Describe the project's impact
Ntokozo Sibahle Yingwana (alum) did an Honours degree in Gender and Transformation at UCT in 2014 and is currently a PhD candidate at Wits University’s African Centre for Migration & Society. Ntokozo is a strong feminist scholar-activist and journalist, with nearly 20 years of experience in gender, sexuality, and sex worker rights activism. She is deeply committed to advancing the rights and dignity of sex workers and their children.
This project builds on research with Mothers for the Future (M4F) to empower sex working mothers as certified Early Childhood Development (ECD) caregivers. One student has already advanced to NQF Level 5; this project seeks R13,000 to enable the second to do the same, alongside modest support for both students’ transport, stationery, and quarterly progress meetings. The initiative delivers immediate impact—two skilled, accredited caregivers—and long-term change by laying the groundwork for safe, professional crèches for sex workers’ children. It also includes a co-authored academic paper that amplifies marginalised voices and models engaged scholarship. Supporting this project affirms dignity, builds opportunity, and strengthens the caregiving capacity of one of South Africa’s most stigmatised communities.
“This initiative matters to me as a feminist scholar-activist and the community of sex working mothers (M4F) that I serve, as it will enable us to build upon the work that we have started under the OSUN Engaged Scholars research project.
The initial needs assessment phase found that while there are some home-based crèches in Gauteng that are friendly enough for sex working mothers to leave their children when they go to work, these places and the caregivers that run them are not well equipped or officially registered to do so with the Department of Social Development (DSD).
All of the 9 crèches visited during the study are essentially the 12 interviewed caregivers’ own homes, without much space in their units for the children to properly learn and play. Many of the caregivers of sex workers’ children are either current or former sex workers themselves. Some have years of experience in child rearing, but none had received any official ECD training or government certification for their crèches.
Having the two M4F students complete their ECD NQF Level 5 training will earn us the certifications we need to be able to apply for funding from government (i.e. DSD) and international donors, so we can effectively start addressing the needs identified in this study (e.g. suitable property, teaching resources and skilled caregivers).”