Help educares give SA children the start they need

“There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children.”
Nelson Mandela

Starting Chance believes that every child deserves access to quality early childhood education, regardless of their socio-economic background. Yet for many children in under-resourced communities, poverty continues to limit access to safe learning spaces, quality educational materials, nutrition, sanitation, and opportunities for early development.

This is especially critical for children aged 0 to 6, whose early years lay the foundation for lifelong learning, confidence, health, and well-being.

During Mandela Month 2026, Starting Chance is mobilising support for its Mid-Year School Resource ECD Drive, which provides much-needed educational resources to the Early Childhood Development Centres we support.

This year, our goal is to donate resources to 47 ECD Centres in Mfuleni and surrounding communities, reaching 2,616 young children.

Through this drive, we aim to equip ECD principals and practitioners with the tools they need to create safe, stimulating, and engaging learning environments. These resources will support both indoor and outdoor learning activities and help strengthen three key building blocks of child development:

• Literacy
  • Numeracy
  • Life Skills

To ensure that the donated resources are used effectively, Starting Chance will also run two workshops during July. These workshops will bring together Principals, Practitioners, and Parents, our Triangle for Sustainability and Success, to strengthen the support system around each child.

We call on our partners, supporters, and friends to stand with us this Mandela Month by making a financial contribution towards the purchase of educational resources for these 47 ECD Centres.

Your support will help create safe, inspiring, and development-rich learning environments where every child has the opportunity to thrive. A donation of any size will help us purchase age-appropriate learning materials, outdoor play resources, books, puzzles, and practical classroom tools for ECD Centres in Mfuleni.

Together, we can honour Mandela’s legacy by investing in the youngest children, where the future begins.

Links:

• Starting Chance website

Early Childhood Development (ECD) in South Africa faces deep structural challenges. Nearly 60% of ECD programmes operate without proper registration, while close to two-thirds of children aged 0–5 grow up in the poorest 40% of households. Alarmingly, 1.3 million children aged 3–5 have no access to structured early learning.

Over our seventeen years in the sector, we have seen committed Principals and Practitioners who want to run quality, compliant centres but lack access to the training, guidance, and practical support needed to do so.

With this in mind, we are very excited that in 2026, the Starting Chance Trust enters an exciting new chapter with the official launch of the Starting Chance Inclusive Training Facility and the Sakha IThemba Inclusive Educare Centre (We Build Hope). Both facilities will be housed in one purpose-built site on School’s Street in Ward 114, Mfuleni. Designed to state-of-the-art standards rarely seen in low-income communities on the Cape Flats, this facility marks a significant investment in quality, dignity, and innovation within the early childhood development (ECD) sector.

A Centre of Excellence for ECD Practice

A key feature of the facility is an observation room with a one-way mirror, which will enable practitioners and principals from Mfuleni and beyond to observe high-quality teaching, learning and examples of good governance in practice. This strengthens Starting Chance’s role-modelling approach and positions the site as a Centre of Excellence in ECD.

The Inclusive Training Facility will host specialists and experts whose work supports the three core building blocks of child development: literacy, numeracy, and life skills. Through training, workshops, and mentorship, the facility will continue to build practitioner capacity across communities.

Sakha IThemba Inclusive Educare Centre

Alongside the training facility, Starting Chance will launch Sakha IThemba Inclusive Educare Centre, a school that showcases the full impact of the organisation’s Classroom and Learning Management (CALM) framework. The school will model how ECD centres in low-income communities can create safe, well-managed, and stimulating learning environments. Sakha IThemba is intentionally an inclusive school, with programmes designed to encourage meaningful interaction between children with special needs and children in mainstream settings. As part of this approach, children from Lonwabo Special Care and Tangram Academy will visit Sakha IThemba once a month to participate in shared learning and play-based activities, promoting inclusion, empathy, and social connection from an early age. The school will also demonstrate effective governance, supported by an active School Governing Body and strong community involvement.

Leadership and Timeline

Sakha IThemba will be led by Principal Noma-efese Nodliwa, supported by practitioners Nozipho Ndarala, Amahle Tima, and Nomzamo Torato-Ngqola, with professional guidance from Starting Chance Educational Specialist Mrs. Nombulelo Dingiso.

The school will officially commence on 2 February 2026. The first quarter will be hosted at Lonwabo Special Care, while construction of the permanent facility is completed in mid-February 2026. Parents are warmly invited to the Sakha IThemba Open Day on 31 January 2026, where they will learn more about the school and its programme for the year. ‘

Starting Chance looks forward to this new wave of growth as it deepens its impact and continues to improve the lives of children aged 0–6 years through quality, inclusive early learning.

Please consider joining us in this new chapter. We would be hugely grateful for donations to support this exciting venture.

Links:

• Starting Chance website