1. Ikwezi: Isibindi Early Childhood Development Program Pheliwe Dunga

2. Introduction: Isibindi The Isibindi Early Childhood Development (ECD) program aims to ensure that CYCWs include an intentional focus on the stimulation and participation of children under 6, both during their home visits and in the Isibindi Safe Park

3. Isibindi ECD Programme Five interactive core components  Integrating stimulation intentionally in life space work during home visits  Structured home visits and stimulation plan  Cluster workshops for gogo’s/caregivers of children under 6  Playgroup for children under 6 years  Safe Park activities for children under 6 years

4. In the 1st years of life the brain grows at the pace of 700 new neural connections per second, a pace which is never achieved again

5. By 3 years of age, a child’s brain is twice as active as an adult brain. It is early life experiences that determine the capacity of the brain.

6. Early interventions for disadvantaged children lead to improvements in children’s survival, health, growth, and cognitive and social development. 

7. Integrating stimulation intentionally life space work Allowing the children to connect to the baby siblings Helping children learn to move Helping children learn about self and others Helping children learn to think

8. Playgroups for children under 6 Children learn through play and playgroups create opportunities for them to explore through play and play together Playgroups allow children to socialise and make new friends

9. Safe Park activities for children under 6

10. ECD Cluster workshops The caregivers and Gogo’s join the playgroups and are also provided with a safe space to express themselves through learning from one another, making toys together with the child and youth care workers, singing and joking as they create, while the children play.

11. Structured home visit stimulation plan The CYCW is visiting with the family, the Gogo is sharing about the late mother of the children and allowing the children to connect with pictures and pictures their late mother. This is grief work with the child in the life space.

12. In service training for mentors/CYCWs ECD trained mentor providing training and transferring skills to the CYCWs and Mentors on ECD

13. Creating Play Material Creating improvised toys to stimulate children

14. Application of the “new look” ECD Program  Stimulating a young child’s brain using a mix of “low tech”(e.g. reading books) and “high tech” methods (e.g. robotics)  Custom designed training curriculum, to be provided in an incremental way to accommodate the different capacities of CYCW’s.

15.  Lego and Robotics will be included playgroups as research both locally and overseas shows that early childhood exposure to Lego and robotics can produce a profound increase in a child’s ability to read, write and count.  Lego will be included in all play groups, while robotics will only be included in a selected number of playgroups as the robotics kits are costly.

16. Robotics  Robotics focuses on two components of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), the “T” of technology and the “E” of engineering, that have been the most neglected in early childhood education.  International research found that children as young as 4 years can master foundational engineering and programming concepts such as: the engineering design process, sequencing, repeat loops, conditional commands. (Ready for Robotics Group, Tufts University)

17.  Robotics provides a playful bridge to make early childhood programmes more academically challenging while honouring the importance of play.  Robotics can be a gateway for children to learn about applied mathematical concepts, the scientific method of enquiry.  NACCW currently have 23 Robotics kits available for use.

18. Special application of the “new look” ECD program  Young Women Farmers Program in Mpumalanga  Foetal Alcohol Syndrome program in Northern Cape