Club launches ECD programme
WOODMEAD – The E Club of Southern Africa D9400 hosted the launch of a programme to help Early Childhood Development practitioners run sustainable businesses.
The E Club of Southern Africa D9400 rotary club hosted the launch of their Early Childhood Development (ECD) and Literacy programme in Woodmead.
The programme will provide 154 women who run ECD centres in Alexandra with the skills and knowledge to grow sustainable businesses, help prepare hundreds of young children for school as well as educate other practitioners.
The E Club, which is a rotary club made of members from around the world, partnered with the Rotary Foundation, the Sesego Foundation, the City of Johannesburg and the Alex ECD Forum and rotary clubs from Germany and the United States to raise the funds for the project. The project was awarded more than $73 000 (just over R1 million)
Annemarie Mostert, a district governor nominee and the CEO of the Sesego Foundation said the practitioners are the unsung heroes in the Alexandra community and they lay the foundation for future leaders in the country.
Mostert explained that this followed engagement with practitioners to find out what they need, and they developed a programme that would help address their concerns. Classes will take place twice a week to teach them about the programme and partner the women with mentors to help them grow their businesses.
The MMC for Health and Social Development in Johannesburg, Dr Mpho Phalatse highlighted the importance of partnerships and thanked the rotary club for helping make the project a reality. She said many children still do not have access to this phase, which is essential to help children develop before they enter school.
Phalatse said because the area is so densely populated, many people rely on day mothers to care for their children while they are at work. She highlighted that these women often do not have any training but are trusted within the community and it is important to invest in day mothers.
“Many ECD practitioners quit along the way… many good people with a heart for children, and that is something special, quit because they simply cannot make it. What we have been needing, and what the rotary club is going to help us address, is the empowerment for our practitioners to help them make their ECD centres more viable and to run a sustainable business,” concluded Phalatse.
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