Key Highlights:
South Africa’s Early Childhood Development (ECD) sector lays the foundation for lifelong learning, health, and well-being. It also plays a vital economic role, providing employment to hundreds of thousands of women, particularly in low-income communities. However, access to quality programmes, and the financial sustainability of the women who run them, remains fragile.
The country is home to an estimated 3.5 million children aged 3 to 5. Yet over a third, around 1.3 million, are not enrolled in any early learning programme. Children in poorer areas are disproportionately affected.
Even among those who are enrolled, quality is a concern. According to the latest Thrive by Five Index, only 4 in 10 children are developmentally on track by age five, limiting their chance of success in school and beyond. With Grade R now compulsory under the Basic Education Laws Amendment Act of 2024, ensuring children are developmentally ready has become even more critical for their ability to thrive in formal schooling.
Unlike formal schooling, ECD in South Africa is not delivered directly by the state. It is provided primarily by community-based micro-enterprises, centres that offer not only early learning but also livelihoods and stability for families.
The ECD sector employs an estimated 200,000 people, mostly Black women, making it one of the largest sources of employment for women in the country, according to the Department of Basic Education (DBE). Affordable early learning programmes also enable millions of women to enter the workforce, reducing financial dependence and driving broader inclusion. Yet despite its scale and impact, it has long been overlooked in national policy and planning.
Most centres operate informally, grappling with inconsistent income, often below the national minimum wage, rising costs and limited access to funding or training. They are expected to deliver affordable services while receiving minimal structural support.
While subsidies exist for centres serving low-income families, the registration process to access them has historically been complex and exclusionary, leaving most ECD providers without public funding or recognition.
In response, the Department of Basic Education launched the Bana Pele (Children First) Mass Registration Drive. Using a new eCares digital platform and a conditional registration model, the drive is helping thousands of centres begin the path to compliance and eligibility for government funding.
This is unlocking new resources. In March 2025, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana announced a R10 billion investment in ECD over the next three years, the largest public investment in the sector to date. The per-child subsidy will increase for the first time in six years, from R17 to R24 per day.
Additional reforms, including a revised Children’s Amendment Bill, streamlined municipal processes, and public-private partnership frameworks, are also in motion.
While encouraging, these efforts will only succeed if they reach the informal, women-led enterprises that form the backbone of early learning. Turning policy into progress means meeting these entrepreneurs where they are and equipping them to grow.
The goal isn’t just enrolling more children, it’s ensuring that access, quality and sustainability reinforce each other.
Well-run, well-resourced ECD centres are essential for long-term impact. This requires seeing the women who lead them not only as caregivers and educators, but also as entrepreneurs and community builders.
To succeed, ECD micro-enterprises need targeted support to formalise operations, access capital, reduce costs and strengthen their business management skills. They also need infrastructure upgrades, digital tools and consistent mentorship. Most importantly, they must be recognised as essential contributors to both education and the economy.
IMBE exists to support these women-led businesses. We provide enterprise development solutions tailored to real-world challenges, offering training, infrastructure support, digital financial tools and alumni networks.
Our model is grounded in data and co-created with practitioners to ensure relevance and scalability. Through our Accelerator Programme and Growth Day workshops, we help ECD owners build resilient businesses that expand access, raise quality and create lasting social and economic value.
We have helped over 1,000 ECD owners in our network understand their position with regard to the new registration process, setting up those who are closest to registration to eventually benefit from this new funding.
As we work alongside others to strengthen the sector, South Africa has set an ambitious target: universal access to quality ECD by 2030. This means ensuring every child aged 3–5 can attend a well-run early learning programme, regardless of where they live or what their families can afford. Achieving this vision will take collaboration, sustained investment and an unwavering commitment to the women delivering early learning every day.
The Thrive by Five Index is the largest survey of preschool child development ever undertaken in South Africa. It monitors whether children attending Early Learning Programmes are developmentally on track for their age. Before this, there was no national data available on this critical measure of development.
