The implementation of community-based care: a case study

The backlog in terms of readiness for formal learning structures of children in low-income countries necessitates intervention programmes to alleviate the disadvantage. In these low-income countries, it is unlikely that the state will provide facilities or programmes for preschool children, as resources are just not available. Therefore, as an alternative, communities should develop their own strategies to find solutions for childcare. Variables that play a role in the quality of provisioning in establishing community-based facilities were identified. They include the quality of care-giving, the training of caregivers and the quality of the activities offered to the children. The brief of the researcher was two-fold: firstly, to assess the quality of provisioning at these centres and secondly, to monitor the training of caregivers in the 10 selected community-based centres. The results indicated that in order to empower communities and parents in terms of the skills and knowledge that should enable them to take responsibility for such a model of provisioning, the direct inclusion of the community seems necessary.