Sifunda Ngokuthetha: We Learn by Talking Together

Talking is teaching, even before very young children can respond with speech of their own. Conversations between caregivers and children play a key role in early brain development and better prepare children for school. Sifunda Ngokuthetha or We Learn by Talking Together promotes early childhood development in low-resourced areas in South Africa. The low-cost initiative uses conversation prompting signage in the supermarket, a place families frequent as part of their daily journey. Through engaging, character-based visual prompts, the program creates moments for caregivers who may have limited access to conventional learning materials to engage and learn with their children. The program could be adapted and scaled to include other public spaces in low-resourced areas worldwide, such as clinic waiting rooms, taxi ranks, and laundromats. The initiative is very attractive to corporations as part of their corporate social responsibility strategy, which exponentially expands the potential for scale and impact.  

Early stimulation and language-rich environments are key to children’s cognitive, social, and emotional development and enhance formal education. Children living in poverty are at risk for poor school performance due in part to the lack of early learning opportunities. In South Africa, 4,000,000 children under age six live in poverty. One million children ages 3 to 5 years don’t have access to any early learning program; programs often don’t meet minimum quality standards.

  South Africa committed to comprehensive early childhood development (ECD) services for every child by 2030. Successful implementation faces many challenges. NGO’s, government, and private sectors are working to remediate these challenges through home visiting programs, community playgroups, and center-based day care. However, there is a failure to broadly and creatively conceive of opportunities for early stimulation and learning. There is a missed opportunity —achievable at large scale and at low cost — to support caregivers as participants in their children’s early development, outside of the formal educational settings or human resource-intensive programs described in the national policy.

In 2017 we installed a pilot of Sifunda Ngokuthetha in a supermarket in the Duncan Village community in East London, South Africa. Young children growing up in this community have very little access to quality early learning programs. In Duncan Village we have partnered with Masibumbane Development Organisation to provide technical assistance to eight early childhood centres. Through that process we have worked with parents and centre staff to understand their needs and the barriers to early education. In addition we conducted focus groups in Johannesburg with mothers, as young as 16, of young children under age 6 and with older caregivers (grandmothers and other older women) to learn more about how they engage with their children and to review the Sifunda signage. The income of these families was ZAR 5000-7000. They were unaware that they could act as “teachers” for their children but were grateful to learn they could promote language development and learning through conversation.  In 2018 we completed a second stage installation in four supermarket sites in Johannesburg and Cape Town in formal partnership with a leading retailer. We estimate we reached 5000 caregiver/child dyads passing through the supermarket sites, or at least 10,000 individuals per month.

The solution is built on strong evidence that a) caregiver/child interactions and playful early learning yield significant child development benefits and b) these benefits can be gained in everyday environments, outside of formal learning and support programs. Our two-generational approach, targeting both caregivers and children for their mutual benefit, uses sound behavior change theory designed to alter caregiver attitudes and promote caregiver/child behavior that positively impacts child outcomes. Sifunda Ngokuthetha offers caregivers easy, specific and actionable suggestions to follow in the moment, reducing the stress of daily journeys and initiating a cycle of positive reinforcement. We know that interventions that promote “serve and return” interactions can prevent or reduce abuse and neglect; we believe that increasing positive engagement in public spaces may contribute to this critical goal.

To support and encourage conversation between the caregiver and child, eye-catching, colorful signs with open-ended questions are placed at several locations within a supermarket, offering the caregiver opportunities to initiate conversations with their children.  The concept is introduced as a family enters the supermarket, where they are greeted with a large, colorful sign that states: “Talking to your child helps their language grow!” As the family moves through the various sections of the supermarket, they find signs with different questions to support natural dialogue between caregiver and child.  For example, in the vegetable section, signs with colorful images of cartoon vegetables ask: “Question for your child: What’s your favorite vegetable?” and/or “Why are vegetables good to eat?” And as another example, in the dairy section, signs with a cartoon cow and a container of milk will ask: “Question for your child: Where does milk come from? And/or “Why is milk good to drink?” As they move through the market, caregivers are given multiple opportunities to practice engaging in quality conversations with their children.  The open-ended nature of the questions encourage a back and forth dialogue between the caregiver and child, offering many opportunities to support language development.

This project is based research conducted by Katherine E. Ridge and colleagues from Temple University and the University of Delaware. They researched how placing signs in supermarkets in three communities in the Pennsylvania and Delaware regions of the United States influenced the quantity and quality of adult-child interactions. They demonstrated that signs placed in supermarkets serving low-income populations had a significant impact on adult-child conversations. The researchers provided technical support to this project.

Our program is a process or service innovation that leads to substantial
improvements in addressing development challenges. Our model involves
an iterative and dynamic process that results in new an improved
business/delivery model for retailers and early childhood educators.

Our approach builds upon existing commercial and community assets in low-resourced areas where the basic building blocks of human development such as healthcare and education are scarce. It activates learning opportunities that are hiding in plain sight and introduces or increases learning possibilities in the existing environment rather than building new destination environments that may not fit the community. 

The approach takes advantage of a missed opportunity —achievable at large scale and at low cost — to support caregivers as participants in their children’s early development, outside of the formal educational settings or human resource-intensive programs described in South Africa's national policy. This cross-sectoral shared-value initiative requires the active engagement of community organizations, business, and a range of ECD sector partners within South Africa, yet it is low-cost and high reward.

Chief Scientist at the World Health Organization, Dr. Soumya Swaminathan said, “The use of digital technologies offers new opportunities to improve people’s lives. But the evidence also highlights challenges in the impact of some interventions. If digital technologies are to be sustained and integrated into health and education systems, they must be able to demonstrate long-term improvements over the traditional ways of delivering services.”

Our behavioral design solution builds off this premise by blending the best practices of traditional development approaches in behavior design with enhanced efficiencies of a shared-value business model.

An example of a process enhancement that is key to Sifunda Ngokuthetha is the re-use of print marketing off-cuts for in-store retail advertising for the educational material displays in partner stores. For example, Barrows, a print-house that creates product advertising displays for retail partners in the pilot stores, have an agreement to use excess print materials (that would otherwise be discarded) for the conversation-prompting signage of the Sifunda program. Barrows works with South Africa Partners to ensure the educational content printed on these off-cuts is effective and relevant. There is no additional cost to the partners involved.

Our theory of change is built on strong evidence that a) caregiver/child interactions and playful early learning yield significant child development benefits and b) these benefits can be gained in everyday environments, outside of formal learning and support programs. Our two-generational approach, targeting both caregivers and children for their mutual benefit, uses sound behavior change theory designed to alter caregiver attitudes and promote caregiver/child behavior that positively impacts child outcomes. Sifunda Ngokuthetha offers caregivers easy, specific and actionable suggestions to follow in the moment, reducing the stress of daily journeys and initiating a cycle of positive reinforcement. We know that interventions that promote “serve and return” interactions can prevent or reduce abuse and neglect; we believe that increasing positive engagement in public spaces may contribute to this critical goal.

This project is based on research conducted by Katherine E. Ridge and colleagues from Temple University and the University of Delaware. They researched how placing signs in supermarkets in three communities in the Pennsylvania and Delaware regions of the United States influenced the quantity and quality of adult-child interactions. They demonstrated that signs placed in supermarkets serving low-income populations had a significant impact on adult-child conversations. The researchers provided technical support to this project.

Ridge, K.E., Weisberg, D.S., Ilgaz, H., Hirsh‐Pasek, K.A. and Golinkoff, R.M., 2015. Supermarket Speak: Increasing Talk Among Low‐Socioeconomic Status Families. Mind, Brain, and Education, 9(3), pp.127-135.

In 2017, we tested Sifunda Ngokuthetha in a supermarket in East London, South Africa, where an observational study conducted by the University of Fort Hare documented a statistically significant increase in the desired, positive caregiver/child interactions in the presence of the signage. In 2018 we completed a second stage pilot in four supermarket sites in Johannesburg and Cape Town in formal partnership with a leading retailer, Pick n Pay. By our best estimate, if caregivers responded as documented in both the U.S. study and our 2017 study, our work arguably had an impact on over 5000 caregiver/child dyads passing through the supermarket sites, or at least 10,000 individuals. In 2018 Sifunda Ngokuthetha was in place in 4 supermarkets for a two-month period at each site. At two sites, an independent customer insights team determined the number of weekly shoppers with children. Extrapolating conservatively from that data, our intervention impacted 3300 family groups of 2 or more per week, or a minimum 6600 individuals and an additional 3500 adults and children who shop only bi-weekly or monthly. In one year we hope to expand 20 retail sites reaching 33,000 children per week. Over a five year period we expect to reach more than 1 million children.

Our goals within the next year are to secure partnerships with retailers to expand the reach of Sifunda Ngokuthetha to several low-resourced urban and peri-urban communities in South Africa. We will provide rotating signage to maintain the engagement of caretakers and children. Our goal in five years is to expand the intervention out into the community to saturate every day spaces with stimulating prompts. As a result of implementing Sifunda Ngokuthetha, after five years, more than 1,000,000 South African caregivers and children will routinely engage in positive, brain-building back and forth interactions as they shop, ride in a bus or taxi, que at an ATM, or wait for an appointment in a clinic or office. In response to the prompts, children and their caregivers will count, observe, compare, and talk about concepts and processes throughout the day. Communities where the prompts are installed will also feature redesigned outdoor spaces across the built environment— painted sidewalk surfaces that encourage jumping and counting, “puzzle benches” that teach about shapes, and innovative play installations that develop spatial abilities or encourage storytelling. In short, entire communities will enjoy expanded opportunities for quality early stimulation and early learning. Children in the targeted communities will demonstrate measurably increased school readiness. Communities across South Africa will embrace and be empowered by the idea that even with few formal resources, they have the agency to provide quality early stimulation and early learning for their children each and every day, setting them up for success in school and beyond.

The groundwork has been laid and we have buy-in from all major players, along with some initial site testing to prove the program's effectiveness. Our largest barrier is raising the funds needed to truly bring the program to the next level through additional stores and to expand to outdoor spaces. Specifically, we hope to engage a consultant who can provide consultation on expanding the concept to community spaces including play spaces. We have discussed the concept of using digital versions of the prompts in on electronic devices to help support caregivers interactions with children and reinforce the concepts in the home. Another barrier is the lack of resources to evaluate the children exposed to Sifunda Ngokutheta to be able to assess their developmental skills. We would focus heavily on monitoring and evaluation activities to ensure the program has maximum impact.

1. We will pursue additional funds from retail partners to expand the reach of the intervention in retail locations. We have developed a model for providing the materials and consultation on installation to supermarkets with the goal of not only providing an educational experience but also improving the shopping experience for families.  2. With increased exposure and demonstration of impact we will pursue partnerships with other partners to develop installations for community sites such as taxi stands, play spaces and other neighborhood locations frequented by caregivers and children. We are actively seeking to diversify our funding sources by partnering with organizations or corporations that are interested in the social impact of the program.  We will use the funds to develop and market the signage and digital forms.

South Africa Partners unlocks the collaborative potential between South Africa and the United States for equitable access to healthcare and education. Our non-profit organization was established in 1997. Sifunda Ngokuthetha is one of multiple innovative approaches that we have implemented towards expanding educational opportunities  in early childhood development. We also foster unique and effective public health collaborations that improve the quality of life for people living with and affected by HIV, tuberculosis and non-communicable chronic diseases, as well as working with universities in the U.S. and South Africa to provide
executive-level training and support that build the capacity of leaders
who drive health system transformation in South Africa.

Our organization currently consists of 15 full-time staff between the Boston and South Africa offices. Three employees work part-time on the Sifunda Ngokuthetha project. We are actively seeking funding that would allow us to have staff dedicated to this initiative.

For over 20 years, we’ve worked with partners in government, private industry, civil society and academia to provide access to quality health and education for vulnerable South Africans. We’ve proven our ability to deliver at scale and to work cooperatively with both government and the private sector. With 75 percent of our team based in South Africa, we’re attuned to local needs and structures, and our programs have been designed and implemented by local South Africans. Along with technical support, leading resource mobilization and financial management, our Boston office provides a link to some of the most innovative universities, hospitals, startups, biotech companies and social enterprises.

Boston is headed by Dr. Judy Bigby, a nationally recognized health policy expert brings over 30 years’ experience in health care delivery systems reforms, community health program implementation and evaluation, and strategies to achieve health equity in the US. Since 1990 she has provided consultation and advice on health systems change and education to South Africa Partners before becoming Executive Director in 2017.

South Africa is headed by Tony Diesel who has over 30 years’ experience building community capabilities and working with communities to devise and implement solutions.  As the Country Director, he is responsible for all operations in South Africa and maintains in-country partnerships.

South Africa Partners, in partnership with Masibumbane Development Organisation developed technical assistance for early childhood centers in the Eastern Cape to improve their management and education capacity. The centers are in very low resource areas.

Innovation Edge - South African based organization that provided initial funding and guidance on the project 

Pick n Pay and Boxer Stores - Retail partner that has served as the placement for visual displays

Barrows - Advertising print house that creates conversation-prompting signage for Pick n Pay retail stores. 

BBDO - South African graphic design company that creates the characters and visuals used to prompt conversation in the stores.

Our key customers are preschool children and their caretakers who at no cost are exposed to a childhood development intervention. We target children in low-resourced areas that may not have early childhood development programs. The parents are often unaware they can be teachers for their children, a myth that is debunked through the intervention. 

Our secondary beneficiaries are retailers. They support an intervention that makes shopping fun for caregivers and children, produces brand loyalty among shoppers, and fulfills their corporate responsibility mission. They provide the space for the signage. Our model depends on them to provide the resources to produce the signage. 

We anticipate a mixed model of funding. We will continue to fund raise from individuals and apply for grants. 

However we anticipate that we will be able to expand the intervention in the retail space by "selling" our product (signage and consultation on implementation) to retailers who benefit from increased customer satisfaction and consumption of certain products. The cost per store is about $4,000 for a 6 month cycle. We believe this fee is reasonable given pilot tests showed the signage 

• created positive emotions -----> extend time in store ----> return to the store

• resulted in positive brand transfer, building of brand equity: Customers are interested to hear that a retailer is doing something to involve their children

• “nudged” shoppers  toward healthy product selection.

Sifunda can also be beneficial for staff as it increased understanding among floor managers of how children learn and they increased engagement with customers.

We are applying to Solve because we want to gain input from 2 months of personalized support with intentional introductions to members of Solve’s cross-sector community. Through these connections, we'll build the partnerships needed to accelerate our work, validate our impact and business model, and scale our solution. We are particularly looking for advice on refining the business model and strategic planning to push the concept into the community spaces. We also seek advice on how to take the concept and extend it to technology such as that used in the gaming industry. We have a potential partner in the the Cape Town company Sea Monster.

Sea Monster - For their specialised skills in animation, gaming and immersive technologies and communications expertise.

Innovation Edge - Continued advice on building the case for influencing early childhood development at a large scale.

Play Africa - To explore collaboration into structured play spaces. 

UNICEF in South Africa - They have launched an early childhood development initiative in South Africa. WE want to explore how we can supplement the drive toward formal early childhood education.