Public financing of early childhood care and education (ECCE) in South Africa follows a supply-subsidisation model where finance flows to the provider of services. This paper considers whether there could be merits to an alternative demand-side approach to public financing of ECCE in South Africa, where finance follows those benefitting from these services, such as parents or caregivers.
The authors identify key arguments for and against demand-side subsidisation from the existing international literature against the realities of ECCE provisioning in the local context. Specifically, the paper explores the suitability of two demand-side financing approaches, namely conditional cash transfers and demand-side vouchers for early childhood care or education.
