Topsy Foundation NPC

2019/20 financial year was one full of change and progress for The Topsy Foundation, with the appointment of a new director and implementation of a new programme to provide additional support to parents and caregivers in the communities of Dipaleseng. We worked tirelessly to promote our mission of providing disadvantaged rural communities with the support and tools needed to raise happy, healthy, and capable children. We welcomed new staff, increased the impact of our work, and have been building partnerships that will have a lasting and positive impact on our communities.

The essential package of services in the critical early years of a child's development consists of the following pillars:

• Early learning and stimulation
• Nutritional support and education
• Parental and caregiver guidance and skills
• Health screening and growth monitoring
• Psycho-social support

Despite the ongoing challenging economic climate, we are incredibly proud to report our achievements during the period, which include:

• Our Early Childhood Development (ECD) Programme continued with its support to 27 centres. Through our holistic activities which include practitioner training, access to our Play and Learn Centre and health screening, we increased support to 1850 – 2000 children per month.
• Our community workers continued their home support and visited 80 households per month.
• Our Food Security project continued to steadily reach more beneficiaries reaching a combined total of over 5,900 beneficiaries per month through our individual and community food gardens.
• The Women's Health Programme continues to be a significant advantage to the communities from Dipaleseng. A constant average of 45 females receives pap smears monthly and all women in need of colposcopic biopsy treated in our centre.
• All Early Childhood Development programme staff received refresher training from Protective Behaviours south Africa (PBSA). PBSA is a practical, empowering approach to personal safety. It is a process that encourages and develops self-confidence alongside skills that help us avoid being victimised. This is achieved by recognising our personal concept of safety, trusting our intuitive feelings (early warning signs) that tell us when we are feeling unsafe and developing strategies for self-protection. 

An impactful new programme "Caregiver/Parent Capacity Building" was implemented to extend our reach to more families and provide care and stimulation to children who are not attending ECD centres. Unicef designed the programme, and ELRU facilitated the training of Topsy staff. The training took place in September 2019. The training gave our team the skills and knowledge to build on the existing experience and abilities of caregivers whilst covering the following topics:

• Health and nutrition
• Play and creativity
• Physical development
• Social development, emotional development and confidence building
• Intellectual and language stimulation
• Child safety and protection
• Healthy family relationships
• Positive discipline
• Grief and bereavement
• Me, the parent/caregiver

Topsy employs 29 staff members who are well qualified and experienced to work across the various life-changing programmes we deliver. Most of the staff are recruited from the surrounding communities; therefore, they know the challenges faced by beneficiaries and can respond to community needs sensitively. 

We've been continuously growing and learning through our involvement with growing networks. Our success is the community's success. With the ongoing support of donors, partners, staff, board, and volunteers, we are ready for the challenges and achievements ahead in 2021.