Crèches show improvement due to early childhood development programme

Cassy Healey, CEO of The Unlimited Child and Sindi Mambo with left to right Lyabona Majeke, Liyema Matykolo, Siyabonga Ngxanga, Tbali Qithiso.

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Established in 2008, The Unlimited Child actively addresses the need for early childhood development in South Africa. The work being done by the organisation is based on studies that have proven that unless children under the age of seven years are exposed to the correct inputs such as learning colours and shapes through educational toys, their potential in life will be severely stunted.

Currently, there are over six million children aged 0 to 7 in South Africa, who have little or no exposure to early childhood development and urgent intervention is required to optimise their future abilities. The Unlimited Child makes immediate impact on the lives of young children by supplying crèches with educational toys specifically designed to develop cognitive, fine and gross 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.

A simple, but proven model

Using a simple, but proven model that is easily duplicated, the organisation has already successfully reached over 310 crèches that together care for more than 20 000 children and has trained more than 900 caregivers.

Parents and carers at home have little understanding of how to stimulate a child's brain due to their own poor education levels. Caregivers are with children 10-12 hours daily and are therefore able to make a substantial impact during this time. The NPO is turning around the system by providing these caregivers with the necessary skills to affect change.

According to Cassy Healey, CEO of The Unlimited Child, the biggest challenge facing the organisation is the public's ignorance of the critical importance of early childhood development. "We are continuously confronted with the fact that parents view a crèche environment as a care facility rather than a vibrant stimulating place of learning. There is also a frequent turn-over of caregivers, which makes training a challenge," says Healey.

Identifying sustainable crèches

The Unlimited Child worked closely with The Way of Life Church in Khayelitsha to identify sustainable crèches in their area for the pilot project. Caregivers representing Mzamomuhle, Nokwezi Educare, Sibusisiwe, Bongolethu, Holbe Educare, iLiso, Mandela Park, Way of Life church crèche and Intyatyambo attended a week-long training workshop at the end of June. On successful completion of the course, the caregivers received educational toys for their classes.

"The course is based on experiential training that covers all the different permutations of each toy. For example, by using dominoes you can teach addition and subtraction, colours, counting, social interaction such as sharing and taking turns. It also promotes collaborative play as well as hand-eye co-ordination. These are all very important skills for toddlers to acquire in order to become school ready," said Healey.

The training aims to equip caregivers with the necessary skills to stimulate pre-school children and was presented by a core group of professionals. Lead trainer Frieda Wilkens (a qualified and experienced educational psychologist) was assisted by Eunice Mncube (KZN caregiver for EmboCreche and The Unlimited Child's first success story), Sindi Mambo (suppport worker for The Unlimited Child) as well as Ian Corbishley (former head of Durban Education and recently retired chief operating officer of The Unlimited Child).

On-going evaluation

The organisation performs regular, on-going evaluation and monitoring to ensure that the equipment is used correctly. Thus, the initial scope of the project has expanded to emphasise long term sustainability, empowerment and life-long learning.

"Deny a child pre-school learning and you deny our country a future. Through The Unlimited Child, we have the means to truly shift this country and its children's lives, now and forever. It is a great honour to have Archbishop Tutu supporting this initiative as his patronage will help us to achieve the greater ambitions we have set for the organisation," says Healey.

The Unlimited Child aims to reach 25 000 crèches throughout South Africa over the next five years, but additional funding and duplication of the model by other organisations are required to reach this goal. "Only then can we ensure that thousands more children enter school with ready minds and the capacity to reach their full potential," Healey concludes.