Mzansi Edge “ECD Talks” (talk 3) with Ruth Lundie

Topic: The importance of the first 1000 days

As you can imagine, the most important part of any journey is the preparation upfront to make sure you have everything you need for the trip to be a success. Likewise on life’s journey, the most important stage is the early years that equip you and set you up for the rest of life. Unfortunately in SA, the majority of children are not equipped with what they need to succeed. There is a great quote that says “When you pay attention to the beginning of the story, you can change the whole story”. Today we are talking about the importance of the first 1000 days with an awesome partner of the DO MORE FOUNDATION – Ruth Lundie from Sikunye.

Since 2014, Ruth Lundie has been the Programme Manager for Common Good’s Early Life initiative, Sikunye. She conducted the research project for Common Good, exploring ‘what the role of the local church is in supporting the first thousand days of a child’s life in Cape Town’. The research journal article was published in the Christian Journal of Global Health. Sikunye has been launched out of this research to inspire, mobilise, and equip the church and FBO’s to support families to provide nurturing care for their children in the first thousand days of life, so that they can thrive. Ruth has a deep passion for community development having worked in the NGO sector for the last 15 years.