Helping children grow and learn every day
Local non-profit organisation and social enterprise GROW Educare Centres is hoping to change the status quo by helping ECD centres in low-income areas through social-franchising partnerships and setting them up for success as sustainable businesses.
Early childhood development (ECD) is one of South Africa’s biggest challenges.
According to Tracey Chambers, CEO for GROW Educare Centres, many such centres in marginalised communities across the country are simply not sufficiently equipped, well-trained, adequately resourced, professionally managed or supported to ensure the young children in their care receive quality education most critical to their educational, social and emotional development.
“Managing an ECD centre is a complex business and the GROW Educare Centres social franchise model invests in local entrepreneurs/franchisees who already run crèches and provide them with the necessary tools, processes and ongoing support needed to deliver five-star early learning for pre-school children aged between two and five years,” said Chambers.
“We care deeply about ensuring children from underprivileged communities receive the best education in their most crucial years. We also understand that the only way quality can be maintained is if centres are financially sustainable, accessible, supportive of job creation and teachers are paid what they’re worth.
“We provide women who have a heart for children and head for business with a complete recipe for ECD success.”
With 44 centres situated nationwide, the GROW organisation is currently helping over 1 720 children in 89 classrooms grow and learn every day, while supporting more than 220 jobs in education.
“Most owners of educare centres in low-income areas find it challenging to access training, resources, a proper curriculum, and meet registration requirements, all with very limited business experience. Social-franchising solves all of these problems and can be replicated at scale,” added Chambers.
“To achieve socially beneficial ends, such as poverty relief and job creation, social-franchising adapts the proven principles of the traditional business network model of franchising to suit the needs of small businesses in low-income communities.
Chambers said they are calling on crèche, educare and ECD centre owners to come on board.
“We want to help ECD centre owners achieve success in education and business, as both quality early learning as well as job creation are key to eradicating poverty and inequality in our country.
“By working together, as partners we’ve been able to help centres across South Africa enhance their offering drastically, while also making education accessible in developing neighbourhoods.”
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Why is ECD so important?
Chambers said ECD is the crucial phase of a child’s life between naught and five years of age when their brain is the most flexible and eager to learn.
“High-quality ECD creates the foundation for school readiness, improves a country’s economic viability by supporting working families and results in proven lifelong gains for the child and their future families.
“The ECD report released by Statistics South Africa in February 2018 shows that of the nearly 8.2 million children aged between naught and six years old, almost 46 per cent live in low-income households.
“About half of these children do not attend ECD facilities. For the children who do have the opportunity to attend a pre-school, the problem is not access to education but the quality of the education.
“As for the home environment, a large percentage of children are growing up in homes that do not provide adequate communication or play to stimulate learning.”
