Early Childhood
Development (ECD) encompasses the full spectrum of development, from birth (or,
some researchers say, conception) to age 6.
This includes a child’s cognitive, emotional, sensory, social and
physical development. This is a time when the child’s brain is most susceptible
to environmental influences and as such, experiences in this time set the
foundation for future learning, health and success.
National and international
research have shown that access to quality ECD programmes (such as ECD
centre-based programmes, and Grade R programmes) protect children against the
effects of poverty, poor nutrition, inadequate healthcare and lack of education,
thereby allowing them to develop to their full potential. Therefore, appropriate and timely provision
of ECD allows children to learn through play thereby developing their cognitive
and social abilities.
If this window of
opportunity is not seized, it is incredibly costly for children to catch up to
their peers later in schooling. As such, the urgent need for investment into
this period of development cannot be overstated.
Tshikululu Social Investments commissioned
Mthente Research and Consulting Services to conduct a due diligence evaluation
of a Faith-based Non-Government Organisation (NGO) based in Pretoria, and their
ECD programme. The programme works with 43 early childhood development (ECD)
centres and was proposing to expand working with 150 ECD centres in the next
two years and 750 ECD centres in the next 6 years.
In order to make decisions on funding this
programme, the due-diligence evaluation conducted research with the NGO, as
well as research with the ECD centre beneficiaries of the ECD programme. In so
doing, the NGO’s structure and overall financial, human resource, and
governance capacity was reviewed, as well as the structure, content and impact
of the ECD Programme.
The objectives of this due-diligence study
were to:
- Define and analyse the organisation’s proposed
operating model
- Identify whether the model is worth
replicating
- Ascertain if the organisation has sufficient
resource capacity
- Understand the organisation’s finances and
costing (financial due diligence)
- Observe its impact on beneficiaries.
The
Demographic Picture of Children in South Africa
Currently, there is approximately 19,5 million
children under the age of 18 in South Africa, with 6,24 million of these
children being under the age of six. Just
over one million children are born each year,.
This significant portion of the population is
also the most vulnerable. At present, the majority of young children are
negatively impacted by the country’s Apartheid and colonial legacy, and the
resultant socio-economic inequalities, depriving most of South African’s
children of their fundamental right to education, healthcare, social services
and nutrition as well as rights which are protected by South Africa’s
Constitution and international conventions. This is demonstrated by the fact
that approximately 4 million children (0 to 5 – year olds specifically) live in
the poorest 40% of households in the country. Roughly 1.8 million children live
in households with no employed adults and 22% of children (0 to 5 – year olds)
live more than 30 minutes away from the nearest health facility.
Research has found that more than 40% of
children in low- and middle-income countries are at risk of not attaining their
full developmental potential with poverty being highlighted as the major
contributing risk factor (World Health Organisation, 2018). This is understood
through the critical link between income poverty and a reduction in access to
services, such as early education and healthcare services. According to the
South African Early Childhood Review (2017), for example, currently 21.3% of
children under five in South Africa are stunted, and 13% of children suffer
from hunger daily. Furthermore, they found that children from low-income
households are significantly less likely than children of wealthier households
to participate in early learning programmes.
Only58% of 3 – 5 year olds in the poorest quintile access ECD, compared
to 83% of 3 – 5 year olds in the wealthiest quintile.
The consequences of these inequalities are
that children enter the formal schooling system with huge variations in their
development and school readiness levels. Children then often go through a
dysfunctional schooling system which widens these differences. As such, it is important to intervene early in
a child’s life, in order to reduce the inequality that can persist and worsen
as they go through formal education.
Early
Childhood Development Models in South Africa
There are several models of ECD provision,
delivered directly to children, which are currently being provided in South
Africa. These can be divided into two categories: centre-based programmes and
non-centre-based programmes.
Centre-based programmes comprise those ECD
programmes offered in specific facilities, and include ECD centres, Grade R
classes in formal schools, as well as crèches, formal playgroups, and
pre-primary schools. This would include programmes run by private individuals,
private companies or institutions, public institutions (such a government
primary schools) and community-based programmes (usually run as non-profit
organisations) and includes both registered and non-registered facilities.
Non-centre-based programmes, on the other hand
are programmes offered to children that are not traditional ECD centre
programmes, and comprise “any ECD programme, service or intervention provided
to children from birth until the year before they enter formal school, with the
intention to promote the child’s early emotional, cognitive, sensory,
spiritual, moral, physical, social,
communication development and early learning”. These non-centre-based
programmes include informal playgroups, toy-library programmes, mobile ECD
outreach programmes, as well as family outreach programmes that are
specifically designed for parents and caregivers to receive support, guidance,
and knowledge on early learning stimulation and development of young children
to be implemented in their homes.
What Mthente Research and Consulting
Services’ Study Revealed
Since joining
the ECD programmes reviewed by Mthente the ECD centres have received positive
feedback from parents who stated that they have seen an improvement in their
children’s language skills and engagement with their everyday environment.
Parents reported that their children were talking to them more about the things
they learnt at the ECD centres. This included being able to point out everyday
objects and naming them.
Some ECD centres
reported that parents have been so impressed with the academic and
developmental progress of their children since the introduction on the ECD
programme that they have begun recommending the centres to their networks. There
has also been an increase in parents paying their children’s school fees
timeously. Other ECD centres have noted a reduction in the number and frequency
of complaints from parents about their children’s progress.
Recommendations were made by Mthente on
specific areas of the implementation of the ECD programme as well as
recommendations on funding considerations.
It was clear from this study’s beneficiary
interviews that the ECD programme was highly valued by its beneficiaries. The
participants interviewed expressed affection for the NGO staff and the
programme as a whole. The qualitative feedback was resoundingly positive. It is
clear that theECD programme is achieving good results and continually improving
the ECD centres with which it works. Despite this, the funder decided not to
proceed with the proposed expansion of the ECD programme due to weak links to
government, inconclusive evidence of rigorous ring-fencing procedures and an
absence of a history of proven programme impact (through external evaluations
and a mature monitoring system).
While there were several important insights to
come out of the research, among the most important were the need for structure,
stakeholder advocacy, and continual monitoring and evaluation.
Structure
Without a clear start and end point;
structuring the programme to long-term, scaled up implementation becomes a
challenge. Also challenging is knowing how to recognise and move resources from
an upskilled ECD centre, to another ECD centre in need of the training. A
rigorous Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) system in any programme would
provide data on the ideal time-frame for ECD centres. This could then be
tailored to suit ECD centres operating at different quality levels.
Stakeholder
Advocacy
It is important to ascertain whether an
intervention programme looking to scale-up has the requisite buy-in or
potential to achieve buy-in from relevant stakeholders. The size of any one
initiative is not necessarily a problem for implementation, however a lack of
large-scale specialist partners might not allow for quick and smooth growth of
the programme on a large-scale, across the province, and later, across the
country. Tied with this is the need to
strengthen internal capacity and form partnerships with other ECD NPOs which
might be beneficial in the long term to achieve scale.
Continual
Monitoring and Evaluation
Players in the ECD space should hold regular
health check meetings to discuss the programme’s progress towards achieving the
planned outcomes. The programme’s financial well-being, the team’s efficacy and
stakeholder relationships should also be
discussed. These health check meetings provide a mechanism for the early
detection of any issues which might arise, and allow the organisation to put
into place corrective actions to resolve these issues.
An Art
and a Science
With ECD such a critical part of a child’s
development and ability to go on to successfully complete higher levels of
education, as well as to contribute in a meaningful way to their family (and
society as a whole) the importance and impact of programmes such as this cannot
be underestimated. As a country, we dream of a fully functional population
where equality of education allows for the success of each and every citizen.
And as the research shows, it all starts with effective ECD.
But while there can be no doubting the
importance of ECD programmes, those wanting to scale have to meet the common
requirements we’ve outlined above. Current processes of ECD centre assessment,
rating, and progression is in some ways an “art-form”, currently conducted and
facilitated by individuals with in-depth knowledge of ECD and the centres with
which they work. However, if the players in the space want to expand and
replicate their programmes, then it’s clear that all stakeholders need to be as
systematic as possible and apply a little science to the “art” of evaluation.
