Government systems strengthening · eCares case study

Built to Enable

Not long ago, registering an early learning programme meant paper files and repeat journeys, and government could not see the sector it served. One national system is changing how programmes come in, how officials support them and what government knows.

6 min read

Lihle, a young girl in a school jersey, eating breakfast with a spoon. — Lihle has breakfast at Kiddies Love Day Care in Motherwell, Gqeberha.

“The administration was a headache of compiling the documents and then you have to travel to go hand in the documents… and then they tell you there are a few papers missing, so now you have to travel back.” That was registration for Leroy Matroos, principal of Little Angels Daycare, which his mother founded in 1998. Today his programme is registered at Silver, online.

Behind that routine was a deeper problem. When early learning moved to the Department of Basic Education in April 2022, “there was no credible system”, says Bheki Mpanza, a Chief Director at the Department. A census counted 42,420 programmes, but fewer than half were registered and only a third received the subsidy.

The answer was to open the door and build the system at the same time. A simplified “New Bronze” registration lets a programme in with the essentials, and a national system, eCares, was built to run it. Rather than pilot it in a few districts, the Department went national from the start, launching in June 2024 alongside the Bana Pele Mass Registration Drive.

“The science has been our determined and consistent approach of working every problem from the perspectives of people, processes and technology. The art is taking every opportunity available and riding the wave.”
Colin Almeleh, Director of Knowledge, Information and Data Systems, Ilifa Labantwana

A boy in school uniform and tie and a smiling girl in a pink jacket beside a corrugated iron wall. — Patrick and Thoko at God’s Grace Creche in Lawley, Gauteng.

When the system can see, it can support

For Nonhlanhla Hlatshwayo, a Gauteng social worker who reviews applications on eCares, the change is more than paperwork. “We used to carry around files that were breaking our backs,” she says. Now everything is online, and programmes that were hard to find are on the system.

Districts see it too. Tebogo Chake of the Project Management Unit says they can watch the impact of their work on a live dashboard “for the first time”. That matters because “registration is not an end in itself”, he says. “It’s about ensuring that ELPs qualify for government subsidy.”

The picture of the sector that the campaign and eCares built helped make the case for a R10 billion increase in the early learning budget, announced in February 2025. Since then, more than 200,000 additional children are benefiting from the subsidy.

“They know that we are not just coming to monitor them, but we are coming to assist them. I can do my planning, because they are already on the system.”
Nonhlanhla Hlatshwayo, ECD Social Worker: Gauteng Department of Education

Timeline

2014Department of Social Development (DSD) conducts an ECD audit of 19,000 ELPs.
2015–2019Ilifa lays groundwork with DSD to improve data systems.
2019President Ramaphosa announces shift of ECD function to the Department of Basic Education (DBE).
2020DSD and partners launch Vangasali campaign to support unregistered ELPs to comply.
2021DBE commissions national census of ELPs and the first national assessment of preschool children (Thrive by Five). Records 42,420 programmes, fewer than half are registered.
2022DBE officially assumes responsibility of ECD, establishes the foundation for an ECD data framework, with support from Ilifa.
2023DBE, with Ilifa support, designs a digital management information system (now called eCares).
2024eCares launched, alongside Bana Pele Mass Registration Drive.
2026ECD conditional grant receives R12.8 billion over three years, expanding services to an additional 300,000 children.
Sep 202639,621 ELPs registered on eCares, including almost 15,600 Bronze.

“I would say this journey is a case study because since I started working in government in 1993, this is the first time we have developed a system working closely with the end user.”
Bheki Mpanza, Chief Director: Education Management Information Systems, Department of Basic Education

The principle: data is created through the work itself, rather than through a separate reporting exercise.

Source: Empowering the early years: eCares and digital public infrastructure for early learning in South Africa, Ilifa Labantwana, 2026. For more information about registration, visit the ECD Infohub at ecdinfohub.org, where all registration guides and materials are kept, or apply at dbecares.gov.za.