Early Childhood Development Programming in the City of Johannesburg: From measurement to action (ECDP) 2014

Description: The data set contains the responses of the 381 ECD centres included in the City of Johannesburg (COJ) 2014 Audit. The study targeted all ECD centres in 17 wards identified as a priority by CoJ. GPS coordinates, ECD centre name, interviewee and staff names, the landline telephone number, cellphone number, fax number and email address of the ECD centre, as well as the website address and physical address and names of towns/villages were removed from the data for anonymization purposes.

Abstract: There is a body of evidence which recognizes the importance of investing in early childhood development (ECD) for human health, wellbeing and productivity (NPC Diagnostic Overview Report, 2011). By the time young children reach five years of age they should be healthy and well nourished, physically fit, securely attached to caregivers and able to communicate and interact positively with caregivers and other consistent adults in their lives. Research suggests that the presence of promotive factors in the care environment can make a difference in the life of a child. In terms of the Service Level Agreement between Hollard Foundation (the donor) and the City of Johannesburg, the HSRC was commissioned to conduct a comprehensive audit of ECD sites in 17 targeted wards within the City of Johannesburg (CoJ). The audit findings are expected to provide the evidence base to inform the development of an intervention plan through which the best possible outcomes can be realised for children 0 to 5 years of age who attend an ECD facility. The study is predominantly a descriptive study analysing data from an ECD site audit undertaken by the HSRC working with the CoJ and Hollard Foundation of ECD sites in 17 prioritized wards during October to November 2014. This study adopted a quantitative survey method for data collection. Major variables in the dataset include location of ECD centres, socio-demographic profiles of children and practitioners, food and nutrition, transport, quality of ECD service delivery, health and safety and compliance of ECD with regulations.