March 6, 2007
By Emily van Rijswijck
A GROUP of French childcare specialists is in Johannesburg to exchange ideas around early childhood development (ECD) and to identify a collaborative project to complement the City's existing ECD programmes.
The four officials, from the French city of Val de Marne, are in Joburg for a week; they are visiting various ECD centres across the city.
"We want to see what the situation is like on the ground, and based on the projects already in place, and taking everybody's individual area of speciality into consideration, we will determine what kind of contribution to make," explains Francois Lubeigt, the director of childhood and educational actions in Val de Marne.
The director of the City's Human Development Unit, Wandile Zwane, says the hope is to build a long-term relationship to co-ordinate the City's work in childhood development and, in the long-run, "to create a child friendly city". A delegation from the City of Johannesburg will visit Val de Marne in April, after which a joint project will be identified.
Child abuse and early intervention strategies, orphaned and vulnerable children, and socio-economic disparities and discrimination, especially related to migrant communities, will be discussed during the French visit to South Africa.
Lubeigt feels it is a complementary exchange between two equals. "We do not have all the know-how. It is a learning experience for us too because of the migrant situation in our suburbs."
Challenges
France has similar social development problems because of the large number of illegal immigrants streaming into the country from North Africa and French speaking sub-Saharan countries. "Val de Marne has a very positive social migrant policy in place," Lubeigt claims.
Johannesburg has its own set of problems as a result of the racial segregation and exclusion policies of the past; the large number of immigrants streaming into the city in search of work adds to the challenges.
This history was clearly illustrated during the delegation's first stop, at the Denver informal settlement in Region F. Here the Community Development Department constructed an ECD centre in 2003; the centre caters for 31 children and is maintained by donor funding.
Story time at the Denver centre
Sonti Ledwaba, who heads the childcare and development unit in the Community Development Department, said her unit first approached the ward councillor and the community before starting with any initiatives. The children followed the outcomes-based curriculum "to mould them into the national educational structure".
This is like jam
The children at the Denver ECD centre come from the surrounding area, where they live in makeshift shacks. Ledwaba stressed that "for them this [the ECD centre] is like jam compared to where they come from". Before the centre was started, the children played in the streets and received no stimulation.
"They were also very malnourished as their diet consisted almost solely of maize," said the Region F director, Ruth Govenden. At the centre the children receive freshly cooked meals that include vegetables, grown by the community on an adjacent plot.
As with any modern city, Val de Marne has social and human development challenges. Nicole Rudelle, the childcare co-ordinator said the problems reflected the social background of the community. "A very big problem in France is the rise in handicapped children caused as a result of premature birth."
It was increasingly difficult to accommodate the number of children with unique needs in ordinary crèches.
A larger number of working women also sought social support and crèche facilities than could be accommodated, according to the French delegation. "A woman's professional life is quite important in France," confirmed Francoise Diehlman, the project manager for international relations and solidarity.
Modern society
In general, the problems faced by Val de Marne reflected the growing challenges faced by all modern societies, the delegation noted. These included the rising number of single-parent families, an increase in the number of young delinquents and large numbers of migrant workers putting additional strain on healthcare, education and other social structures.
Val de Marne is a densely populated administrative area to the southeast of the French capital, Paris, with industrial and service-related industries most prevalent. Together with Seine-Saint-Denis and Hauts-de-Seine it forms the outer circle of Paris. The whole area is known as Île-de-France, or more popularly, the Paris Region.
Zwane says the Human Development Unit's vision is in line with the 2030 Economic Development Strategy and Environmental Management Framework to fight poverty and create an environment of equality and social inclusion. "The ECD programme is seen as a priority intervention in the fight against intergenerational poverty."
ECD programmes
There are five programmes in the City's ECD strategy. The Bright Beginnings programme focuses on institutional development and support. "The emphasis is on compliance support in terms of food, fire and health-related issues and compliance with by-law requirements."
The Family Connection programme is aimed at parents, caregivers and the community and involves training and funding, as well as assisting those who have been trained to find work.
The Smart Start and Head Start programmes carry these initial initiatives further by creating a basket of services to poor and ill-equipped crèches. This entails keeping the ECD database and vulnerability index updated. An ECD census in 2006 showed the areas and centres that were desperately in need of assistance.
"It was the first time that the City had a reliable instrument measuring the inequalities that exist in the city," Zwane says.
The final programme is aimed at raising awareness about the different ECD programmes and entails media liaison, publications and an ECD expo and imbizo. "The idea is to share our learning and to create awareness of ECD programmes."
The French delegation with their Joburg counterparts
Research into ECD interventions shows that it improves a child's ability in maths, languages and social skills for the foundation phase level – Grade 0 to 2. ECD extends to parental involvement and training, with research showing a reduced rate of child abuse and increased nutritional and physical health benefits filtering down to the child.
Findings confirm that these benefits carry on into adulthood, with children exposed to early childhood development reaching higher levels of education and income by the age of 27. In later years, these children tend to be less reliant on welfare and commit fewer crimes.
The Val de Marne visit was initiated by the City's External Relations and the Human Development units. A project cooperation agreement between the City of Johannesburg and Val de Marne was signed in 2000 of which the ECD project forms a part.
Johannesburg also has five formal twinning agreements with Windhoek, Addis Ababa, Birmingham, London and New York, co-operating and interacting on identified projects through memoranda of understanding.
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