IMPACT
RIGHT TO ECD
Right to Early Childhood Development (ECD)
The Equality Collective advocates for enabling legal and policy frameworks, adequate funding, and competent local governance, and we help build confident and engaged ECD practitioners so that every child can realise their constitutional right to early childhood development.
Why this matters
More than one million children aged 3–5 from the poorest households attend no early learning programme, while 58% of those enrolled are not developmentally on track. The majority of early childhood development programmes are informal and unregistered, which bars them from accessing life-saving public funds to cover their operating costs.The challenge is not only inadequate national funding and regulation. Municipal systems frequently prevent early learning programmes from formalising and accessing public support, while failing to provide the infrastructure and basic services they need.
Our approach
01
Movement building
We organise and coordinate Real Reform for ECD (RR4ECD), a national movement of ECD practitioners and organisations demanding that every young child can access holistic, quality ECD services.
02
Law and policy reform
We provide legal research, drafting, and advocacy to secure laws, regulations, and policies that recognise the right to ECD, clarify the government’s obligations, and enable accessible, well-funded services.
03
Strategic litigation and legal response
We build legal networks of support for the ECD sector and are willing to use strategic litigation (as a client or friend of the court) and advocacy to hold the government accountable and secure systemic gains, where necessary.
04
Technical support
We provide the strategy, research, legal, communications, and coordination support that enables RR4ECD’s diverse coalition to lead five interconnected campaigns:
Pass the Bill:
Securing stronger ECD legislation, regulations and norms, and standards.
Right to ECD: Building understanding and recognition of children’s holistic right to ECD
Make Local Government Work for ECD: Ensuring municipalities plan, budget, and remove barriers to ECD provision.
Right to Nutrition: Advocating for nutrition support for all attendance-based early learning programmes, whether registered or not.
CARE Initiative: Reframing childcare as essential work and a matter of justice, while advocating for recognition, protection, and fair livelihoods for childcare workers.
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Our role in Real Reform for ECD
The Equality Collective is a co-founder and the activist Secretariat of Real Reform for ECD, a national movement of ECD practitioners and organisations. Real Reform for ECD is a movement advocating for holistic, well-funded, inclusive, and quality early childhood development services for all children. Its focus is to ensure an enabling legal, policy, and regulatory environment for the provision and expansion of ECD services.
Where we work
We work nationally through RR4ECD movement partners across six provinces. We also work intensively in nine municipalities where we are pushing to Make Local Government Work for ECD.
Achievements (together with partners!)
1000+
ECD practitioners in
the movement.
300+
organisations support the movement.
10 billion
secured for ECD in the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework
R336 m
secured specifically for early childhood nutrition.
Children’s Amendment Bill approved by Cabinet, which we helped draft.
Landmark court order recognising the right to ECD.