We both sought to address the glaring gap in supporting the critical early years of a child’s development, particularly through the caregiver who play such a vital role in this regard.
Many young children in poor communities in South Africa face innumerable challenges and have limited possibilities to overcome these. Access to quality ECD (Early Childhood Development) support is something that is internationally recognised as making an enormous difference in fostering future success. Parents and caregivers often do not realise the important role they play in this process.
Through aRe Bapaleng we seek to equip caregivers in marginalised communities with the knowledge, tools and confidence to make a difference in the lives of the children in their care. We use a hands-on, interactive and fun approach to doing this, which at the same time practically demonstrates the importance of learning through play. In 2021 we introduced a new aspect of the Programme, The Caregiver Network, which seeks to create a sustainable hub of high-quality ECD capacity available in-community. Our first group of Caregiver Network-ERs are now actively moving towards being able to train other caregivers in their community.
We are proud to report that caregivers continue to tell us how much their lives and those of their children have positively changed as a result of being involved in aRe Bapaleng. We are able to carry out this important work through the robust partnership approach we have adopted through the programme and we are grateful to our existing partners for their commitment and collaboration that have helped us enable this marked social change. A special thank you to Standard Bank and their team for their invaluable support in catalysing this.
