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DGMT SmartStart

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Location

South Africa

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Sector

Education

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Type of Investment

Grant

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Project Stage

Test & Transition

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Length of Investment

2020+

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Website

https://dgmt.co.za/smartstart/

Investment Overview

A non-profit company creating social franchises aimed at scaling up quality Early Childhood Education (ECE) across South Africa. SmartStart currently reaches roughly 35,000 children a year through 3,500 practitioners in all nine of South Africas provinces, and is targeting 10,000 practitioners with the aim of reaching 100,000 children a year in its 2020-2022 phase.

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The Development Challenge

UNICEF estimated that, in 2017, 49 percent of children aged three to five were enrolled in a group early learning programme in South Africa. It was also estimated, however, that less than half of these children participated in programmes of sufficient quality to derive the expected early childhood education benefits. Furthermore, it was estimated that more than 1 million children, primarily those from the poorest backgrounds, did not have access to any form of group learning programme.

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The Innovation

SmartStart is a non-profit company creating social franchises aimed at scaling quality Early Childhood Education (ECE) provision across South Africa. SmartStart currently reaches roughly 35,000 children a year through 3,500 practitioners in all nine of South Africas provinces and is targeting 10,000 practitioners with the aim of reaching 100,000 children a year in its 2020-2022 phase. GIFs grant will specifically be used by SmartStart to design and build a mobile-enabled ECE/ECD practitioner management and support platform, which will initially be used by SmartStart, but then ideally be adopted by the Government of South Africa, as well as other ECE/ECD providers.

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Our Investment

GIF invested $1.46M in 2020. GIF expects SmartStarts interventions to have a meaningful outcome on childrens learning, thereby setting them up for future years of education and work. The vision of success for SmartStart is to fund and deliver their next phase of work so that the Government of South Africa recognises SmartStarts two-day, non-centre-based ECE programme as a viable alternative to the current five day centre-based provision. This will be achieved through the scaling up of its programme to 100,000 children a year. Ultimately, success will be achieved if the government supports SmartStart through Phase III in helping 1 million 3-4 years olds gain access to good quality ECE provision every year by 2025. GIF is also seeking the successful building, launching and adoption by SmartStart practitioners, coaches and parents, as well as at least one other DGMT-affiliated entity, of a mobile-enabled platform. In the longer term, SmartStart should also be working with the Government of South Africa to incorporate child-level learning data from the platform into the countrys broader health and education information management systems.

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Investment Objective

To build and launch a mobile-enabled management and support tech platform for ECD practitioners in South Africa in order to test if the light-touch SmartStart model is effective and operationally viable.

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Why we invested

Early Childhood Education and Development is proven to have a meaningful outcome on childrens learning and sets them up for future years of education and work.

SmartStart was established in 2015 and incubated by the DG Murray Trust, a well-respected leader in the human development space in South Africa with a strong relationship to the Government of South Africa.

GIF believes that the SmartStart two-day, non-centre-based model will ultimately reduce the cost of ECE provision whilst increasing access, without adversely affecting learning outcomes, leading to its adoption by government and replication by other providers.

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SmartStart in numbers

$1.46 million

Grant provided by GIF

100,000

Children aimed to reach per year

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SmartStart Impact Brief

Introduction

UNICEF estimated that, in 2017, 49 percent of children aged three to five were enrolled in a group early learning programme in South Africa. It was also estimated, however, that less than half of these children participated in programmes of sufficient quality to derive the expected early childhood education benefits. Furthermore, it was estimated that more than 1 million children, primarily those from the poorest backgrounds, did not have access to any form of group learning programme. SmartStart’s own research (see below) suggested even starker figures.

SmartStart’s driving purpose is to achieve population-level change in access to early learning through a scalable social franchise model that harnesses the immeasurable social capital of (mostly) women. SmartStart is taking quality and affordable early learning to tens of thousands of children across South Africa. With their distributed network of partners, not only is SmartStart ensuring that tens of thousands of children have the right foundations in place to succeed at school and beyond; they are also creating employment and social enterprise opportunities, enabling more women to work, and stimulating economic activity in even the most under-resourced communities. SmartStart was established in 2015 and incubated by the DG Murray Trust (DGMT), a well-respected leader in the human development space in South Africa.

Use of GIF Funds

GIF provided a $1.46 million grant to SmartStart, in collaboration with South Africa’s Department of Science and Innovation, to fund the design and building of a mobile-enabled ECE/ECD practitioner management and support platform. This was to will be used by SmartStart initially, but ideally in the longer-term will be adopted by the Government of South Africa, as well as other early childhood care and development providers.

Objectives

Build and launch a mobile-enabled management and support tech platform for ECD practitioners In South Africa to test if the light-touch SmartStart model is effective and operationally viable. GIF’s expectation is that the platform will support SmartStart as it scales to monitor and continuously improve the quality of its programme delivery. The platform will be made available to the wider ecosystem as an open source project.

Impact/Progress to Date

SmartStart currently reaches roughly 35,000 children a year through 3,500 practitioners in all nine of South Africa’s provinces, and is targeting 10,000 practitioners with the aim of reaching 100,000 children a year in its 2020-2022 phase.

The project start was delayed due to the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and the initial lockdown in South Africa, and DGMT’s direct role in helping the government to respond. Two in-house UX designers have been recruited by DGMT to work on the platform. In addition, a project reference group has been created with advisers/leaders in the ECE/ECD space in South Africa. Despite the challenging backdrop, field visits were undertaken in late 2020 to gather requirements for the platform from active SmartStart and other ECE practitioners, as well as community health workers. At the end of 2020, DGMT issued a tender to a select number of IT agencies, with the aim of contracting one to start developing the platform.