BY Nkosazana Ngwadla
Yizani Sifunde (isiXhosa for “Come, let’s read”) is a collaborative 5-year project funded by Liberty Community Trust in the Eastern Cape. It’s a 3-way partnership between Book Dash, Nal’ibali and Wordworks, with local Eastern Cape partners ITEC and Khululeka. Although the project started in 2020, 2021 was the first year of on-the-ground implementation.
Yizani Sifunde aims to infuse underserved communities in the Eastern Cape with high-quality Early Childhood Development (ECD) training, an abundance of books for the children and their families, and sustained literacy practices in the community and in the family.
More recently, attendees of Yizani Sifunde’s training sessions (parents and ECD practitioners) that go on to start a reading club in the community receive a starter-pack of 25 books for each child attending their reading club, a hanging library and other useful training materials and support.
Images: LinkedIn
