The Experiences of Early Childhood Development Home Visitors in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa
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South African Journal of Childhood Education ISSN: (Online) 2223-7682, (Print) 2223-7674 Page 1 of 12 Original Research The experiences of early childhood development home visitors in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa Authors: Background: This article examines the development of early childhood development (ECD) 1 Lenette Azzi-Lessing home-visiting services in South Africa. Kim Schmidt2 Aim: To examine the factors that could support the success of home-visiting programmes as Affiliations: well as to explore the experiences of bachelor’s-level home visitors rendering such services. 1School of Social Work, Boston University, Boston, Setting: This study was conducted in the Eastern Cape, a highly impoverished area of Massachusetts, United States South Africa. 2 Department of Social Work Methods: It begins with a discussion of the emergence of home-visiting as a strategy for the and Social Development, Faculty of Social Sciences delivery of ECD services in South Africa and a review of the literature on ECD home-visiting, and Humanities, University particularly with highly vulnerable, impoverished families. Next a focus group conducted of Fort Hare, East London, with a small sample of home visitors as part of a multi-faceted community assessment is South Africa described. The results are examined within the context of challenges facing this particular part Corresponding author: of South Africa and the nation as a whole. Kim Schmidt, Results: Four themes emerged as most prominent: (1) encountering the effects of extreme [email protected] family poverty, (2) identifying high rates and multiple aspects of child maltreatment, Dates: (3) encountering scarce resources in high-need areas and (4) finding rewards and maintaining Received: 04 Mar. 2019 a desire to continue serving challenging populations. Accepted: 23 July 2019 Published: 14 Oct. 2019 Conclusion: This study provides a unique window on the challenges that ECD home visitors are likely to encounter when working with families living in extreme poverty, the resourcefulness How to cite this article: Azzi-Lessing, L. & Schmidt, K., that home visitors often demonstrate and the rewards to be found in this work. 2019, ‘The experiences of Keywords: home-visiting programmes; early childhood development; social work; vulnerable early childhood development home visitors in the Eastern young children; poverty. Cape province of South Africa’, South African Journal of Childhood Education 9(1), a748. https:// Introduction doi.org/10.4102/sajce. In recent years, around the globe, interest in early childhood development (ECD) and the variety v9i1.748 of supports necessary for young children to develop optimally has expanded substantially and Copyright: continues to grow (Britto, Engle & Super 2013; Britto et al. 2017). In South Africa, the government © 2019. The Authors. has committed to ensuring that all young children and especially children in highly vulnerable Licensee: AOSIS. This work families and communities are able to access a comprehensive package of quality ECD services by is licensed under the Creative Commons 2030 (Republic of South Africa 2015). This package will include programmes that support and Attribution License. reach out to children and their families at a household level through home-visiting programmes (Republic of South Africa 2015). It is thus significant to examine the factors that could support the success of home-visiting programmes as well as to explore the experiences of home visitors rendering such services. As South Africa progresses in developing its system of ECD home-visiting programmes, understanding the challenges in providing these services and other experiences of home visitors is critical to developing effective programmes within this system. Although a number of studies have been conducted on the experiences of home visitors in other parts of the world (Burrell et al. 2009; Harden, Denmark & Saul 2010), there is a dearth of information on the experiences of ECD home visitors in the African context and in South Africa in particular. This is problematic given that South Africa and many other African countries have extremely high levels of child poverty Read online: and the various risk factors and stressors typically present in impoverished families and Scan this QR communities. These nations also have less developed infrastructure and fewer resources to code with your smart phone or address these problems than in many other parts of the world. Because of this, home visitors in mobile device these countries are likely to face more extreme challenges in working with poor families with to read online. young children. These challenges are influenced, in both positive and undesirable ways, by the http://www.sajce.co.za Open Access Page 2 of 12 Original Research various geographic locations and cultural contexts in which (Republic of South Africa 2015). Even with South Africa’s home-visiting services are delivered. commitment to ECD, the majority of young children ‘are still negatively impacted by a range of social and economic This article examines the development of ECD home-visiting inequalities including inadequate access to healthcare, services in South Africa and the experiences of bachelors- education, social services and nutrition’ (Atmore 2013:152). level home visitors in a highly impoverished area of the Equitable and quality ECD services for all young children country. It begins with a discussion of the emergence of remain an ideal that South Africa has not yet achieved home-visiting as a strategy for the delivery of ECD services (Atmore 2013; Aubrey 2017). in South Africa and a brief overview of the ECD home- visiting field. A focus group conducted with a small sample Challenges facing early childhood development in of home visitors as part of a multi-faceted community South Africa assessment is described. The results are examined within the Ensuring optimal development for young children in South context of challenges facing this particular part of South Africa remains a daunting task given the high rates of Africa and the nation as a whole. Lastly, the limitations of this poverty and the challenges poverty brings. High rates study and its contribution to the ECD home-visiting of unemployment and inequality in wages continue to knowledge base are discussed, as are recommendations for contribute to 55.5% (n = 30.4 million) of South Africans living future studies on the experiences of ECD home visitors in in poverty, with young children identified as one of the South Africa. groups most vulnerable and likely to experience poverty (Aubrey 2017; Statistics South Africa 2017). Sixty-two per Literature review cent of children in South Africa under the age of 6 experience poverty, with 30% of these experiencing food poverty, Emergence of early childhood development as a making them vulnerable to hunger and malnourishment priority in South Africa (Hall et al. 2017). This is extremely problematic given that Early childhood development was recognised as a matter of undernutrition during the early years makes children importance by the South African government as early as 1994 vulnerable to future chronic diseases, poor educational when the first democratic elections were held. Since then, performance, and behavioural and emotional problems legislation and policies such as the Convention on the Rights (Victora et al. 2008). In addition to the poverty and of the Child, various White Papers on Social Welfare and malnutrition that some young children face, other risk Education and the Children’s Act 38 of 2005 have passed factors such as low birth weight, infectious diseases, through parliament, all foregrounding the importance of environmental toxins, high levels of stress, exposure to ECD services (Atmore 2013). More recently, the 2030 Agenda violence, maternal depression, disrupted caregiving and on Sustainable Development was adopted by South Africa, disabilities continue to affect far too many young children in the South African National Curriculum Framework (NCF) South Africa (Republic of South Africa 2015). for children from birth to four, and the first National Integrated ECD (NIECD) Policy was approved by cabinet More than a million children are born in South Africa every (Dhlamini 2016; Dlamini 2015). South Africa has aligned its year, with many of these children living in rural areas, National Development Plan (NDP) to the 2030 Agenda with making access to ECD services problematic and costly to the first six goals relating to the social development of people render (Hall et al. 2017). Other challenges facing ECD in by addressing poverty, hunger, well-being, inclusive and South Africa include the poor infrastructure at ECD facilities quality education, gender equality, and access to clean water where many community-based centres function without safe and sanitation. Investing in early childhood development buildings or access to running water, electricity and has again emerged as a key priority for the South African sanitation. Government funding for ECD centres remains government as essential to achieving the 2030 Agenda and difficult to access, particularly for centres with inadequate the NDP, in particular the goals relating to people and social infrastructure. Moreover, many ECD practitioners lack the development (Motshekga 2015). educational qualifications and skills necessary to promote optimal development for the young children in their care Within each of these six goals, targets relating to early (Atmore 2013). childhood development