Research 

Despite lip service to the inclusion of local child-rearing knowledge and practices in South African ECD programming and a growing focus on diversity, most local models and curriculum guidelines privilege Western child development theory and models of ECD provision. While local and global knowledge will necessarily exist side by side, a recent assessment of local curricula and programmes indicated that local knowledge was conspicuously absent (Biersteker, 2008). Existing local and indigenous knowledge and care and support arrangements are often overlooked by programmers and practitioners, resulting in the negation of parents'/caregivers' and communities' own beliefs and practices. The main objective of this project was to strengthen the care environment for young children by affirming and building on caregivers' and communities' local and indigenous knowledge and practices. The vehicle was a series of action-based participatory research undertakings to enable critical reflection on those practices and reinforce and build upon those that have positive outcomes for children and their caregivers. This report will present some of the findings from the different studies and reflect on their implications for ECD interventions. 

Report