EARLY CHILDHOOD
DEVELOPMENT
Ubunye foundation is working with rural communities to lay a strong foundation for a successful life for young people from early childhood development to primary and secondary schools.
Isisekelo
PROGRAMME
(Education for Life)
Each programme is linked to a funding initiative.
Ubunye Foundation’s community-led approach means programme teams work with and are led by the Ngqushwa communities.
Through this approach the urgent need for ECD centres was raised by communities and addressed through the joint community-Ubunye Programme Working Groups. Women in the villages identified a place where an ECD centre could be based, parent-body members were elected and 2 or 3 women were encouraged to become ECD Practitioners, teaching assistants, cooks etc.
With the clear objective of creating self-sustainable, community-led ECD centres, Isisekelo focuses on creating a safe learning environment with nutritional meals and quality education all within an environmentally sustainable operation - all of which encourage parents to enrol their children.
By achieving this, these ECD centres also attain the standards of care needed for Partial Care Registration, which once received gives them access to conditional (and ultimately on-going DSD grants) that ensure their financial independence to provide quality ECD learning for generations to come.
In 2018, the Department of Social Development reported that in
Ngqushwa over a third of under 5 years (126,342 children) were unable to access ECD education.
In that same year, Ubunye introduced the Isisekelo (Education for Life)programme.
Isisekelo (Education for Life)
programme at its core is the Ukhanyiso Fund mechanism.
This mechanism is aimed
at creating financially independent, sustainable ECD centres providing quality education for all children under 5 years, that are run by the community in an environmentally sustainable way.
During 2019-2020, 16 ECD centres serving over 320 children had reached this goal and attained Partial Care Registration and Conditional grants from the Department of Social Development.
During 2020, Ubunye expanded its support to a further 45 ECD centres covering around 900 children.
UPDATES
New to Isisekelo
COVID-19 Response for ECD
Click on infographic to see our up-to-date activities with ECDs during COVID-19 pandemic
Tower vegetable gardens
Click on infographic to see our up-to-date report on Tower Vegetable Gardens
