1. November 2014 The Project Preparation Trust (PPT) Early Childhood Development (ECD) Innovation Leveraging Infrastructure Investments to Enable Improvements and Registration for Informal, Unregistered ECD Centres

2. The Problem Many ECD centres in poor and vulnerable communities face significant facility and programme challenges. ECD centres lack access to resources to make improvements required for DSD registration creating a ‘bottleneck’ in the registration process. Infrastructure challenges are particularly acute and are a particular barrier to registration. Many ECD centres remain unregistered, cannot access state support and there is limited oversight or monitoring. DSD registration

3. 1. 2013 DSD Audit of 17,828 ECD sites: 56% ECD centres were unregistered. 2. ‘Only a third of young children are exposed to registered child care or education outside of the home. Among the poorest 40% of our population, the proportion drops to one fifth’ (Harrison, 2012). 3. Children from poor households are less likely to have access to registered ECD centres. * Approximately 3.8 million children live in dire poverty in South Africa (Atmore, et al. 2012). * There are approximately 1.76 million children living in informal dwellings and 3.06 million living in traditional dwellings (Hall, 2013). Urgent need to address DSD registration ‘bottleneck’

4. Primary facility challenges blocking partial care facility registration 1. Absence of building plans 2. Contraventions of environmental health regulations 3. Informal land tenure 4. Zoning problems 5. Lack of knowledge of DSD registration requirements and processes 6. Insufficient ECD skills and inadequate business plans

5. Lack basic services such as refuse removal Lack basic play equipment and resources (e.g. jungle gyms, learning materials, tables, chairs and educational toys) Inadequate facilities & infrastructure Overcrowded Challenges faced by unregistered ECD centres

6. Lack basic services such as refuse removal Lack of skills and capacity (especially pertaining to care, education and institutional management); Lack access to training; Unable to retain trained and skilled ECD personnel; Inadequate access to financial support (e.g. operational subsidies including nutritional support and other grant funding); Limited or no monitoring and support which is key to improving their quality. Challenges faced by unregistered ECD centres (continued)

7. Implications of non-registration Barriers to accessing grants & increasing state funding for ECD. Cannot access additional operating funding which has the potential enable informal ECD centres to make improvements. Children from the most vulnerable households are precluded from attending either registered or unregistered ECD centres as informal ECD centres charge fees and very few formal ECD centres (i.e. partial care facilities), whose attendance the DSD would subsidise, exist in or near informal settlements.

8. Lack basic services such as refuse removal “Crèches that cannot meet requirements for DSD registration as ‘Places of Care’ are overlooked by government and in many cases these crèches are the ones that provide a much needed service to the children and communities in which they are situated” -Ekukhanyeni Relief Project, 2012 DSD subsidies for ECD centres which has increased from less that R335 million in 2003/2004 to more than a billion rand in 2011/2012 (Giese et al, 2011) Unregistered ECD centres cannot access increasing state funding for ECD

9. PPT’s ECD infrastructure innovation PPT will rapidly assess and categorise (RAC) ECD centres using an area based approach* PPT will through existing channels of collaboration with eThekwini Municipality** and the DSD mobilize improved infrastructure (e.g. sanitation, water supply, structural improvements) for 1) unregistered ECD centres to enable conditional registration 2) conditionally registered ECD centres to enable full registration 3) unregistered ECD centres which cannot register to mitigate material health and safety threats * PPT pioneered RAC’s of informal settlements as an input in developing informal settlement upgrading plans. PPT’s RAC method has been adopted by the National Department of Human Settlements and is being used nationally. ** PPT played an advisory and support role on the development and roll-out of eThekwini’s Interim Services Programme which is a large programme that provides interim services to 77,000 households residing in 166 prioritised informal settlements within the City. This ground-breaking initiative significant was the first systematic programme of its nature in South Africa.

10. Infrastructure funding 1. The cabinet approved “S.A. Integrated Programme of Action for ECD – Moving Ahead (2013 – 2016)” includes the development of an “integrated infrastructure policy for ECD” by March 2016. 2. PPT will demonstrate that existing Municipal funding (e.g. Urban Settlements Development Grant and Municipal Infrastructure Grant) can be used for ECD infrastructure. 3. PPT will evaluate the impact of the pilot study and disseminate key findings as inputs to the Integrated Programme of Action.

11. PPT experience & expertise Extensive experience in securing infrastructure funding and housing subsidies for informal settlement upgrading within eThekwini Municipality. Extensive knowledge of local conditions and dynamics within informal settlements in eThekwini. Close working relationships with various key eThekwini Departments (e.g. Engineering Services, Human Settlements, Economic Development). Extensive past success in leveraging housing subsidies for purposes of the provision of special needs group housing (e.g. for OVCs, abused women, the disabled etc.). Extensive past success in working with government at various levels to provide capital grant funding in new and innovative ways (e.g. infrastructure funding for interim basic services for informal settlements; housing subsidies for special needs group housing).

12. Reference list 1. Harrison, D. 2012. “The state of early childhood development in South Africa”. Strategies to Overcome Poverty and Inequality: Towards Carnegie III. 3 – 7 September 2012, Cape Town, South Africa. Cape Town: University of Cape Town. 2. Atmore, E., van Niekerk, L.J., & Ashley-Cooper, M. 2012. "Challenges facing the early childhood development sector in South Africa". South African Journal of Childhood Education. 2(1), p. 121-140. 3. Giese, S., Budlender, D., Berry, L., Motlatla, S., & Zide, H. 2011. Government funding for early childhood development: Can those who need it get it?. Research report commissioned by Ilifa Labantwana, Cape Town. 4. Ekukhanyeni Relief Project, 2012. “How to develop a crèche in a poor and marginalized area”. The DG Murray Trust, Hands-on: Learning from our implementing partners, Edition 6 (September – December 2012).