Reflections on South African #ChildGauge2024: Enhancing ECD. A year ago, we released the 17th edition of our Child Gauge, bringing together over 50 contributors from across the country to track progress since the inception of the National Integrated #ECD Policy in 2015 and set an agenda for 2030.

Resource for parents & caregivers on ECD ❤️🧠🩺 Drawing on the findings of our 2024 South African Child Gauge, we've created a short and easy to read guide for families on #ECD. It aims to help families better understand & support development of young children, right from pregnancy. 🔗 bit.ly/4fV4C5y

In case you missed it: Supreme Court of Appeal ordered SA Council for Educators to redraft its mandatory sanctions policy related to #corporalpunishment, in consultation with us & @upchildlaw.bsky.social. Our @lucycpt.bsky.social spoke to News24 & Cape Talk on this 📻 bit.ly/47q4gSN 📰 bit.ly/4ngWmQy

New commentary💡As part of our work on #commercialdeterminants of health, we reflect on Milson et al’s work & how their systems thinking & causal loop diagrams can deepen understanding – and responses to – commercial determinants. International Journal of Health Policy & Management 🔓🔗 bit.ly/4g8NDNO

Advocacy symposium: Dr Imtiaz Sooliman, founder of the Gift of the Givers Foundation, spoke powerfully on how paediatricians can respond to children in crisis, at a recent advocacy symposium of the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, University of Cape Town.

Policy briefs 💡 📄 ⚙️ How should #streetyouth be supported to be resilient? The 2REST research project recognises that social, institutional and physical environment factors are key to #resilience (multisystemic resilience). Read our recommendations in new policy briefs 🔗 ci.uct.ac.za/articles/202...

Gaza faces the severe risk of famine as food consumption and nutrition indicators have reached their worst levels since the conflict began. Read more: unicef.link/3HaUx85

In case you missed it: As our @lori-lake.bsky.social explains, this article she co-wrote highlights how formula milk companies target health professionals - offering gifts of sponsorship to up sales. It calls for severing ties with industry to eliminate conflicts of interest #NoSuchThingAsAFreeLunch

This is a man-made disaster. Enough is enough. The United Nations must be allowed to deliver aid of all types at scale to families in Gaza, wherever they are.

In international news 📺 Qamani wants to play professional soccer, but because he doesn’t have a birth certificate he’s not allowed to take part in tournaments. He is raised by his grandmother, who’s been trying for 4 years to register his birth with the Department of Home Affairs #InvisibleChildren

Dissemination workshop: Responsibilities for Resilience Embedded in Street Temporalities (2REST). The lived realities for children and youth in many African cities are of rising inequality and poverty, with the number & proportion of youth in African countries rising.

Robert F Kennedy Jr’s vaccine stance is completely at odds with global public health community & vaccine science, ignoring years of research that have found #vaccines safe, effective & have saved an estimated 154 million lives— mostly under age 5— over the past 50 years bhekisisa.org/health-news-...

In case you missed it 🎞️ Last night the South Africa launch of the United & Unique doccie took place. Youths from SA & Northern Ireland who’ve lived in foster care or child and youth centres, co-produced the film to share their experiences of alternative care & their hopes for change #VoiceAndAgency

United and Unique documentary launch 🎬 Young adults from South Africa and Northern Ireland, who have experienced foster care or child and youth care centres, have co-produced a film that shares their insights into alternative care and leaving care, and their hopes for change. #VoiceAndAgency

Protecting children from violence: Our Senior Researcher @lucycpt.bsky.social recently sat down with eNCA News for a crucial conversation on child protection - discussing the systemic failures and the evidence-based interventions. 📺 🔗 www.enca.com/shows/last-w... #ChildProtection #ViolencePrevention

News 📰 12 of 15 caregivers in our legal action against Home Affairs now have birth certificates for their kids! But our case (with @lrc.org.za) is also aimed at fixing system failures causing 258,000 kids & young adults to be invisible due birth registation delays 🔗 bit.ly/46wHgkz #InvisibleChildren

There is growing evidence that products and practices of large corporations are responsible for increasing rates of avoidable health problems, and health and social inequity. These problems are known as the commercial determinants of health - private sector activities that affect people’s health.

New journal article 💡 As part of our work on commercial determinants of child health we've co-written this on the urgent need to end sponsorship of healthcare professional associations by the milk formula industry. It undermines breastfeeding & compromises maternal & child health 🔓🔗 bit.ly/3Ibw2bd

In case you missed it: Watch this short explainer on our court case, seeking relief for over 250,000 kids and adults whose constitutional rights and access to basic services are ensnared in excessive and inefficient admin processes. We’re represented by @lrc.org.za in this case against Home Affairs.

In May 2023, the Home Affairs Minister acknowledged to Parliament that a backlog of over 250,000 applications for late registration of birth had accumulated (2018-2022). This huge figure is not our estimate. As part of our court case, we've asked Home Affairs to provide updated data for 2023 onward.

Nomahlubi wants to be a doctor one day but without a birth certificate she’s suffered exclusion from education & social grants. Now, Home Affairs is being taken to task by the Children's Institute & @lrc.org.za over the backlog that’s robbing 1000s of basic rights www.timeslive.co.za/sunday-times...

Listen to our interview on SAFM about the enormous backlog in issuing birth certificates. Children are being excluded from healthcare, education & social grants. Alongside @lrc.org.za, we're taking Home Affairs to court to get it to diagnose the problem & create plans to address it. ▶️ bit.ly/4e98QWY

The Children’s Institute, @lrc.org.za and eight caregivers are taking Home Affairs to court over the years-long delays in the birth registration of hundreds of thousands of children. Read more about our case in this news article.

“What we need is for UNICEF and its humanitarian partners to be allowed to do our jobs.” Read UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell’s op-ed in @nytimes.com on the urgent need to regain safe, sustained aid access to Gaza at scale. ⬇️

Govt must increase investment in social services. Enough money must be allocated to prevention programmes - long term. Funding support to victims is crucial but to reduce number of victims we must substantially invest in #violenceprevention. www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025... #ChildProtection

Over 300 child leaders from Africa gathered to advocate for a better future at the #AfricaChildrensSummit2025. This child-led convening aims to foster dialogue between policymakers and children. Read reflections of our Senior Researcher @lucycpt.bsky.social & others: bit.ly/3T3NNev #VoiceAndAgency

“Love, you need to give your child love”: Mothers’ perceptions of nurturing care for young children in South Africa. Our new research article 🔎💡 is 1 of few studies to explore caregivers’ perceptions of nurturing care (South Africa) & first to focus on #First1000Days. 🔓 doi.org/10.1155/cad/... #ECD

Today alongside @unicef.org South Africa we're hosting a civil society consultation with UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence Against Children, Dr Najat Maalla M’jid. She's a global independent advocate of preventing and eliminating all forms of #ViolenceAgainstChildren.

New 💡📚 Research tracing how women's movements have influenced #GBV policy in South Africa over 3 key periods (apartheid, post-apartheid & contemporary context), is co-authored by our @lucycpt.bsky.social. 🔎 Read the report & research brief: bit.ly/3GzTiif 📹 Watch: youtu.be/Snn06mqofH4?... #Feminism

In the news 📰 Research evidence shows how harmful it is for children to experience and witness violence - such as corporal punishment in school. Senior Researcher @lucycpt.bsky.social spoke to YFM News about this and what needs to be done to #EndCorporalPunishment www.yfm.co.za/2025/04/23/e...

It’s #WorldImmunizationWeek Vaccines have saved 154 million lives in the last 50 years. That’s 6 lives every minute. A reminder of what is #HumanlyPossible. Science saves lives. #VaccinesWork bit.ly/wiw2025

The Child Gauge is our flagship publication. The 17th edition focuses on #ECD – from conception to formal school. It collates the latest evidence to surface progress, challenges & way forward. #ChildGauge2024 reminds us that answers to complex societal problems lie in early childhood: bit.ly/4fV4C5y

New toolkit 💡⚙️🌍 For a multi-country research project, we’ve created this guide to help introduce group-based care for pregnant women into health facilities. The model offers healthcare, interactive learning & community building. Take a look: ci.uct.ac.za/group-care-f... #First1000Days #AntenatalCare

“Sudan is the biggest humanitarian crisis in the world today, but it is not getting the world’s attention.” - UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. Conflict is entering its third year in Sudan. Children need it to end. Learn more: unicef.link/42eKerq

New article 💡 Journal of Colleges of Medicine of SA: As part of our work on the commercial determinants of #ChildHealth, we've co-written this piece on conflicts of interest created when health professionals & associations accept funding from the #FormulaMilk industry. jcmsa.org.za/index.php/jc...

Warning over child deaths as aid cut - The Lancet www.thelancet.com/journals/lan... @thelancet.bsky.social #ChildrensRights #ChildRights

"Child & adolescent #MentalHealth is the foundation of a strong, vibrant & caring society. Yet only 1 in 10 children with a diagnosable mental health disorder is able to access treatment." 📻 Listen to our Lori Lake on SAFM Radio, on how South Africa can begin to remedy this: omny.fm/shows/the-fu...

#ECD research 💡 Over the past 4 years, as part of a multi-country research project, we've investigated safe, inclusive, & participative pedagogy which is implementable & sustainable for communities where children experience particular stress & trauma. Read our latest reports & briefs: bit.ly/3NRYi22

Statistics on children 📊 Children Count is a permanent project of ours that draws on national household surveys and administrative data to monitor realisation of children’s rights by analysing trends in child indicators. It covers 40 indicators in 6 domains linked to various rights. 💻 bit.ly/422kH3A

JUST IN: For the past week, SA researchers have been on red alert out of fear that the Trump administration may end their grants. Now it’s happened. Find out more via @miamalan.bsky.social. bhekisisa.org/health-news-...

Yes. Investment in #ECD boosts lifelong health, education and employment prospects. To break intergenerational poverty, violence and ill-health, govt must focus on this sensitive period of early childhood, for investment to be most effective. www.ewn.co.za/2025/03/17/r... #EarlyChildhoodDevelopment

Learn about our impacts and meet our team, in our 2023/2024 biennial report bit.ly/4bzL8lq Thank you to our partners and supporters for your contribution to realising a society where children are valued and nurtured, and can participate, develop and thrive. #EngagedScholarship #KnowledgeTranslation

Hi Bluesky! We're a research unit at University of Cape Town, addressing challenges facing children in South Africa through research, advocacy & education. We explore tensions between policy, practice & lived realities, to promote design & implementation of laws & services enabling kids to thrive 🌱