Give a dream
a headstart
Every child deserves access to basic nutrition in order to become a healthy and productive citizen of our land. You can give the future of South Africa a headstart.
Give a dream
About us
Big dreams start small. That’s why HeadStart Kids is committed to radically transforming the Early Childhood Development (ECD) space. We are a non-profit organisation passionate about giving children in our country, a genuine head start. Our main goal is to provide preschool children (six months to five years of age) of low-income families with a comprehensive wellness programme to meet the little ones emotional, social, health, nutritional and psychological needs.
Healthy children
=
Healthy world
=
Healthy economy
6.5 million
children between the ages of zero and six years
84%
of these children have no access to any form of ECD
Help us make the change
How do
we do this?
HeadStart Kids provides Nutrilite™ Little Bits™ - a supplement that combats micronutrient deficiency and stunting - to early childhood development centres in South Africa at no cost.
With our partners and with the consent of parents and guardians we provide children with NutriliteTM Little BitsTM, track each child’s measurements for weight, height and MAUC, administer deworming, perform haemoglobin screening in severe cases and finally perform hearing and eye assessments. Measurements are tracked and progress is monitored with all the children enrolled in the initiative.
Our core vision and holistic objective is to dramatically reduce iron deficiencies which undermine brain development, stunting and malnourishment amongst our most precious gifts – the children of South Africa.
The
process
- Headstart partners with ECD Forums and NGO’s in the ECD space to reach out to ECD centres in various footprints and assists with communication to principals.
- Medical students handle the distribution of consent forms to explain the process.
- Medical students, under the supervision of qualified nurses, visit ECD schools to do the necessary measuring. They also provide training to teachers on how to effectively add the Little Bits to the children’s meals. The measuring is done and then uploaded to the cloud via the latest technologies. This is also done so that our local and international stakeholders and funders are kept abreast of our progress at all times.
- Nursing students, under the supervision of qualified nurses, administer bi-annual deworming and annual haemoglobin (HB) testing for iron deficiency in sever cases.
- Eye and hearing assessments are funding related. Tests are done from the age of 5.
The three
pillars
of ECD
90% of a child’s brain develops in the first five years of their life. It is critical to nurture the brain during this period. How do we do this? In collaboration with our partners in movement and enrichment education we address three core pillars:
In the first five years of a child’s life there are three important components that needs to be developed
1. NUTRITION
The cornerstone of a healthy body is a healthy mind! Neither a body nor its computer, the brain, can work effectively if it’s not being fed the right nutrients. The Headstart Kids programme combats malnourishment and iron deficiency with regular deworming, monitoring and nourishment.
2. MOVEMENT
By teaching children the correct fundamental movement skills at the ECD level, children are prepared for the school environment where they are expected to throw, catch and run effectively, while still having fun.
3. ENRICHMENT
Children learn best when they are encouraged to explore, interact, create and play. Play is the “work” of children; through play they develop their core learning skills - self regulation, creativity, curiosity, playfulness - and build the foundation for life-long learning.
(+27) 82 374 7535
info@headstartkids.co.za
Nutrilite™ Little Bits™ is a registered trademark of Alticor Inc.