July 2022.
School Governing Body (SGB) training across seven Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres in Boshof and Hertzogville, in the Free State, is helping centres to remain viable through good governance and management, ensuring sustainability.
The programme which commenced in June, has provided intense training for twenty-five governing body members, over a two week period. Topics such as governance, the running of ECD centres, financial management and fundraising were included in the training sessions.
“It is our hope that through this training programme we are able to provide the SGB members of the ECD centres with the knowledge and skills to remain sustainable, raise funds and maintain their own ECD centres,” commented Zuki Ndlela, Socio Economic Development Specialist for Boshof Solar Power which funded this training programme following a 2020 ECD Centre needs analysis.
This training programme forms part of solar project’s broader ECD programme, which also funds the training of Practitioners and a variety of infrastructure upgrades to community centres.
“We were previously unsure of our role at the ECD centre as members of the management committee, but we now understand our role and the importance of working hand-in-hand with the practitioners and parents. We learnt about managing budgets and the difference between policies and constitution, for which we are grateful. The skills we learned will helps us to better manage struggles and future obsticles, which we may encounter,” explained Lerato Matsoso, a School Governing Body member at Tswaraganang Crèche.
SGB members from the following ECD centres were included in this training: Bana Ba Rona; Little Busy Bee Day Care Centre; Kareehof Speelgroep; Leretlhabetse Educare Centre; Tokologo ECD Centre; Thari Ya Mme Educare Centre; and Tswharaganang Day Care Centre; with the potential of more ECD Centres and SGB members receiving the training in the future.
