Much of our work over the past decade has focused on understanding and shifting the regulatory and administrative environment for unregistered early learning programmes (ELPs). Programme registration is not only a legal requirement, but also a way to access subsidies and support from the government. Subsidies and support improve the quality of ELPs and increase access for more children whose caregivers cannot afford to pay attendance fees.
In 2021, the Department of Basic Education found that less than half of the 42,400 ELPs operating in South Africa were registered. A further 20,000 ELPs are assumed to be in operation, but their locations are unknown.
When the Department of Basic Education announced, in early 2024, its intent to register all unregistered ELPs as quickly as possible, we were ready. Ilifa is now part of the diverse civil society and funding collective, the Bana Pele Project Management Unit (PMU) which has mobilised varied technical knowledge and experience in government systems to partner with the government in the design and delivery of improved systems for registration, support and funding. .
Meaning “children first” in Sesotho, Bana Pele is a guiding principle for the state’s policies and programmes around children. Bana Pele aims to pull every ECD programme into the regulatory net and to support them to comply with registration requirements, and ultimately access the ECD subsidy.
Bana Pele has demonstrated the importance and potential of private–public partnerships in designing and sustaining a mass intervention of this nature.
Bana Pele uses a progressive registration system, informed by the knowledge and experience we and other partners shared. Entry-level registration shows that the programme has entered the formal system and is recognised by the government. Early learning programmes with entry-level registration typically require support and funds to upgrade their facilities to meet the requirements for full registration, making them eligible to apply for the government subsidy. As part of the Bana Pele team, we are now developing a support strategy for this process. Core to the support strategy is the ECD Conditional Grant’s infrastructure component – this is a national fund earmarked for upgrading and maintaining the infrastructure of ELPs. The Maintenance Grant exists because poor infrastructure precludes thousands of ELPs in low-income areas from full registration, but it has not been used to its full potential.
We are advising and co-developing public administration reforms that will unlock Maintenance Grant funds to more ELPs, which will result in more registrations, and ultimately reach more children with government subsidies, support, and oversight.