Tshidi Ramogase, the company's corporate affairs director, said that giving back to the communities in which it operates is part of the company's philosophy. "Early childhood development (ECD) is one of the main areas for the company's CSI programme and we have decided to start this rollout in Umlazi, Inanda and Ntuzuma/KwaMashu. We approached the NPO as it offers a sustainable approach to ECD," said Tshidi.
It achieves this by supplying the crèches with educational toys specifically designed to develop cognitive and fine motor skills in pre-school children. At the same time, crèche caregivers are trained to ensure they know how to maximise the use of the toys and create stimulating learning environments.
What sets it apart is that the organisation performs regular, on-going evaluation and monitoring of the crèches and caregivers to ensure that the equipment is used properly. Thus, the initial scope of the project has expanded to emphasise long-term sustainability, empowerment and life-long learning.
"It is very important to us that the caregivers remain trained and the toy kits remain with the crèches. So even when the 2-year contract is over and the 1050 children have run through the facilities every year, the following year more kids will be able to benefit from the education," adds Tshidi.
Ian Corbishley, a director of The Unlimited Child, believes that the new partnership will create a synergy that affects the quality of early learning for thousands of pre-schoolers in the greater Durban Area. "It has recognised the crucial role of the early learning years in the South African education continuum, which is great news and has given the team a major boost in their work in crèches in underprivileged areas of KwaZulu-Natal."
The work done by organisation is grounded on studies that have proven that unless children aged 0-6 years are exposed to the correct inputs such as learning colours and shapes through educational toys, their potential in life will be severely impacted.
A simple model that is easily duplicated, it has already successfully reached 326 crèches that together care for over 27 500 children and has provided training for more than 970 caregivers. The plan is to roll this campaign out nationally and reach 1.25 million children by 2016. "With the help of partners like this, the organisation will be able to reach their target quicker and more effectively than expected," explains Corbishley.
The organisation is very excited to be embarking on this journey. "Having had ABI approach the organisation is an indication that more people in business are acknowledging that investment in ECD is equally important as investment in the other phases of education."
For more information, go to www.theunlimitedchild.co.za.
