Over the past six years SAEP-ECD has hosted and placed over 250 volunteers at 17 partner educare centres. Some volunteers come in groups for short-term projects and others for longer periods of time where they have become deeply involved in the centres and the community.

SAEP-ECD volunteers work directly with our partner centres on many different levels. Our “all hands on deck” mentality allows for volunteers to assist the centres and the ECD Programme in ways that best suit their talents and interests.

Examples of volunteer activities include:

• Working with children through teaching and playing at the crèches;
• Training crèche staff in ECD, First Aid, financial management, and much more;
• Performing research projects in relation to ECD issues;
• Working on fundraising programmes and initiatives;
• Collecting and delivering donated goods to the centres;
• Providing social work services to the crèches and the community; and
• Helping with maintenance at the centres such as painting, plumbing, repairing roofs and walls, and gardening.

Individuals with professional skills are particularly valuable and can assist the centres on specific projects such as building and infrastructure repair, fundraising, first aid and health training, early childhood education, social work and monitoring and evaluation.

We recommend volunteers come for as long as possible, ideally for six months to a year, but we realize this is not always possible. We have found that volunteers who are able to stay for at least three months can make significant progress in working with our projects. The most important requirement for volunteers with SAEP-ECD is a great attitude! Our volunteers must be open-minded, flexible, willing to work in cross cultural situations, deal with the intricacies of language barriers, and have a willingness to really engage with the people involved in our projects as well as a desire to learn from every experience they encounter.

If you are interested in volunteering with ECD and would like to learn more about the programme, please see our ECD Volunteer Manual. The application process involves sending (by email) a cover letter, along with a CV and two references with email addresses to Elise Farley at elise@saep.org. After reviewing your application we will be in touch to discuss your interest in SAEP and assess how you can contribute, as well as benefit from, volunteering with the ECD Programme.