An increasing number of children under the age of six years are infected and affected by HIV/Aids every day.   According to the Bill of Rights in South Africa’s Constitution, Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres must adopt policies and practices to support these children.

As part of the Early Childhood Development Awareness Week, 1 – 8 June, the Centre for Early Childhood Development (CECD) is hosting a celebratory event on Tuesday 6 June, from 15h00 to 17h00 at the Cape Peninsula Organisation for the Aged (C.P.O.A.) Centre in Gugulethu. 

 

At the event the new HIV/Aids booklet will be launched for ECD practitioners, entitled “Supporting Children Infected and Affected By HIV and Aids:  A Guide for Early Childhood Development (ECD) Centres”.  Translated into five languages (Afrikaans, Xhosa, Sepedi, Setswana and English), this valuable resource will be distributed by the Centre for Early Childhood Development to ECD centres around the country free of charge.   

 

This booklet was funded by the Foundation for Human Rights, which in turn is funded by the European Union under the European Programme for Reconstruction and Development.
 

The Centre for Early Childhood Development (CECD) provides training, support and advice in the field of early childhood development by offering courses and programmes aimed at enhancing individual and organisational capacity, by developing and disseminating resources, and by carrying out research specifically relevant to the African context.
 

Across the nation, ECD centres, service providers and educare forums are hosting events to celebrate Early Childhood Development Awareness Week, 1 – 8 June, to highlight the importance of early learning in a young child’s development cycle.  Public support of these activities will increase government support of the ECD sector, the enrolment of children in registered ECD centres and the capacity and skills of ECD teachers. 

 

For more information on early childhood development awareness events and activities happening in your area, please call Sandile Kupiso at (021) 683 2420.