Parents and primary caregivers are a child’s first and most important teachers. The love, guidance and support they provide lay the foundation for lifelong learning, well-being and success. This programme represents a renewed commitment to empowering parents and caregivers with the knowledge, skills and confidence needed to nurture children’s growth and development during the critical early years. The updated content draws on current evidence, practitioner experience and South African policy frameworks in early childhood development.

We wish to acknowledge the invaluable contributions of the Department of Basic Education, United Nations Children’s Fund South Africa and our many partners in government, civil society and communities who have worked tirelessly to bring this resource to life.

Together, we are building a strong foundation for the future of our children and for our nation. We encourage all who use this training package to embrace its guidance, adapt it to their context and share its lessons widely. In so doing, we strengthen families, communities and South Africa as a whole.

The Training Package

The purpose of this training programme is to train parents/caregivers who take care of babies and young children from birth to five years old. Parents/caregivers possess a wealth of experience, knowledge and skills, and the training programme will use this as the starting point. The training programme will also share new ideas with the participants.

The training programme consists of 11 sessions. It is designed for flexibility of presentation; for example, the sessions can be trained in a time block, or the training can be spread over a few weeks during which one session per week is trained. Each session will take about three hours to complete.