Impande is currently expanding operations to 2 new Municipalities – Umzimkhulu in the Harry Gwala District of KwaZulu-Natal and Ntabankulu in the Alfred Nzo District of the Eastern Cape.

Both areas have high levels of poverty and unemployment, poor infrastructure and low levels of economic growth. Impande believes that the most effective developmental approach is a long term one – hence the focus on investing in the lives of young children in these areas.

ECD NETWORK AND SUPPORT

At the end of 2021 we identified and profiled existing Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres. There are 158 centres operating in Umzimkhulu and 122 centres in Ntabankulu.  A total of 123 centres are not subsidised by the Department of Social Development (DSD), which means that they do not have funds to feed the children that attend or pay the practitioners that work there.  We are currently setting up local offices in each of the municipalities. From here we will assist ECD centres with registration and offer training and coaching to build capacity. 

All our interventions are rooted in a solid ECD Network that promotes shared experience, exchange of information, collective voice, and collaboration.

MORE ABOUT THE NEW AREAS

Umzimkhulu
73% of the population live in traditional housing and 58% of households are headed by women, primarily as a result of migration to urban areas by men seeking work. 15,7% of households do not have access to electricity and the majority of households either get water from a river or piped water near their homesteads. 

Source: https://wazimap.co.za/

Ntabankulu
Ntabankulu’s largest town is Mount Ayliff. The majority of the area is sparsely populated rural area where water and electricity are scarce resources. The majority of the population get water from rivers or springs as only 34,5% of the population have access to piped water. 44% of the population have no access to electricity. Jobs are scarce with only 10,5% of people being employed. It is a challenging area to develop and create jobs, partly due to the lack of infrastructure and partly due to the relatively low levels of education with only 18% of the population having Matric or higher level of education.

Source: https://wazimap.co.za/