by Svetlana | Oct 18, 2018 | Blog, ECD News, Projects
In just over three years, SmartStart has trained over 3 500 people to fill the gap in early learning service provision by running playgroups – to the benefit of over 33 349 children across South Africa. SmartStart – founded in 2015 – is a social franchise that...
by Svetlana | Jan 18, 2017 | Blog
Our playgroup programme in the North West is successful because of the passionate SmartStarters who identify opportunities to fill early learning gaps in their communities. Here’s one of their stories… Growing up, Shakespeare dreamt of becoming a...
by Svetlana | Jan 12, 2017 | Blog
Khayalethu is an ECD centre for 120 children aged 0-5 in Vrede – a small town in the heart of the agricultural Free State. Two years ago, Khayalethu was invited to participate in the Nal’ibali StoryPlay project. Nal’ibali is a national literacy programme and...
by Svetlana | Dec 7, 2016 | Blog, ECD News, Lessons from the Field, Publications
The Early Learning Playgroup Programme is an innovative public-private partnership, which trains government-contracted community workers in rural areas to run early stimulation playgroups for children aged 3 -5. The benefits for the children are access to a quality...
by Svetlana | Dec 4, 2015 | Blog
By Lisa Cohen Her name is Refilwe* and she is three years old. She lives in Ngobi village – a small, lonely fleck on the dusty North West landscape. Refilwe and I meet in the early learning playgroup she attends three days a week. She is the quietest child in the...
