Deadline: 30-Apr-25
The Jim Joel Fund is offering grants to support the Early Childhood Development (ECD) sector that works to improve access and the quality of early learning programmes for the most marginalised of young children and their families.
Early childhood, specifically the period between birth and two years of age, is the time when the brain develops the most rapidly and has a high capacity for change. It is a critical time for establishing the foundation for good health, education and optimal productivity for the future.
The emotional, social and physical development of young children has a direct effect on their overall development and the adult they will become. During the early years, more than one million neural connections are formed each second in a child’s brain, particularly during the first one thousand days of a child’s life. This shows them that children learn and develop more in these early years than they do at any other point in their lives.
Young children and their families living in poverty without adequate support from the state and others, weakens the architecture of the developing brain, which can lead to lifelong problems in learning, behaviour, and physical and mental health.
This is why understanding the need to invest in very young children is so important. It is to maximise their future well-being.
Eligible Activities
- These are some of the activities that they fund:
- Accredited Level 4 and 5 NQF training
- Skills based courses
- Parenting support and home visiting programmes
- Enrichment and playroom support programmes
- Capacity building and mentorship for leaders of training providers
- Materials and resource development
- Outreach programmes
- Playgroups
- Toy libraries
- Support to ECD networks
Eligibility Criteria
- The Jim Joel Fund is the South African conduit for funding from The Childwick Trust in the UK and currently supports a number of training providers working in the ECD sector.
Ineligibility Criteria
- They do not fund:
- Any private, home based or community owned early learning programmes (ECD pre-schools/creches)
- Children protection organisations
- Capital costs i.e. purchase of a vehicle or building costs of any kind
- Bursaries
- Attendance at international or local conferences
- Research
- Any organisations operating outside SA
For more information, visit Jim Joel Fund.