THE NDA TO HOST NATIONAL EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT AWARDS CEREMONY IN POLOKWANE

Limpopo - The National Development Agency (NDA) will on Tuesday, 11 December 2018, host National ECD awards ceremony at the Protea Hotel Polokwane. The awards will be held to honour top achievers within the ECD sector.

ECD awards are held annually to acknowledge men and women who continuously contribute positively in the quality of lives for children between ages of 0 and 4 years old thus improving and increasing their success prospects in life. Led by the National Development Agency (NDA), a Social Development entity, the primary aim of these awards is to recognise and reward excellence, innovation, best practice, dedication and participation within the ECD sector.

Top achievers within Best ECD Centre of the Year, Best ECD Practitioner of the Year, Best ECD Non-Centre Programme of the Year, Best ECD Trainer, Best ECD Programme for children with disabilities of the year and Best ECD Centre Based Nutrition Programme of the year categories will be honoured during an awards ceremony.

Early Childhood Development was declared a public good by the 2012 National Conference of the ruling party and as such, it remains amongst important pillars of government’s educational and development programmes through which children can be nurtured and developed emotionally, cognitively and psychologically.
It is for this reason that the Department of Social Development is committed to increase access to ECD services for children living in rural and informal settlements. To date, Eight hundred and twenty seven thousand three hundred and thirty eight (827 338) children have access to ECD. These centres provide comprehensive basic services such as shelter, primary health care, nutritious food as well as overall learning support for children.

Children who attend ECDs receive a government subsidy of R15 per child for 264 days across all provinces. ECD centres are also helpful for unemployed mothers who are able to leave their children in safe and capable hands of well-trained ECD practitioners while they seek employment opportunities.

Government spends millions each year in support of ECDs and over the next two years of the MTEF period, an amount of R812 Million Conditional Grant has been set aside for ECD centres.

In full support of ECD centres and their significance, in 2015, Cabinet approved the National Integrated Policy for ECDs. The purpose of this policy is to ensure universal availability of ECD services across all communities in the country. The ECD Policy, will further assist with introduction of new services to fill identified gaps, especially within the first 1 000 days of a child’s life; which are the most important days in laying a good quality foundation for all children in South Africa.

Members of the media are invited to attend and cover the ECD Awards ceremony arranged as follows:

Venue: Protea Hotel Polokwane Ranch Resort
Date: Tuesday, 11 December, 2018
Time: 18H00 for 18H30

Media can RSVP by contacting Mr Lonwabo Ganelo on 073 295 0547 / lonwabog@nda.org.za

ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT AGENCY