CECD LEARNING BRIEF –

AN ADVOCACY CALL:
ADDRESSING LOCAL GOVERNMENT
BARRIERS FOR ECD CENTRES

In December 2022, CECD’s Advocacy and Social Justice Unit launched a targeted initiative, An Advocacy Call: Addressing Local Government Barriers for ECD Centres. This initiative aims to challenge and transform the local regulatory environment to make it more enabling, equitable, and responsive to the realities of ECD centres on the ground, starting with the City of Cape Town as the pilot. In May 2026, CECD published a learning brief focusing on land use as the first step in the municipal compliance process that ECD centres face. It captures key insights, and strategies from the initiative. It shares progress made, critical lessons learnt, and offers reflections on the ongoing journey to build a more just and inclusive ECD landscape in South Africa.

For those individuals with a hard copy of the learning brief, here are the important links connected to this publication:

• The story of AnnaMaries Educare and Aftercare to rally support for their land use appeal. Mentioned on page 16.
• Template motivation letter for a consent use application. Mentioned on page 28.
• City of Cape Town Map of Exempted Areas. Mentioned on page 32.
• Approval of administrative penalty exemption. Mentioned on page 33.
• Administrative Penalty exemption – Video explainer. Mentioned on page 33.
• The City of Cape Town Map Viewer. Mentioned on page 33.
• Template motivation letter for an administrative penalty application. Mentioned on page 33.
• The City of Cape Town Municipal Planning Amendment By-law, 2025. Mentioned on page 34.
• The City’s introductory information video for the ECD sector. Mentioned on page 39.
• Advocacy impact video. Mentioned on page 44.

Additional Links:

You can view the launch of the Learning Brief here.  You can download the main presentation discussing key learnings here.