KET assists ECD entrepreneurs to establish and manage ECD facilities that offer a high-quality ECD programme to children. We support the principals to run legitimate and well-managed facilities, in turn creating employment for ECD practitioners. We provide skills training to the ECD workforce – like principals, teachers, assistants, and cooks – and assist in equipping classrooms with age-appropriate resources to enhance quality education which, focuses on the whole child’s development.
Our main objective is to ensure that ALL children in the Knysna area are ready for school when they are 6 years old, with a special focus on children coming from disadvantaged backgrounds. We do this by increasing opportunities for children between 0-6 years old who come from disadvantaged families to attend a safe and quality ECD facility or playgroup.
We see the children in the our municipal area thriving and ready for school when they are 6 years old. This means they are well-nourished, healthy, safe, and meeting their developmental milestones (including emotional, physical, social, and cognitive).
That being the case, we know that their lives are on a trajectory associated with better outcomes at school, and ultimately, that as adults they will be able to contribute better towards a prosperous, more equal society, helping to break the cycles of intergenerational poverty in South Africa and reducing the social problems that accompany it.
While this is our ultimate vision, in a community, it takes many different role players to make such a vision a reality and KET support and collaborate with other organisations, and especially with parents on the journey towards achieving it.
As KET’s specific contribution, we aim to ensure that:
