aRe Bapaleng is a Sotho word for “Let’s Play”
Through “Play”, a child’s critical thinking is stimulated, their ability to collaborate is encouraged and “Play” allows them to be creative. These are the key messages that the aRe Bapaleng programme communicates to parents and caregivers in underserved communities because they play a vital role in supporting development of these skills and the holistic development of the children in their care.
What We Do
Improved knowledge and understanding on Early Childhood Development for primary caregivers in marginalised communities.
Greater sustainability of the program by developing a core of local ECD capacity among caregivers that can continue to build ECD capacity within the community.
Increased awareness and wider sharing of knowledge amongst caregivers and experts on ECD.
Create awareness on Early Childhood Development in marginalised communities.
Caregiver Network
With the objective of ensuring greater sustainability, reach and impact over time we have designed an additional facet to the existing aRe Bapaleng programme – the Caregiver Network. This network of capacitated caregivers who have been trained through Active Learning Workshops, are moving towards training other caregivers in their communities. In this way, vulnerable communities in South Africa have a stronger, in-community hub of higher quality of ECD capacity that they can draw from and there is an increase in inclusion in the communal ECD ecosystem. The Caregiver Network-ER programme aims to reach more beneficiaries in a shorter period of time, the quality of ECD support in vulnerable communities will be deepened, the real demand for more qualified Caregivers in the ECD space will be met and this will increase the Caregivers’ employability prospects.
Hearing from Our Parents and Beneficiaries
Our Programme Impact
“I can’t take my kids to any ECD facility, especially the older one. I am grateful to have learned that parents play a significant role in a child’s education. I now know that that I can teach my child at home, and every activity I do can be turned into a learning opportunity for my kids. The older one gets excited and when I play with them and when her friend and peers come back from school, she calls them saying hozani sizodlala nomama (come let’s play with my mom) and the older one is loving the LEGO Bricks activities.”
Millicent Marathane
42-year-old mother of two in Bram Fischer
Our Partners
Partnerships are Key Enablers for Successful Delivery
aRe Bapaleng´s working model and successful implementation is founded on a strong partnership approach. We work in close collaboration with a network of organisations in order to strengthen the local ECD ecosystem in vulnerable communities. This approach enables us to reach our target communities and provide them with a holistic interactive learning experience
