Beyond Promises: What It Really Takes to Start Something That Lasts

Starting something meaningful doesn’t begin with a ribbon-cutting. It begins with listening, showing up, and staying when others don’t. In Boksburg, where poverty sits in plain sight and young children are often invisible in policy and service delivery, we’ve had to take a different path - one built on trust, patience, and presence.

When DO MORE FOUNDATION and ACFS Community Education brought the ‘Everyone Gets to PLAY’ model to Boksburg in February 2025, we knew it wouldn’t be easy. We also knew it would be worth it.

Where we began: Listening first

Our entry into Boksburg was made possible through Siqalo Foods, an anchor business that believed in starting with early childhood. Their initial R300,000 investment helped kickstart scoping and planning, and their continued support (together with Rama funding) - amounting to R2.5 million to date - has allowed us to seed meaningful change in the communities surrounding their factory. But it wasn’t just about the funding.

Siqalo played a catalytic role in connecting us to the lived realities of their employees, many of whom live in nearby areas like Ramaphosa, Thokoza, Katlehong and Wattville. With their support, we began our work with a scoping process, led by ACFS. The findings were sobering: thousands of children without access to early learning, widespread infrastructure collapse, and ECD practitioners doing their best without qualifications or support.

“The poverty in this community is very much in your face,” said Bertha (Executive Director at ACFS). “You can’t ignore it - and for many, it’s overwhelming. But we go where others won’t. That’s the work.”

Building trust takes time - and presence

In communities fatigued by broken promises, showing up consistently matters. We visited ward meetings. We walked the streets. We showed up with municipal officials and Siqalo teams. This visibility helped change the perception that we were just another nonprofit dropping resources and disappearing.

“It makes a difference when the community sees you come back again and again,” said Rebotile Matoane, Assistant Programme Manager: ECD at DMF. “That’s when they start to believe you’re here to stay.”

One powerful moment came during this years Mandela Day partnership with Jacaranda. A principal at a local ECD centre was visibly overwhelmed when we arrived - not because of excitement, but disbelief. She had seen so many NGOs come and go, leaving nothing behind. “You could see the doubt in her eyes,” Rebotile recalled. “She wasn’t sure we’d actually do what we said we would. That’s the trust we’re working to rebuild.”

The difference: Mentorship, not just materials

What sets the ‘Everyone Gets to PLAY’ model apart is not just what we deliver, but how we do it. We don’t just hand over books or toys - we walk the journey with centres and caregivers. We mentor. We model. We invest in people as much as places.

“Hand-holding isn’t optional—it’s essential,” said Jabu Mthembu-Dlamini (Community work Lead at DO MORE FOUNDATION). “Most practitioners haven’t had the chance to learn what quality early learning looks like. We’re not there to judge, we’re there to walk alongside.” This mentorship approach has helped us gain traction with government too. By focusing on unfunded and unregistered centres, the ones the government can’t always reach, we complement their efforts instead of duplicating them. In fact, our reporting from the scoping work has already informed local ECD planning efforts.

Embedding the work across systems

We’ve learned that to embed community change, we have to engage on multiple levels - centres, caregivers, Government, and traditional leadership. That triangulation of trust is what allows long-term change to take root. We also surfaced an important reality: Boksburg may appear urban, but due to high rural-urban migration, it is under immense pressure. Informal settlements are growing faster than services can keep up. While electricity and water have been extended to these areas, ECD has not. It’s time to shift that mindset.

“If a community has power and water, why not quality early learning too?” asked Rebotile. “These children aren’t going anywhere - they deserve to be safe, stimulated, and supported.”

The challenge: Funding gaps and community expectations

One of our hardest lessons has been balancing community expectations with limited funding. While scoping revealed urgent needs, we’ve had to move slowly, sometimes too slowly. There have been moments where we’ve paused engagement, not because of lack of will, but lack of resources.

“This is the hardest part,” said Bertha. “We’ve built relationships. We’ve opened the doors. But we can’t always walk through them when the funding isn’t in place. That’s why sustained partnership matters.” We’ve also learned the importance of clear intention-setting. We never make promises we can’t keep, and we communicate transparently about timelines. That’s what builds trust, even in uncertainty.

The call: Join us in building better beginnings

Boksburg has shown us what’s possible when community, business, and civil society align around young children. But the need is still great, and the resources don’t yet match the vision. That’s why we’re hosting a Partnership Breakfast in October 2025, inviting local businesses and partners with a stake in the East Rand to come on board. This isn’t just a funding appeal - it’s a chance to co-create a future where every child gets a fair start, no matter their postal code. If you believe in starting something meaningful, we invite you to take the next step with us.