[music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] >> And it's not only civil society. I mean the basic departments of education, civil society, and of course we depend you know, non-profit organizations depend on getting donations. So, we also depend on the business on businesses. We have a very We have companies with which we collaborate as we collaborate with other civil society civil society organizations, which are the non-profit organizations that are here. The organization that's I've been involved with uh this lady is the chief executive officer, Epileng Motlala. And we operate throughout South Africa. We initially it started in Soweto. Soweto is the biggest township >> Yes. >> in South Africa, you know, in Johannesburg. That is where initially they started in the 1930s. You know, uh Johannesburg being the gold mining capital of South Africa there were the owners of the mining companies. Their wives lived in town. And they realized that their domestic workers, you know domestic workers are the people who work in their houses. Their domestic workers came to town every day, left their children unattended at home. So, these wives started opening crèches in Soweto, within Soweto. And these crèches were called African Self Help Association. Within Soweto, from 1932 when they started up to when we started realizing by then we by 2006 we realized that not all crèches are formal crèches, like schools. You know, within all over South Africa people women, initially, nowadays even men would look after people's children. When they're the woman the parents go to town their children are left. So, they started crèches for them. It's a way of earning an income. They these women would open the crèches. Sometime you'd find that they have a garage or they have a wooden you know, a wooden building or whatever it is that they started. But most of the time these are disadvantaged people. They do not have the resources. So, we started we realized that most of the children within South Africa actually go through home-based crèches. But, even when most of the children are taken care of within South Africa, it has been found that about 3.5 million children unfortunately never have the opportunity to go to crèches. So, within our organization, we realize that there are all these women. She will tell you more about what we do and show you even the images of how we start with working with these ladies. But, we'd like these ladies to tell you the organ They also belong to organizations within KwaZulu-Natal. Please tell us. >> Um thank you. Thank Thank you very much, uh Dr. Motsepe. And I think from this point on, let us acknowledge um the welcoming remarks as well as the introduction that has been made by the first lady in terms of the programs that she's patronizing. And so, we're going to take the moment as well as as to to welcome the first lady of uh Mauritius, Ms. Vina Ramgoolam. Thank you. And we're going to uh request that um Ms. uh Epileng Moshala um take us through firstly introduces the team and take us through the program in detail of the early childhood development. Thank you. Over to you. And thank you. >> Thank you, program director. Um good afternoon, everyone. My name is Epileng Moshala, CEO of Early Care Foundation. Um before we um start with the presentation about um you know, early childhood development in South Africa, I would like to introduce um the representatives in the room. Um on my left, um it's um Ms. a Nosipho Mkhize. Um, she's with the KZN KwaZulu-Natal um, ECD directorate. Um, so the Department of Basic Education is leading in terms of um, early childhood development in South Africa. Um, and then I would also acknowledge um, the representative from um, one of the organizations that started in um, KwaZulu-Natal. Um, we call her Mampho Biyela Mtshali in the sector. She is from an organization called Tree, and they also work nationally in terms of early childhood development um, delivery um, in terms of um, the work that we do, and we partner with them as well. And then uh, next to her is um, Miss uh, Revani Naidoo um, Naidoo who is also the executive director from an organization called Letcee. Um, they are based in um, KwaZulu-Natal as well, and they do incredible work in the um, a town called Greytown, um, and they do um, holistic support to the community in that in that area. And then um, behind uh, Miss Naidoo is um, Nonthobeko who's from the um, our project coordinator at at Letcee Foundation. Um, she's part of our team, and next to her is um, our head of programs um, Mr. Mario Tlale. Thank you. Thank you so much. Um, today we are going to look at early childhood development um, and the presentation is looking at global um, then we go African and then into um, South Africa as well. We recognize early childhood development in our country as um a key um a deliverable that will make our country um strive. And um for for that um we can go to the next slide. Early childhood development is a phase in a child's life. Um it it's it's a phase between birth and um it's actually maternal health that it starts from there, the first 1,000 days of a child until a child is ready to go to um school. And um it focuses on supporting the child's development. Brain development during the early formative years of a child is very important and we want to take advantage of um of those early years um and make sure that our children are developed and stimulated. However, early childhood development is not a stand-alone. It's not just about um developing a child. It's about how do you develop that child? There's nutrition, there's health, there's um education, social science in there, and also making sure that the child receives all um social welfare um protection as well. Um why is this important? If we get early childhood development right in globally, we will make sure that firstly, our children are well developed in terms of emotional, cognitive, and physically. Um school readiness is quite important because at this stage you're you're uh building a foundation. You are making sure that the child is receiving the right um quality education so that when they start schooling, they're they're ready. It also gives us an advantage globally as well to ensure that educational success it is at a high level and we don't have dropouts at the later stages of education. Chances of employment are high and we all want to see our economies um you know and productivity thriving globally as well. So, the fact is that early childhood development is one of the most powerful and cost-effective tools that we have at our disposal to ensure that we eradicate poverty um and this speaks to the sustainable development goals. You'll see that when we have early childhood development right we will eradicate poverty. We will address hunger which is one of the issues that in South Africa we have real stunting issues and we believe that if we start with the nutrition in our homes in early childhood development centers all around we will address that. Good health and well-being, gender equality because early childhood development mostly is run by women um and it will reduce inequalities and there'll be justice and strong institutions as our children develop in this. Um globally we are seeing that there has been an an increased political commitment. Most countries now are starting to recognize early childhood development as as a priority as um our first lady mentioned that in South Africa we do the same. There's policies around this. There's increased investment in nurturing and we are seeing support in terms of children's development especially those that have learning barriers as well. um We are also seeing globally that more than 300 million children worldwide are at risk of not achieving minimum reading proficiency by 2030 and this is because a lot of this is not addressed during the early learning years. Um what does this mean for South for for Africa as a whole? Um UNICEF has noted that 43% of children under the age of five from low-and-middle-income countries are at risk of not achieving developmental um uh potential, and that is because our children are not accessing quality early childhood development services. It means that seven out of 10 children do not participate in pre-primary education, which is a is a real concern. And so, we've seen that access to to quality education has been um something that we prioritize, but we are still lagging behind. As we move forward, we require collaborations, strong partnership, um cohesive efforts, advocacy and dialogue, which is something that in South Africa we've been doing quite well through civil society organizations, through government, through um the private sector. And um we need financing across all sectors because we believe that early childhood development is everybody's business. It's not just one sector. Um and that service delivery um in terms of uh health, child protection, as well as quality must be prioritized. So, as we move into now narrowing it down to where we are in South Africa, we have political bio uh um will into buying into early childhood development. We have policies, um very strong policies. We are in the national development plan as a priority. Um and the department has done a stellar job um since they took over the the early childhood development sector to um set up a strategy for um ECD. And in the strategy, we want universal access to early ECD prioritizing the most vulnerable children. And we are focusing on the most vulnerable children as we see that in rural areas and in remote areas, a lot of those children are left behind. And so with universal access, we mean we including all the children. And our ecosystem, um the diagram that you see below that, the Department of Basic Education is recognizing that at the center of all of this is a child. And then it the child is impacted by so many other players, government, ECD sector, business, donors, as well as implementing partners that you see in the room today. Um the Department wants to expand access um and you'll see the numbers there. I won't go too much into detail. I'll just give high-level overview of what the strategy's saying. They want to also put emphasis on quality. Um in as much have ECD centers that are in our um communities as um our first lady mentioned that some of them are in garages and people's homes. We want to make sure that all those children are receiving quality uh education. We want to resource the sector not just in financing but also making sure that everybody comes on board and to also enable government systems to to build transparent systems and to make sure that all everything else is um integrated. Um so the big question is um and I love this because the Department is not saying we will solve everything by ourselves. They are saying how are we going to bring all the players together to make this a priority for everyone. So the question they posed to us is how can we develop a sustainable early learning ecosystem focusing on who um those who have had historically been excluded that enables affordable equitable access to early learning programs by 2030. So, we don't have much time. So, that every child can thrive by the age of five as they get ready for school. So, in in terms of where we are as early care foundation, the organization that first lady is involved with and is supporting is around where do where do we feature? So, with the child in the middle, this is the ecosystem so repeating from the the Department of Basic Education diagram. We are focusing on families and and caregivers, the support systems around early childhood development and we are part of the bigger ecosystem of the civil society organizations. However, we recognize that we cannot do this alone. We need partnerships. We need public sector to come on board, research organizations and through all of this we are able to impact on the child. We have three simple goals that we follow. We early childhood development is very broad. Our focus is on capacity building and we have three simple goals and these are we want to empower women to teach young children. So, through empowering women that ECD principals, teachers, toy librarians that are looking after children, we can impact on the child. We want to also recognize those women as small business owners because they started these ECD centers in their homes. They're earning an income from the parents and so how do we ensure that that business thrives? And then we also want to make sure that those children that I spoke of earlier that are in remote areas, in rural areas, how do we include them and not leave them behind? Um so, we focus on day mothers, youth um ECD forums, and parents. And the the the focus is really on compliance, and also the norms and standards. And with everything that we do, we want to create functional ECD centers where children are receiving quality early learning programs. Um and this diagram I I like to show it a lot because it just illustrates that if you impact on one practitioner, or one early learning uh program, um whether it's a day mother, or a toy librarian, or a teacher in a school, and that that teacher is looking after 20 children, out out um after 30 years, they would have impacted 600 children. If that practitioner is not properly skilled, supported, um and provided with all the resources that they need, it means all those children would have been negatively impacted. So, that's the importance of the work that we do as a collective in the sector. Um we we also focus a lot on leadership. Um we we understand that leadership is not just the role of government. It's not the role of us as um civil society organizations, but it it is also about the women who are running the ECD centers themselves. How do we then build the capacity for them to um be able to run their ECDs and comply because the Department of Basic Education has made funds available for ECD centers to access those funds, and once they comply with all that is needed, they fund um each child is 24 rand per child per day. And that funding makes a big difference in the ECDs, however, they need to comply. Um, we host annual ECD principal conferences because we uh we understand that um leadership is very important at that level to capacitate um the principals. We also have started looking at infrastructure support. How do we ensure that the children that are in those ECD centers are in safe spaces where there is um you know, health and safety requirements are met. And so we help them in um making doing minor improvements at the ECDs so that the ECDs can look also attractive to the children and parents. Um, we host monthly ECD forums and these forums are like workshops where we share information um with the broader community around early childhood development. Um, we have youth programs. Um, South Africa is has a high rate of youth unemployment. And so how do we bring the youth that are unemployed and are interested in working in the sector, how do we bring them in the sector? And we have um partnered with several organizations from the private sector to create those work opportunities for them. Um, and we don't leave the parents behind. So we host parental workshops um to ensure that the parents are also well equipped for especially for children who are not accessing ECD services in an ECD center. Um, and we provide learning resources for the the the practitioners um to help them in with their daily activities. Um, and we celebrate the achievements of our ECD practitioners because we also recognize that they put a lot of effort in the work that they do. So when they really achieve um or they complete um the the programs that they embark on, whether it's a level four program, you know, we we celebrate those achievements. Um, and we want to see our children thriving by five and being school ready. And this is one of the key issues that in South Africa we've been focusing on collectively to see how do we make sure that those children are ready for school. Um, and we ensure that the the women who are running, um, these ECDs are supported so that they can create sustainable small businesses in their communities. Um, and this is just the impact of, um, our work. I I won't stay on this, um, because we're just talking collectively. Um, so this is the on specifically on Early Care Foundation, but collectively as civil society organizations, we have done way more than this, um, in terms of impacting, um, children and ECD centers across the country. We also work in Lesotho. Um, we recently started working in Lesotho to also provide those ECD services. Um, and in closing, I, you know, I want to just emphasize that investing in early childhood development is really key in ensuring that the future of our children is secured. Thank you so much. >> Thank you very much, uh, Miss Mashabela. Very clear, uh, uh, a a a project and program, which as the first lady had said, it's actually contributing to the national development uh, plan. But beyond that, in the context of SADC that we sit in, this priority is actually contributing to the pillar of Vision 2050, which is the social and human development, which therefore for the whole region, if we can all develop our young children, the the the potential therefore uh, in the future as we are endowed with a young population in the whole region that would give us all of the ingredients for a greater development. Thank you so much for that. I would like to know if the first ladies have questions or and maybe more inputs and to make. >> Can I add something? You know the people who run these early childhood development centers are mostly themselves they they do not have high education or they do not have the appropriate education to deal with children. So what our organization did was to develop a call a a a course and this course is uh accredited by the sector education and training authority. In that you know the the we have a specific course that is geared at people who have reached a certain level most of them might not have finished high school. And the course is appropriate even the textbook and the teaching is at the level where the people who receive the course you know they can understand. You saw the certificates that those ladies were carrying. It's when we definitely it's lasted a year isn't it? It's a year. We have our trainers going to each and every crash once a day once a week and they work with the owner of the crash and examine to see that the crèche, you know, they are running the they running the program and then once a week the people from a certain area come, the crèche owners, the practitioners, as we call them, they come and they get their lessons. Now, another thing when we spoke spoke about when she spoke about compliance is that when each and every crèche complies with six government departments, then that is where they qualify where the department >> Basic education. And also silver and gold registration level. >> Yes. And the department, you know, sometimes when a person starts a crèche, you'll find they have 90 children in a room like this because the parents themselves cannot pay a certain a high amount of money. So, the more children that they have in a crèche, the more they can earn. But once the crèche complies, the department >> qualify for funding. >> Each child >> [laughter] >> Okay. Now, thank you so much and a good morning, everyone. Uh so, we assist them to register as soon as they register through our bronze and silver level, they qualify for funding that we provide uh per each child as I believe has indicated that we give them. It's a subsidy, you know, just a for them to to provide nutrition and to pay for for for practitioners and also do some administration work. So, once they comply as the first lady has indicated, then they are supported, they apply for funding, we take them through the process and they are given that a funding depending on the budget paid the provincial budget. Thank you. >> And you know the money with the department pays makes the difference and you find that the the the practitioner, the owner of the creche does not have to have all those many children because the parents might only be able to pay 100 rand a month. They do not have the money that will sponsor a child throughout, but with the money that this creche receives for each child it's enough that they reduce the number of children because there's a certain number of children that are specified per square meter 2.2 square meters per child. Is it 1.2? square meters per child. You know that the department and that makes a big difference. That's why you can see a child sitting without many many many other children all around because at least the creche owner earns more money, they can even employ other people to come and help and even get the young the youth whom we we not encourage to go and do learnerships at the creches. So it's a it's a partnership, you know. And you saw there was this building a creche. If you had seen the before of that building that she's the before it was really not a safe building. It was crammed. It was cold, but because of the sponsorship we receive what we do. We go you know there are companies. >> Yes. >> Uh that's employ people from a certain area. So we get the companies and tell them please help us sponsor these children. These are your future employees. These are your future customers. So please and you find their mining companies all over the country. He goes to a place that I always like mentioning Mario. Has he left? Oh, Mario is a project manager. >> [snorts] >> And it's on the way what towards Namibia. Deep in the rural areas. Daddy and she has also been there. Of other Of other actually is the name of a snake. And that is the name of the town. So they go all over the country to support the crushes. Because our country is very big and you know very big. Um >> It is It is actually amazing how much you can see the passion. The difference this lady has. The office about the about the program. Yes. And and how important it is and I think it is within the strategy of the chairship of the president. As the president is taking the chairship of Sadiq starting from this summit and taking it to next year. It's one of the strategies that we have to drive. But we quite appreciate um that the first lady is actually having this drive, which is actually helping the country and as well as the region in meeting the objectives of developing young children. I'm just going to for maybe 2 minutes of each to give to the NGOs that are doing this work. So, that you can just talk about the support in the process that that that exists in in making sure that we grow these NGOs. And and also the work that the Department of Basic Education has actually started because I think that it is so important that we are able to find strategies that are now in place of supporting ECD. And really putting the ECD strategy forward. We will give you just 2 minutes before we wrap up and maybe and close so that um Yes. We we work what >> Thank you, program director. And two or three points that I want to raise aligned to what firstly was saying based on the kind of quality practitioners that we need. Again, the Department of Education has developed a very beautiful policy or plan that is looking at how do we take, you know, each and every individual that is within the sector at the [clears throat] level where she or he is in order to develop them packaging programs that can take them where they are and become the better. So, for me, that strategy, the human resource development plan, has just been circulated. I think I received the last copy yesterday and it will be circulated because it is the driving document that is going to help ECD ECD workforce not only looking at the practitioner but the general ECD workforce. And the second exciting thing is that I also serve in the national education and training council. That's the council that is advising the minister. So I'm kind of in that in that council in influencing the kind of policies that will drive the ECD sector. So with the support that that we having in in in conversations like today, it kind of give us, you know, that fulfillment, that assurance, that affirmation that we're indeed doing the right thing for the child of this country. Thank you. My name is Mathabo Motloung, aka Mama Ruby. Thank you. >> Thanks, Mama Ruby. >> Um good morning everyone. Thank you for this opportunity. Um so I'm Revinia here and I'm from um the beautiful city Kimberley in the Northern Cape, but I now reside in Greytown, which is um very much in a rural KwaZulu-Natal community. And um I'm the executive director of Letcee and Let Letcee stands for Little Elephant Training Centre for Early Education. Um and as I know our little elephant holds a whole lot of truth to the childhood development sector. Um and that's the cornerstone and underpinning of the work that we undertake. So um in the sector, we've just developed an amazing amount of support not only from government but from our communities, from our partners, and the I would have to say the 2030 strategy I think has just fast-forwarded everything in our sector where it's there's a lot of vigilance, there's a lot of excitement. Um and currently the buzzword I think is collaboration in our sector where everyone's coming on board to and help and the strategy that's the department has envisaged on is empowering our small organizations within our communities to move things forward and to dive deep into the rural communities that are often untapped. I'm and I'm seeing that a lot in my space because I am deep down in the rural rural of KZN. It's it's wonderful to see but it's also It highlights a lot of the poverty we don't see. When one moves out into the sector and sometimes, you know, I say it's sometimes it's nice to ground yourself and go out into the community and you you grateful for the small mercies that you blessed with. And there's so many children that are so deserving of the work that we doing. And I often say in in in in my community and with my organization, as we indicated earlier, the child is the center of what we do and that must always take us and ground us towards working for. And I thank you again for the opportunity. >> Thank you very much for your contribution. But I think at this point we thank our first lady, Dr. Motsepe. Indeed, um at this at this time in South Africa, it's actually a month um of women. >> Yeah. >> And it's a month that celebrate women. And you can see that the contributors of this early childhood are women. When when when when the woman develops anything, it is definitely going to grow. And these women, led by our first lady, are really putting up a strategy that will grow the nation. We thank you, Dr. Motsepe, for this work. And we thank you for patronizing and also leading this work >> Yeah. >> that is so important for the greater development of a a the child of South Africa and the child of the region and the child of Africa. Because at the end of the day when we are able to undertake all the aspects that Ms. Mashabela and all the ladies that sit here, we will have better developed young Africans to take up positions of leadership. When the president was talking at the public lecture on Friday, he said that the work that they are doing and that they will be discussing today about Vision 2050, it will not be in their hands. It will be in the very hands of these young people that you are putting together. We would like to thank you, all of you for the time. The first lady is going to have some time further with the first lady of Mauritius and all of you ladies sitting together and having lunch while you discuss further things. >> [music] [music]