“The Director and CEO of Grassroots. Mareldia first joined Grassroots in 1992 as a the national programme administrator. She was appointed as organisational co-ordinator by the Board of Trustees in 2005 and as director a year later. Mareldia is the face of Grassroots, for close to twenty years. She is gregarious and compassionate and she… Continue reading Mareldia Tape – Director
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The Adventure Bus
With the support of the Golden Arrow Bus company and drivers employed by the company, approximately 15000 children are taken on educational outings every year. We at Grassroots co-ordinate these outings with the Golden Arrow Bus company and ECD projects throughout the City of Cape Town. We are happy to report that we have never… Continue reading The Adventure Bus
Assessment of ECD Interventions (ASB)
The Assessment for School Beginners (ASB) is a tool which was designed to monitor whether the different programmes were effective or needed change, If so, then this was addressed through extra workshops. In so doing, we could see that much more development needs to be done with parents and the children, who come from different… Continue reading Assessment of ECD Interventions (ASB)
ECD Assistants (Cadet Scheme)
The Expanded Public Works (EPWP) is a national governmental programme that allows for an ECD Cadet Scheme. Grassroots plays a pivotal role in this national government initiative to groom young adults for service within the early childhood development (ECD) sector. Annually we take in hundreds of new ECD Assistants (young cadets) who we then place… Continue reading ECD Assistants (Cadet Scheme)
Teacher Training
As a registered training provider with the South African Qualifications Authority, Grassroots has been able to support thousands of adults who work with children to acquire a national qualification in the field of Early Childhood Development.(ECD). We teach towards the National ECD Diploma as well as the National ECD Certificate. Hundreds of women have been… Continue reading Teacher Training
ECD Governance Support
We offer training sessions to newly established or newly appointed governing body members to ensure that preschools are well-run and compliant with funder and government management requirements. Our training includes teaching them what their roles as governors entail, how the finances should run their finances and how the center can become financially self-sustainable.
The Grassroots Preschool Shop
In our preschool shop, we stock locally manufactured and other sourced toys and equipment that complement the classroom programme. We source whatever a preschool or playgroup requires and supplies it at a reasonable price. We also offer training and support where needed in the use of equipment.
Site Learning Programme (SLP)
The Grassroots Site Learning Programme (SLP) provides preschools with a detailed daily programme that is registered by the Western Cape Education Department. The uniqueness of our SLP is that we produced it through a truly participative process, over several years. Every preschool in the province forms part of our SLP workshops where we develop and… Continue reading Site Learning Programme (SLP)
ECD Centre Development
We currently work with over 2000 preschool centers with the aim of getting them registered and eligible for state subsidization. Every week we add between 3 an 5 new preschools as beneficiaries of vital state subsidisation.This process is very intensive as we need to ensure that each preschool is safe, delivers a sound classroom programme… Continue reading ECD Centre Development
Grassroots Playgroups
Grassroots’ Playgroups fill a vital gap for children who are far from a formally established ECD Centre / Preschool. Our Playgroups therefore operate in informal settlements, on remote farming areas and in small rural villages. Grassroots maintains over 400 Playgroups throughout the Western Cape. Our support comprises training the playgroup hosts (‘the playgroup leader’) to… Continue reading Grassroots Playgroups