The Unlimited Child

South Africa, WC, South Africa

The Unlimited Child provides preschool children attending underprivileged creches with trained caregivers, educational toys and relevant activities to stimulate their capacity to develop and learn. The vision of The Unlimited Child is to ensure all children enter school with the ability to maximize their potential. The initiative, founded in July 2008, involves investing in human capital by supporting creches and day-care centres through training, support and the donation of learning materials.

Project Stage

Scaling

Implementation time

1 - 6 months

Last update: October 05, 2023

Overview Contributors

Challenge

Due to the pre-school nature of the facilities there is no formal testing which occurs. However, Child Development is measured by stimulating children through play. This is difficult to test but easy to witness. The increase in the number of children, creches, and caregivers involved reflects the growth and success of this ECD initiative.

Description

The initiative involves investing in human capital by supporting creches and day-care centres through training, support and the donation of learning materials. After an initial baseline survey, all caregivers receive 5 days of training from ECD specialists. After training, 'kits' of learning materials are donated to the creches.

SDGs

Outcomes

After 4 years, the program had grown to include 314 creches, 986 caregivers and 25,000 infants. This program is provided to disadvantaged young children from poor communities in KwaZulu Natal.