The first 1,000 days of life has also been referred to as ‘the brain’s window of opportunity’. Young children in developing countries are disadvantaged in this critical period of development as poverty reduces the possibility for the child to thrive nutritionally, physically and mentally. Quality, affordable pre-schooling plays a critical role in rural poor communities, assisting families to give their children the best possible foundation so they can flourish.
Wild Impact supports communities in developing pre-school facilities and partners with organisations who provide training to improve the quality of education.
Wild Impact’s Early Childhood Development (ECD) Programme – focused on scholars aged 2-6 – is currently only being implemented in South Africa and Kenya. ECD is not yet a strategic focus in the other countries that Wild Impact works in. It is likely that it will become a focus area, given growing awareness of the development importance of these early years. Over the last 5 years, Botswana, Mozambique, Tanzania and Kenya have introduced Grade R (age 6-7) into their primary school systems, which is an important first step.
There are currently 137 ECD facilities across our two South African landscapes. Since 2024, our Echo4ECD Project has served as our primary ECD intervention together with ad hoc capital improvement projects and the establishment of food gardens through our Climate Resilient Communities Programme.
Our vision 2030 target is to ensure 80% of Early Childhood Education learners achieve regionally relevant Early Learning Outcomes Measure.