The Power of Collective Leadership

The Real Reform for ECD was founded in response to “a really horrible piece of legislation,” explains Tess Peacock, director of the Equality Collective and an alumni of the Innovation Fellowship. The movement emerged when the Children’s Amendment Bill was up for review in 2020. “It is the bedrock for the legislative environment for young children, reflecting what young children have the right to and what their needs are. The way it was put forward to Parliament most certainly did not meet the criteria.” These are the words of Pam Picken, an Early Years Specialist for the Do More Foundation, with 45 years of experience in the ECD sector. Both Pam and Tess have been part of the Real Reform Steering Committee.

As a result of this ill-advised new legislation, thousands of people from the sector – including ECD practitioners, grass-roots activists and well-known organisations – mobilised to form the movement. Over 1,200 submissions were made, with 90% coming from ECD practitioners, ultimately leading to the rejection of the Bill’s amendments. Through this crisis the sector found itself united in exciting and different ways.

Building on this moment, the Real Reform for ECD took inspiration from the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), and its approach to leadership development and mobilisation. Like TAC, Real Reform is raising awareness around a pressing issue – the lack of access to inclusive and quality early childhood development services – which impacts the majority of vulnerable young children, families and communities in South Africa. “It is something that people can mobilise around with passion,” says Pam. TAC’s strategy also included building leadership and literacy on complex issues throughout the organising structures. Similarly, Real Reform has taken complex legal and technical issues and made them accessible to lay people who in turn use this to lead and mobilise.

The Real Reform campaign is managed by a steering committee and supported by a secretariat. Leaders are elected onto the steering committee every two years. These leaders bring a range of expertise, leadership styles and skills to strengthen the movement, based on the varying contexts and institutions that they come from. For Pam, “the Steering Committee’s leadership has been exemplary. It has been a quiet leadership, leading from the back, making sure that it’s inclusive, making sure that voices are heard, and that they are taking their guiding role from the collective voice rather than steaming ahead on their own.”