The ECD Learning Community and the Bernard van Leer Foundation were concerned that there is not enough recognition and inclusion of local and indigenous knowledge and practices in South African ECD programmes. Many traditions, practices and beliefs are unrecorded and becoming lost.

Eleven ECDLC partners participated in this participatory research project, with support from a research team including ELRU, the Family Literacy Project (FLP) and Save the Children. The project was designed to stimulate and support communities’ enquiry into their own knowledge about child rearing while at the same time deepening our own ability and interest in working with local and indigenous knowledge. Findings will be discussed with participating communities to inform future ECD programmes. We also wanted to disseminate the approach to other practitioners and policy makers encouraging them to include local and indigenous knowledge in programmes for young children and their families.

Although each partner community identified a theme of local interest, certain themes emerged across several different communities:

• Child development starts before birth
• Protection and safety is seen holistically, including monitoring of development, physical and spiritual
• Play is a means of learning (including stories and traditional games)
• There are many different caring roles – fathers, mothers, older women, older children, community as a whole
• Children’s development is viewed in terms of children’s needs rather than children’s rights

In October, a panel of some of the partners reflected on these themes at the ELRU Heritage Seminar. The session was introduced by a picture story assembled by IPEB and FLP. Discussing the session, Professor Kofi Marfo from Ghana and the University of Florida was delighted with the emerging outcomes of this process which placed the community at the centre. The process of working with communities on these issues was very illuminating for partners - being among elders with knowledge about cultural matters who could give reasons for specific practices was appreciated. There was a deeper understanding of the communities where partners were working including a deeper understanding of values as well as culture. The level of participation and engagement by communities surprised some partners and opened the doors for new programmes. A key lesson was that “participation is about respect”.

A report will be available early in 2011 once all partners have completed the feedback.