Where we will focus our efforts:

• Generate evidence to establish public consensus that ECD is a key contributor to growing South Africa’s human capital – both in terms of (1) children’s development and (2) the income-generating potential that childcare and ECD jobs offer women. We will do this through a collaborative approach that draws on expertise and data generated by our partners.
• Led by the Grow Great Campaign, undertake community nutrition surveys, and publish stunting scorecards to advocate for zero-stunting.
• With the Equality Collective, develop a strong legal case for the Right to ECD.
• Use the Real Reform for ECD movement to mobilise the ECD sector to demand that government delivers on its obligation to expand access to the Essential Package for all.
• With the Grow Great Campaign, advocate for vulnerable pregnant women to receive income support, while also calling on the government to ensure that children are registered to receive the Child Support Grant (CSG) from birth.
• Engage in platforms for accountability and partnership between government and the civil sector, such as the ECD Inter-sectoral Forum and the Budget Justice Coalition.

Our 5-year arrival points

By 2027, we want to achieve the following:

• The government and all sectors of society agree that ECD is a key contributor to human capital development.
• The ECD sector is galvanised around core components that must feature in new standalone ECD legislation.
• The government approves a social grant to poor pregnant women and intensifies efforts to ensure early uptake of the CSG.
• The ECD Inter-sectoral Forum becomes a more effective platform for ECD civil society and government engagement.
• Home visiting programmes are recognised by the government as critical to child health and nutrition outcomes and are better integrated into the health system.
• The Budget Justice Coalition, Real Reform for ECD, and other partners advocate for ECD financing, thus broadening the call for increased and improved investment in ECD.
• There is strengthened collective action amongst ECD stakeholders. ECD practitioners understand the right to ECD and can use democratic systems to push for reform and accountability.

Government must take responsibility for the planning, coordination, and funding of universal access to the Essential Package, and work towards a branded programme of action that will facilitate mutual accountability. All levels of government whose actions affect ECD must (1) plan together, and (2) collaborate with civil society to identify the optimal mix of services at the local level. Making ECD “everyone’s” business will allow for the maximisation of resources both within the public sector and externally.

Where we will focus our efforts:

• Advocate for and support the development of a branded programme of action for children so that all of society is clear on South Africa’s commitment to ECD. This will facilitate transparency and joint accountability in our shared vision for universal access to quality ECD.
• Work with core partners to build and institutionalise formal public-private partnerships that position civil society as a key contributor to the expansion of ECD services and support. These partnerships will allow the state to leverage a range of expertise, funding, and programmes that can bring South Africa closer to universal ECD access while growing the women-led care economy at the same time.
• Assist the Department of Basic Education (DBE) in building sufficient capacity to lead on the planning and coordination of ECD services, as well as the design of a coordinated, collaborative, and cohesive ECD service delivery model.

Our 5-year arrival points

By 2027, we want to achieve the following:

• Vision and branded programme of action for children is developed and ready for implementation.
• The DBE is capacitated to deliver on its ECD mandate.
• Innovate public-private partnerships, that leverage the diversity of ECD provision, between government and non-state partners have been designed.
• ECD is considered and planned for in District Development Model processes, reflecting the Department of Corporate Governance and Traditional Affairs’ understanding and acknowledgement of its importance to South Africa’s development agenda.
• ECD is prioritised within relevant Ministers’ delivery agreements.
• ECD is secured in the Medium-Term Strategic Framework as a government-wide priority.

Just 32% of all 0-5-year-old children in South Africa attending an Early Learning Programme (ELP), are attending a registered one. The remainder are in unregistered ELPs that are unable to meet onerous norms and standards, and as a result remain outside the government registration system where they cannot benefit from state financial and operational support and oversight. These ELPs cannot grow or improve their services to children. They serve the poorest communities in South Africa.

Norms and standards are onerous because they are set and enforced by different government departments and varyingly, by national and local governments – this creates a complex regulatory environment.

We need simpler and fairer regulations that recognise the value of informal ELP provision and enable women who are starting up or running ELPs to register with government and access subsidies as well as quality oversight interventions. An enabling environment with simplified norms and standards will encourage more women to become ELP providers and thereby increase the supply of ELPs.

Given that infrastructure-related norms and standards are a common barrier to registration, innovative approaches to infrastructure must be developed. A reformed regulatory environment must be accompanied by an efficient registration system that supports ELPs throughout.

Where we will focus our efforts:

• Propose regulatory reform and appropriate norms and standards that champion the diversity of ELP provision, and support ELP providers who offer services to the poorest children.
• Advise the Department of Basic Education as they develop a fairer legal framework and a standalone ECD Act.
• Advise on the design and implementation of registration support mechanisms.
• Develop approaches to improving the infrastructure of ELPs.

Our 5-year arrival points

By 2027, we want to achieve the following:

• Norms and standards are streamlined and simplified, allowing more ELPs to achieve registration and access state financial support as well as oversight.
• A comprehensive registration support system is in place, which increases the number of registered ELPs.
• Revised enabling ECD legal framework is in place.
• An infrastructure strategy is in place, which recognises the diversity of ELP spaces and venues.

Early Learning Programme (ELP) providers and Community Health Workers (CHWs) in South Africa must be able to receive support to improve and maintain the quality of their services. For this to happen, every ELP provider and CHW must be known and overseen by the government. The ECD ecosystem needs reliable and accessible data on where services are, how they are being accessed, as well as the current level of expertise of the ECD workforce. This data is critical for planning, resourcing, and administering support that ultimately improves quality.

South Africa also needs a national plan to increase the number of skilled ELP practitioners, while at the same time recognising the experience of those already working in the care sector and offering them further learning opportunities.

ELPs need a Quality Assurance and Support System (QASS) which collects data, monitors programme quality against a framework, and then supports ELP providers to make improvements where quality is lacking. Both government and ELPs would benefit from an end-to-end Management Information System (MIS) that includes registration, quality, and funding functions. A seamless process will minimise the many duplicative practices and make various processes easier for ELP providers.

As with ELPs, CHWs also need to receive regular training, infield support, and supervision. Home visiting programmes require strategies to improve in-field supervision and ongoing training of CHWs, as well as referral pathways between CHWs and the primary healthcare system.

The ECD workforce has been systemically underpaid and undervalued. The focus on training for the ECD workforce has been on formal qualifications: a Grade 12-level qualification at entry level. This effectively excludes the majority of the ECD workforce, largely made up of women with rich experience and skills, but few formal qualifications. It also ignores quality unaccredited training that is already provided in the sector. Training and upskilling are necessary to grow and sustain quality livelihoods, however a progressive approach is needed. One that aims to entrench National Qualification Framework (NQF) level 4 (i.e., Grade 12 level) qualifications as the basic requirement for practitioners in the long-term but does not set this qualification as a hurdle for those who are already working in the sector and have accumulated skills and knowledge but don’t have a formal NQF 4.

Where we will focus our efforts:

• Continue our work with the Department of Basic Education (DBE) to develop ways to collect, organise, and utilise information on ELPs in South Africa. Once complete, this MIS for ECD will allow the department to anchor its planning, resourcing, and oversight of ELPs in robust and routine administrative data.
• We will work with stakeholders to design a QASS that will offer ongoing training, coaching, and support to ELP practitioners.
• Collaborate with ECD Resource and Training Organisations to develop a progressive skilling strategy for the ECD workforce that recognises prior learning and offers meaningful pathways to an NQF 4 qualification.
• With the Grow Great Campaign, demonstrate a low-cost model for in-field supervision and training for CHWs and a plan for how it can be scaled and supported by the health system.

Our 5-year arrival points

By 2027, we want to achieve the following:

• A fit-for-purpose ECD MIS is built and used by the DBE.
• A human resource strategy and plan, which adopts skilling strategies aligned to quality improvements rather than formal qualifications, is in place.
• The Department of Health approves a supportive supervision and training strategy for CHWs.
• Four selected districts are saturated with Grow Great Champions-trained CHWs.

All caregivers in South Africa need easy access to useful information on how to support their children’s early development. Caregivers also need a thorough understanding of their rights to access ECD services for themselves and their children.

While mass media communication is effective in reaching large numbers of caregivers with general information, Community Health Worker (CHW) – led home-visiting programmes are best placed to inform and support the most at-risk pregnant women and households with infants. CHWs can pass on information and refer those in their care for further interventions. Maternal and child healthcare workers, in both clinics and communities, should shift focus from children surviving to children thriving, thereby fully adopting the focus on all elements of care required for ECD into their daily practice.

Where we will focus our efforts:

• Continue our longstanding collaboration with the Department of Health (DoH) to find new ways to expand the reach of the Side-by-Side campaign from 4.3 mn to 10 mn caregivers each week while at the same time continually improving the quality of the content.
• Assist the DoH to train CHWs and other health personnel to act as messengers of Side-by-Side by developing and equipping them with high-quality knowledge materials.
• Support the Department of Basic Education’s collaboration with the DoH because Side-by-Side, home visiting programmes, and nutrition must be well articulated in the ECD agenda.
• With the Grow Great Campaign, build the delivery and financing mechanisms for CHW-led home visiting programmes.
• Advocate for maternal and child health interventions to make up 60% of CHWs’ focus.

Our 5-year arrival points

By 2027, we want to achieve the following:

• The DoH increases the budget allocation for Side-by-Side to R8 mn.
• The Side-by-Side radio show reaches 10 million people per year.
• CHWs and health staff use the Road to Health Book as a tool to educate and support caregivers.
• Maternal and child healthcare workers shift focus from children surviving to children thriving, thereby fully adopting the focus on all elements of care required for ECD, as outlined in the World Health Organization’s Nurturing Care Framework into their daily practice.
• Growth monitoring is adopted as a standard practice by CHWs.
• 330,000 vulnerable children and their caregivers access services and support through trained CHWs.
• Delivery and financing mechanisms for CHW-led home visiting programmes developed.

We need effective delivery systems that will accelerate the number of children attending quality Early Learning Programmes (ELPs). Effective delivery systems must respond to children and their caregivers’ needs, and maximise existing community resources, such as unemployed women, venues, and the social economy.

The systems should manage the recruitment of women into the sector and enable them to set up ELPs easily. Government currently does not have scalable mechanisms to do this, but civil society does. Such delivery systems should form part of government’s service delivery model to close the ELP access gap.

Where we will focus our efforts:

• Work with SmartStart to develop innovative ways to support informal ELPs to set up and deliver programmes, and also access government support.
• Design the government mechanism to recognise and support informal ELPs.
• Work with SmartStart to adapt existing suites of tools, processes, and learnings on how to set up and sustain an ELP for free use by individuals and organisations who are not necessarily part of the SmartStart network.
• Develop innovative approaches to support mass registration of small ELPs.

Our 5-year arrival points

By 2027, we want to achieve the following:

• Agreements are in place between the government and SmartStart to demonstrate the relationship between the government and delivery platforms that organise multiple small ELPs operating informally.
• A functioning high-volume registration process using the SmartStart network is evidenced and can be used to influence government systems.
• All components of the SmartStart value chain are designed and tested for open access.

About 5% of South Africa’s public budget is spent on ECD service delivery every year, with most funds being allocated towards maternal and child healthcare. Only 6.5% of all ECD spending goes towards early learning, nutrition support, and support for primary caregivers. No funding is directed towards supporting women who want to set up new Early Learning Programmes (ELPs).

Home visiting programmes are institutionalised within the primary health care system and technically should access government funding, but in reality, very little public money is allocated to non-clinical preventative interventions such as support to primary caregivers. Community Health Workers (CHWs) are also not resourced with basic tools such as scales to perform critical functions such as growth monitoring.

The government should increase the budget allocation across ECD services and remove barriers to access funds for eligible children, caregivers, and the ECD workforce. A clear financing plan to expand access to quality services needs to be in place, alongside inclusive funding mechanisms and payment systems.

In the foreseeable future, South Africa’s fiscus will remain under strain, therefore available finances should be directed to the poorest children first: these are the children who are most at risk of not meeting their full potential because they are deprived of quality ECD.

Given the wide-ranging benefits and opportunities that investing in the women-led care economy provides, new sources of public funds should be directed to women. Funding can be used to start-up ELPs with micro-enterprise development funding, improve their skills with Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA) funds, and supplement wage costs with public employment funds. But for these funds to flow, we need payment mechanisms to reliably channel funding to eligible early learning providers, many of whom will be operating in the informal sector. Payment systems must be designed with an understanding of how ELPs work in constrained and informal environments.

Finally, the sector would benefit from greater and more strategic philanthropic investment in ECD and innovative approaches that allow for public-private-philanthropic funding to be utilised towards a common vision for ECD.

Where we will focus our efforts:

• Develop a long-term financing plan for the expansion of ECD services that the government can use to plan and budget.
• Design inclusive funding mechanisms and payment systems for ECD.
• Drive widespread advocacy for the government to increase its annual allocation to early learning subsidies from R2.8 bn to R4.7 bn by 2027.
• Motivate for public funds allocated to infrastructure development, skills funding, and micro-enterprise development to be directed towards ELPs. Almost R500 mn of SETA funds can be allocated towards training the ELP workforce and an additional R400 mn towards infrastructure, compliance, and start-up support. These funds will support ELPs with start-up costs, improve the quality of their service, and cover other costs associated with registration.
• Conceptualise and design a catalytic fund for ECD so existing and new funders can maximise the impact of their investments alongside public financing, ensuring that the journey towards universal access is both a public and private effort.

Our 5-year arrival points  

By 2027, we want to achieve the following:

• New funding models are in place to support the financing of informal sector ELPs.
• The government uses an ECD Financing and Expansion Plan to inform planning and budgeting for ELPs and home visiting programmes.
• The government allocates more money towards ELP subsidies and new public funding sources are channelled towards ELPs.
• The government adopts new payment mechanisms that allow informal ELP providers to access government funding.
• Innovative co-financing arrangements are in place that allow for greater and more strategic philanthropic investment in ECD.