Women represent a massive pool of untapped human capital in South Africa. With 38% of all households in the country headed by women – rising to over 45% in some rural areas – they face the double burden of raising children and securing an income to provide for their families. To successfully accomplish this, women require access to affordable childcare that allows them to go out and find jobs. The early learning sector could hold the key to providing both – to the benefit of women, children, and the country’s economy.
“Without easy access to affordable childcare, women are more likely to have to stay at home. This means that they are unable to present themselves for interviews or engage in meaningful employment opportunities. The result is that a significant part of the existing workforce is constrained – which has a knock-on effect in terms of being able to build a better life for themselves, and access to opportunities for their children,” says Samantha Maasdorp, Network Strategist at early learning social franchise SmartStart.
By creating childcare venues for women who want to go out and work, early learning programmes help to stimulate the economy by giving agency back to mothers and caregivers. These programmes also have the potential to provide direct employment and social enterprise opportunities, while setting children up for future personal and economic success.
“Through the SmartStart programme, I have seen my life change and become so much more than I had planned. I believe in myself more now and know the power that I have inside me. I know that I am making a difference in my community, and I make sure that I teach this to my children. Our community has a lot of opportunities, and all we have to do is find how we fit into the solution,” says Thobisa Gatu, one of SmartStart’s practitioners, who has been providing early learning in her community since 2017.
Using a social franchise model, SmartStart taps into the experience of existing civil society organisations who recruit, train, and license women to launch and run early learning social enterprises, for children aged three to five. To date, SmartStart has trained over 8 800 people to fill the gap in early learning service provision – to the benefit of over 98 000 children across the country.
“Childcare and early learning is frequently deemed to be the work that a mother should be doing within the home. It would be a huge step forward, both socially and economically, for South Africa to recognise the importance of this professional career pathway. Through the setup of these social enterprises, we are supporting women to become early learning professionals – and for the caregivers in their community to see them in this way as well,” says Maasdorp.
SmartStart operates in all nine provinces and has built a network of over 90 000 parents and caregivers, whose children are enrolled and active in one of SmartStart’s programme formats. By 2030, SmartStart aims to reach 750 000 children between the ages of three and five annually. For more information, visit www.smartstart.org.za.
