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In South Africa, the early childhood development (ECD) conversation is still largely dominated by centre-based models. Yet in communities like Molteno in the Eastern Cape (where infrastructure is limited, poverty is entrenched, and many families live far from any formal care facilities) this approach leaves too many young children behind.

According to South Africa’s 2022 ECD Census, only 35% of children aged 0–5 attend any form of non-school ECD programme on a given day. This means that approximately 65%, or around 2.26 million young children, do not have access to structured early learning opportunities. For many of these children, particularly in rural areas like Molteno, the absence of nearby centres, infrastructure constraints, and economic hardship all contribute to the systemic exclusion from early learning. The result? Children enter the school system developmentally unprepared - not because of an innate learning disability, but because the system itself has created barriers to their development.

This is the gap that the Khululeka Family Home Visiting Programme (funded by RCL FOODS' corporate social investment) was designed to fill.

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.

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.

In Hammarsdale, a practical collaboration between PEP stores, NIYA Consulting and the DO MORE FOUNDATION is helping Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres improve how they feed and teach young children. Through the Agric-ECD Gardens Project, 40 centres have set up vegetable gardens aimed at reducing food costs and making nutritious meals more accessible. This was made possible by the generous funding allocated from PEP stores.

The goal is simple: create small gardens that are easy to maintain, lower centre expenses, and give children regular exposure to where their food comes from. Each garden adds fresh produce from cabbage, spinach, beetroot, green peppers, onions to tomatoes all added to daily meals served at the centre. Any unsed product provides an additional income stream to the centre through sales within the community. Altogether, over 12,800 seedlings have been planted across these sites over the past year.

As an Emerging Evaluator and MEL (Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning) Intern at the DO MORE FOUNDATION, I had the opportunity to visit several Early Childhood Development (ECD) Centres in Hammarsdale, Kwazulu-Natal. I was joined by third year students from the Durban University of Technology (DUT), from the Department of Consumer Sciences: Food & Nutrition. The purpose of the visit was to check and verify how the centres are doing and what programmes they are involved in.

We visited a range of ECD centres across the area, including both smaller home-based sites and larger, more formalised centres. These sites varied in terms of infrastructure, resourcing, and levels of support, offering a broad view of current conditions and practices across the local ECD landscape. We checked whether they are part of different programmes such as Eat Play Love Talk (ELPT), Repurpose for Purpose, Duplo block training, porridge feeding, and food gardens. We also asked if they receive any other training or are part of local ECD forums.

The DO MORE FOUNDATION’s fortified porridge distribution model responds to the needs of local communities. While it is not a silver bullet to solve all social challenges, it represents a practical and impactful step toward improving child well-being through nutrition support.

Early childhood is a critical period for growth and brain development. ​​Poor nutrition during this time can lead to stunting, which affects not only a child’s height but also their cognitive development, immune function, and future learning and earning potential. In South Africa, fewer than 25% of children receive a minimum acceptable diet at home. Providing a fortified meal daily at ECD centres helps fill this gap. While it alone cannot eliminate stunting, it is a vital contribution to children’s nutritional needs, supporting their concentration and energy for learning.

As a Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Emerging Evaluator with the South African Monitoring and Evaluation Association (SAMEA), I had the opportunity to attend a Young Child Forum (YCF). I hoped to gain an understanding of what a YCF is, observe how Early Childhood Development (ECD) policies are used on the ground, and see how various local stakeholders collaborate and engage with one another.