D-day for ECDs to apply for Stimulus Relief Fund

Friday is the last day for Early Childhood Development (ECD) services and programmes to apply for the ECD Stimulus Relief Fund (ECD-ESRF)

Applications opened on 5 February 2021, and will close at 23h59 on the 26 February 2021.

The Social Development Department extended the deadline by a week.

The ECD-ESRF is part of sustaining employment opportunities in the sector in light of the high unemployment rate and job losses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

ECD operators/owners/managers must apply on behalf of their ECD service, and if successful, would pay the ECD employees. Individual ECD workers cannot apply to the fund themselves.

Successful applicants can only use the funds to subsidise the cost of employment for workers.

The financial support will amount to a maximum value of R4 470 per staff member.

The Western Cape’s Social Development Department said that, as at 24 February 2021, a total of 2 820 applications have been received in the province. According to the provincial Department of Social Development's (DSD) database, there are approximately 4 282 ECD centres and programmes (both registered and unregistered) in the province.

‘’ECD centres and services who have not yet applied can contact designated NPOs for assistance with completing the application forms, guidance on opening bank accounts, as well as help with registering on the Central Supplier Database.’’ Said the Social Development MEC, Sharna Fernandez.

Before making an application, applicants must ensure that they have the following in place:

• Banking account: All ECD services making an application will need to have a bank account in the name of the ECD service.

• Loaded on the Central Supplier Database (CSD): ECD services that do not currently receive funding from Provincial DSD will need to be registered on the CSD database, which can be done via this link: https://secure.csd.gov.za/Account/Register.

• The registration number generated from the CSD database will be required for the stimulus application.

 

How to apply:

Applicants must use the govchat.app portal, or https://ecd.gov.za/ to apply.

For assistance with the application, call 0800 089 666, or email ecdstimulus@dgmt.co.za.

 

For more information about the qualifying criteria, visit www.dsd.gov.za