A People's Manifesto For Early Childhood Development

To unlock young children's' full potential, they need nurturing care across five key areas, as early as the first 1 000 days of their lives: nutrition; early learning; health; caregiving; and safety and protection. These forms of care lay an essential foundation for lifelong learning, well-being, and success.

All young children have a right to access these quality services, whether at home with their families, at early learning programmes, at health clinics, or in other settings. Caring for young children is one of the most powerful investments the South African government can make. But, for too long, the government has neglected young children, and the parents, caregivers, and ECD practitioners who nurture them.

The amount the government spends on young children is not enough: children aged zero to five make up 10% of the population yet, in 2021/22, less than 2% of total government spending went to early learning, family support and early nutrition interventions for children in this age group. Families who take care of children at home do not get proper support. The health sector has not fulfilled its mandate to enable parents and caregivers to provide nurturing care. Many children without birth certificates cannot access the Child Support Grant, and when children have access to the Child Support Grant, it is not enough to cover nutritious food, let alone other essentials such as clothing.

Currently, only a third of children aged three to five have access to an early learning programme (such as a creche, nursery school, or playgroup). Even where children do access early learning programmes, practitioners often struggle to provide nutritious food, adequate infrastructure, and age-appropriate stimulation for learning, with the subsidy from the government frozen at just R17 per eligible child per day since 2019.

This needs to change if we are committed to the just, equal, and caring society we strive to become.