It is characterised by unemployment and poverty. The only beacon of hope for many is the Mapojotana Co-operative, founded by retired teacher and community builder Pontsho Mokoena in 2012.

South Africa has more than eight million children under the age of six. Children in this age group are at a crucial stage in their development and the care they receive at this point will help them to become healthy, happy and productive members of society.

ECD Specialist at the National Development Agency (NDA) Thando Ngqase explained the following steps needed to be taken to register an ECD centre:

Encouraging a culture of reading is one of the reasons that Paballo Day Care Centre and Pre-school is the best early childhood development centre (ECD) in the country.

Silahliwe, meaning abandoned, is an informal settlement located within Bohlokong Location in Free State’s town of Bethlehem

The City of uMhlathuze successfully launched the one-stop-shop for Small Medium Macro Enterprises (SMMEs), which is aimed to cater for the youth SMMEs and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in the King Cetshwayo, uMkhanyakude and Zululand districts.

Fighting poverty is the central role the youth must play in extricating themselves out of this scourge. The NDA calls on the youth of South Africa to play an active role in being part of CSOs and starting CSOs within their communities.

The Eastern Cape Department of Social Development (EC DSD) in partnership with the National Development Agency (NDA) will host a provincial Cooperative Summit at Mlungisi Community Hall in Stutterheim from 11 – 12 January 2018.

The South African Early Childhood Development (SA ECD) Awards, now in their 13th year, awarded a total of R810 000.00 worth of prizes to the winners at a gala dinner held in Sandton