Early Childhood Development (ECD) practitioners in South Africa and across Africa often face challenges of visibility, recognition, and access to professional growth opportunities. The Ubuntu Hub set out to change that by creating a dedicated space for practitioners to connect, learn, and lead. To understand the impact of the Hub, we asked Joanna Marriott, Chief Engagement Strategist at Ubuntu Education, to share more about a pilot conducted in 2025 and the lessons it revealed:
Q1: Joanna, last year you conducted a pilot on Ubuntu Hub. Could you tell us what it was about?
Joanna: The Ubuntu Hub ECD Pilot Programme was designed to create a professional home for Early Childhood Development (ECD) practitioners across South Africa and the continent. To evaluate its impact, we checked our findings against several different sources. This included a focused qualitative session with our most active members, a wide-reaching community survey for the South African ECD network, and an analysis of findings from various events held on the Hub throughout the programme. Our goal was to gather rich feedback on how the platform supports professional practice and how it can evolve into a dedicated leadership development space.
Q2: You previously mentioned that the feedback from the participants was “overwhelmingly positive.” Beyond general praise, what were the specific emotional and professional themes that emerged from practitioners?
Joanna: It was truly heartening to see the words members used. They described the network as empowering, transformative, affirming, and a “catalyst for growth”. One of the most significant themes was professional validation. Many ECD practitioners often feel neglected or invisible in the broader education sector. Through the Hub, they reported feeling “seen,” respected, and competent. It gave them a sense of belonging to the wider educational landscape alongside primary and secondary school colleagues, which is a major shift in how they view their own roles.
Q3: Looking at actual classroom practice, what specific subjects or skills did members find most valuable?
Joanna: Members highlighted significant learning gains in areas that aren’t typically covered in local training sessions. Specifically, they valued our focus on bringing culture and Indigenous Knowledge into the classroom, as well as training on emotional intelligence, mentorship, and play-based learning approaches. These weren’t just theoretical discussions; practitioners found them “eye-opening” and “professionally affirming,” directly shaping how they see what’s possible in their own centres when it comes to teaching and learning.
Q4: Can you share some concrete examples of how this learning translated into real-world applications in ECD centres?
Joanna: This is where the impact becomes visible. We saw practitioners taking the initiative to create affordable, handmade learning materials instead of relying on expensive, imported resources. There was also a strong emphasis on integrating Indigenous Knowledge into daily curriculum activities. Beyond the children, the members reported improved mentoring of their own colleagues and a newfound confidence in explaining and delivering high-quality ECD practices to parents and their communities. In fact, 71% of surveyed participants explicitly stated they gained practical knowledge they could implement immediately.
Q5: What makes the Ubuntu Hub different from other platforms, like many WhatsApp groups or local networks that already exist for practitioners?
Joanna: Its unique value lies in its breadth and diversity. Unlike a local group, the Hub brings together a massive spectrum of actors – from ground-level educators and community engagement workers to researchers, policy thinkers, innovators, and NGO leaders. It allows ideas to travel across borders, facilitating cross-country learning across the African continent, which is incredibly rare in traditional networks. Additionally, the Hub balances the “hard” challenges of the sector with practical, contextualised strategies, encouraging practice-based reflection that many members said led to significant personal growth.
Q6: You mentioned some impressive statistics earlier. Could you break down the “participation confidence” levels you observed?
Joanna: We saw very high engagement metrics. 86% of participants rated their overall experience on the Hub highly, and the same percentage (86%) found the quality of the events to be high or very high. Relevance is also key; 86% said the content was highly relevant to their work, and 76% felt it was specifically culturally relevant to their contexts. Furthermore, 81% of members valued the opportunity to interact and answer questions during live sessions, which explains why 71% reported a high level of confidence in engaging with Hub activities.
Q7: No pilot is perfect. What were the main “pain points” or technical barriers that members identified during the trial?
Joanna: We received very clear, actionable feedback regarding accessibility. The primary barriers were challenges with email-based sign-up and occasional disruptions to app access following updates. Practitioners have asked for simpler, more modern onboarding options, such as Google sign-in. There is also a persistent issue with notifications; even when members RSVP, they often forget the sessions. To fix this, they’ve recommended stronger integration with calendar invites and the use of WhatsApp event reminders, which are often more reliable for our members in the field.
Q8: Members also asked for “lightweight resources.” What does that look like, and why is it important for their professional development?
Joanna: This was a fascinating insight. Many members, especially newer practitioners or those less comfortable speaking in public, expressed a desire for tools that help them feel prepared before a session. They’ve asked for one-page “cheat sheets” that outline background concepts and provide guiding questions ahead of time. This kind of preparation builds the confidence needed for them to participate in discussions and share their own expertise, which is a major goal of the platform.
Q9: Looking ahead, how do you plan to evolve the Hub into a “leadership development space”?
Joanna: Our next phase focuses on deepening the content and the community’s role. We are prioritising leadership development pathways for centre managers and emerging leaders within the workforce. We also want to scale up digital literacy training so practitioners can use online tools for professional visibility and classroom support. Most importantly, we want to move toward practitioner-led showcases. We want the “ground-level” experts to lead the storytelling, sharing their live teaching demonstrations and success stories with the rest of the continent.
Q10: Finally, Joanna, if you had to summarise the ultimate value of the Ubuntu Hub for the ECD sector based on this pilot, what would it be?
Joanna: The Hub is proving to be a unique ecosystem that meets a critical need for accessible, affirming, and contextually relevant professional development. It successfully counters the neglect often felt in the ECD sector by affirming the professionalism of these practitioners. As one participant put it, it’s more than just a platform; it’s a motivating catalyst that allows practitioners, innovators, and educators to learn together and uplift the entire sector from the ground up.
Join the Ubuntu Hub community here.
Explore our investment page to learn more about Ubuntu Hub and other innovative solutions we support.
Author: Dimpho Lephaila – Communications Associate at Innovation Edge