Early Care Foundation joins forces with corporates to make International Mandela Day 2019 memorable for over 4 000 children from Gauteng pre-schools
On Mandela Day, the Early Care Foundation and its corporate partners volunteered their time to lend a helping hand to over 128 home-based crèches in Gauteng. A range of activities like much-needed maintenance and improvements to the existing limited facilities as well as the donation of books, bookshelves, playground equipment, appliances and learner support materials were donated by international educational group Pearson, Bongani Rainmakers, IDF Capital and Instinctif to schools supported by the Early Care Foundation.
In the spirit of Madiba’s commitment to improving the lives of children nearly 4 000 children benefited from the day’s activities.
“The Early Care Foundation (ECF) works in the poorest communities where most households have insufficient resources to meet the nutrition and educational needs of young children. Informal, home-based crèches provide a vital service to these communities but are themselves extremely under-resourced” says Dr Tshepo Motsepe. “The caregivers are largely untrained. Our nationally accredited programmes deliver the skills and knowledge to facilitate effective child development. It’s through valued, long-term partnerships with the corporates here today that this is made possible.”
Early Care Foundation Director, Deirdre Caulwell further noted: “We cannot overstate the importance of adequate stimulation and nutrition for the development of our children in the preschool phase. The equipment and educational resources being donated today will make a significant difference to the daily programme at these home-based centres.”
ECF has a long history of mobilising and supporting early childhood development in economically challenged communities. The organisation supports a network of over 600 community and home-based crèches in townships around the country.
While offering a vital service to their communities, the owners of home-based crèche seldom have had the benefit of formal training. Through its Enterprise Development programme, Early Care Foundation supports and empowers these women with knowledge and management skills to address the nutritional and developmental needs of the children in their care. As an accredited adult education training provider, ECF is uniquely positioned to bridge the skills gap in this neglected sector of ECD.