Presidential Education Award Winner - ECD Category
National Productivity Institute
Merit Award Winner
Achievements
In the ten years since our founding in 1994, the Centre has:
 | Trained 241 national early childhood development leaders on the Certificate Programme in Early Childhood Development Leadership, Management and Administration. |
| Trained 520 community-based early childhood development practitioners in the Leadership, Management and Organising of preschool programmes. |
| Trained 40 early childhood development practitioners to teach on the national Reception Year programme. |
| Trained 240 early childhood development practitioners from the Northern Cape province on the National ECD Pilot Project. |
| Trained 35 early childhood development practitioners from the Western Cape province on the national ECD Pilot Project. |
| Trained 200 women on the Department of Social Services' Western Cape Safety Net programme. |
| Trained 322 ECD practitioners in computer technology on the IBM KidSmart Learning Programme. |
| Facilitated the training of 148 teachers at Level 1. |
| Facilitated the training of 73 teachers at Level 4. |
| Trained 30 students at Level 5. |
Provided inputs to government commissions / studies / parliamentary hearings on:
| the South African Constitution |
| the South African Schools Act |
| the National Welfare Department White Paper |
| the National Education Department Early Childhood Development policy document |
| the Urban Reconstruction and Development Policy |
| the Rural Reconstruction and Development Policy |
| the Unicity Commission |
The Centre was awarded project management contracts by the South African government to:
| Train 384 early childhood development practitioners in the Northern Cape province. |
| Train 50 early childhood development practitioners in the KwaZulu-Natal province. |
| Train 33 early childhood development practitioners in the Western Cape province. |
| Manage the Welfare Department's Flagship Programme for unemployed women with children under age 5. |
| Undertake a national audit of 24,000 ECD sites and 85 ECD training providers. |
| Write the National Guidelines for Early Childhood Development Services. |
| Manage the development of six multi-purpose ECD centres and a range of ECD programmes. |
Staff at the Centre serve on / have served on:
| The National Education Department's Co-ordinating Committee on Early Childhood Development (CCECD); |
| The national executive of the South African Congress for Early Childhood Development |
| the National Committee on Teacher Education Policy (COTEP) |
The Centre has carried out research for:
| The National Educare Forum |
| The National Education Department; and |
| The Centre for Education Policy Development. |
The Centre was awarded the Presidential Award for Education Excellence in the Early Childhood Development category in 1998.
The Centre was appointed as a contributing partner to the United Nations Education, Science and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) in 2000.
The Centre received a merit award from the National Productivity Institute in 2001.
The Centre's KidSmart programme, sponsored by IBM, was runner-up in the Mail and Guardian Investing in the Future Awards 2004.
The Centre is a founding member of Proudly South Africa.
Eric Atmore and Roz Witbooi receiving the Presidential Award for Education Excellence in ECD from President Thabo Mbeki