Meet our new Executive Director

My name is Nomzamo Princess Nkosazana Landingwe and I am born and bred in Cape Town. I have qualifications in social and political studies, I have an extreme interest in community development and I have been working in this field for the past 10 years.
I have been blessed to work in organisations that have invested in my training as well as giving me exposure to the most complex communities. One of my best experiences was working with Higher Education Student Leadership at the South African Centre for Organisational Development, to facilitating practical solutions to HIV and AIDS and Poverty at the United Nations Development Programme. In 2006 I became part of the social development programme of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa as a program manager. It is here that I have learnt a deeper understanding of “Mission and Service” and of what is meant by poverty and starting with what you have. During this time I was involved in assisting urban development to deep rural social action in villages of Mozambique.
When I reflect on the work of the organisations I have been part of, I know that this is God’s plan at work in my life. In this part of my journey I have begun to experience God and to be a part of the Word shared in Mathew 19: 14: “Let the children come to me”.
I have been working for Sikhula Sonke Early Childhood Development since April 2010. It is such a joy to work directly with the beneficiaries, in particular the women and the children, as this is one ministry that is close to my heart. The programs of Sikhula Sonke continue to teach me about child-centred approaches to development. From the beginning of my employment, I have been part of steering the implementation of ELRU’s Family and Community Motivators Programme (FCM) in Khayelitsha. This is a new programme for Sikhula Sonke that seeks to extend support and capacitate the parents and caregivers in especially vulnerable areas of Khayelitsha. Through this program we seek to broaden their knowledge of how to develop their children and how to access various services to increase their support network.

To the community of Khayelitsha, the Board and the staff of Sikhula Sonke ECD I would like to thank you for putting your trust in me to be part of this humbling ministry.

Yours truly,
Nomzamo

Investec Vuvuzela Fundraiser

We would like to say a very BIG thank you to Gillian Scott, Hendrik Du Toit and the staff of Investec Asset Management in London for the generous donation of R12,000. You used an office "fun-raiser" to reach out to a very worthy cause and we really appreciate your care and support in these tough times!

If any of you are ever in Cape Town and you would like to visit our organisation, please let us know!

Warm regards

Wendy Wiemers

Report back on the 2nd Parent Training session for 2010

The second parental training for 2010 was held at Sikhula Sonke premises on 02 July 2010. A total number of seventy (70) parents attended the meeting. This time we had more males than the last training and this was encouraging. The increasing number of male parents encourages us to acknowledge the development of children as not only female parental responsibility. The meeting started at 9.30h00 a.m. It was opened with prayer, some exercise and games.
The new Executive Director, Nomzamo and the Program Manager, Mdebuka Mthwazi were the lead facilitators in this training. We had speakers from different circles of Early Childhood development. The partnership in the presentations with other organisation is to encourage the parents of Khayelitsha not to take Early Childhood development for granted but to understand ECD as a highly recognised intervention in early years. This training had three themes:
1. Health and Nutrition for babies and young children
2. Play and creative play
3. Children’s rights and responsibilities
Nomzamo welcomed the visitors and gave a brief introduction of her and the speakers expected. Mdebuka then followed by introducing the purpose of the workshop and also doing a reflection on the previous workshop. It came out that parents are starting to show active appreciation of their role in the development of their children. They told different stories of their participatory involvement.
Lindiwe of Ethafeni Day Care Centre made a presentation on nutrition and young babies. Parents listened with enthusiasm and asked a lot of questions on this theme. There was quite a robust discussion around this theme. They appreciated the new information that they learnt. One of the parents acknowledged that, she didn’t know that her 6 months old baby weighing 8, 3kg was obese. She appreciated the sharing and committed to follow the right dietary procedures. Most of the participants would like this session to be conducted with them again and also in ECD sites to makes the practitioners more of health and nutrition.
We also had another interesting session presented by the Centre for creative education. The parents learnt a lot about the importance of play and the different types of play like Fantasy Play, Imaginative play and others. One of the parents comment was that, she didn’t know that she deprived her child developmental opportunities when she refused the child an opportunity to play more especially if she is wearing clean clothes. She has vowed not to do that mistake again; she will give as many opportunities for the children to play.

Visit by ELRU and Jim Joel to new FCM program

We always treasure an opportunity to show others where we work, especially those that we value and look up to, so the visit by ELRU staff and Giuliana of Jim Joel was a treat.
We drove in to Enkanini area of Khayelitsha, where ELRU’s Family and Community Motivator program will be piloted. Our staff are very excited about this program and have spent a few months being trained and mentored by ELRU as well as researching the community and building relationships with the leaders in the area.
It was all systems go this Monday, as our fieldworkers started working with the 20 families that have been recruited. Here follows a brief summary of the FCM Program for those who are interested:
Family and Community Motivator Program Objectives
The FCM programme objectives are situated within the child rights and democratic framework and the programme aims to:
1. Raise awareness around children’s rights.
2. Support the growth and development of vulnerable children from birth to nine years by increasing access to government’s services such as child support grants, with a key focus on the under sixes in home and family settings.
3. Enhance the knowledge and skills of caregivers regarding the developmental needs of children by building on their existing belief and child-raising practices.
4. Support women and men in their role as primary caregivers and encourage men to play an active role in the lives of young children.
5. Promote the inclusion of children with disabilities, chronic illnesses, HIV and Aids and displaced or refugee children.
6. Use a rights-based approach to address the power inequalities between men and women which leave women vulnerable, sick and dying.

The Methods and Approaches of the FCM Program
This objective requires methods and approaches that:
• Locate the programme within a recognised and committed community-based consultative and management structure.
• Use a baseline survey to provide information about the child and primary caregiver needs for planning and programme design.
• Develop and implement a developmental learning programme, for the child and the caregiver, which clarifies the tasks of the primary caregivers and the tasks of the motivator, taking care to encourage resilience strategies.
• Develop a cadre of practioners with knowledge and skills in ECD and community development who are the ECD Support and Development Workers (facilitators) and the Family and Community Motivators (motivators).
• Build capacity and sustainability at all levels by using appropriate methods and materials and linking to income-generating opportunities.
• Monitor, support and evaluate the progress of the work and integrate learning from the reviews into the way forward.
• Manage conflict at all levels of the partnerships involved: community, NGOs, government and any other stakeholders.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions,

Nomzamo Landingwe