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Tel: (011) 018 5500 Fax: (011) 018 5587 E-mail: info@nda.org.za Website: www.nda.org.za
Monday, 18 November 2013
NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT AGENCY GIVES EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT
A FACE LIFT
Johannesburg – An online portal that seeks to create an awareness and raise funds for
underprivilegded early childhood development centres, throughout the country, was
launched by the National Development Agency (NDA) at a business briefing held earlier
today. The Adopt-an-ECD campaign seeks to increase resource flows into 219 identified
ECD centres by mobilising society, government and business to help provide needs
identified by ECDs in all nine provinces.
Early childhood development (ECD) refers to the education of young children and
prepares them for formal schooling. A recent report entitled, “South Africa’s Children: A
Review of Equity and Child Rights”, released by the South African Human Rights
Commission, UNICEF and the Department of Women, Children and People with
Disabilities (2011:5) indicates that only under 43% of children under the age of five, in
South Africa, are exposed to an ECD programme.
As an agency established to eradicate poverty, the NDA is leading the campaign to
ensure that more children receive educational stimulation. “We can only win the war on
poverty, as a country, if we put more effort into ensuring that all children in our country
have access to good quality education, starting from a young age. Lindokuhle is one of
those ECD centres that are starting to benefit from this campaign”, said Dr Vuyelwa
Nhlapo, NDA Chief Executive Officer.
The campaign is mobilising resources from government, private sector, individuals, local
and international donors to cater to the basic needs of the identified disadvantaged
ECDs. The portal is accessible on www.ndacampaigns.co.za – donors (individuals and
corporates) must register, make a selection of their preferred ECD by province and pay
by credit card or EFT. The ECDs are profiled by location and their specific needs are
listed on their page. The response has been good and to date sponsorship commitments
have been received from corporate such as Tri-Star, Old Mutual, Standard Bank, KZN
Wildlife, Umcebo Construction and ASCUL Construction.
The NDA already funds a considerable number of ECDs in areas of infrastructure,
institutional capacity building, training of practitioners and establishment of food gardens
in ECDs that it funds. This campaign targets those ECD that haven’t received any
funding as the NDA acknowledges they cannot reach everyone.
“There is glaring gap in the poorer and middle class education levels in South Africa.
Every child has a right to quality education. When children are stimulated from an early
age they can grow up to participate in the economy, they grow to be confident and
empowered individuals who can transfer the same power to other family members. We
urge all sectors of society to partner with us to provide an early start for a better future”,
concludes Nhlapo.
- Ends -
NOTES
The NDA’s primary mandate is to contribute towards the eradication of poverty and its
causes. It provides development grant funding to civil society organisations to implement
integrated and sustainable community-driven programmes and contribute towards the
eradication of poverty in the following focus areas:

Early Childhood Development

Food Security

Income Generation

Capacity Building
Issued by:
The National Development Agency
Makgodu Tsehloane
Marketing & Communications Manager
072 801 5728 /011 018-5538