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The Indaba ecosystem
A boy grins on a climbing frame, other children playing behind him.

Impact

What we can measure. What we cannot yet.

Numbers this favourable invite scrutiny, and they should receive it. This page gives the result, its limits and the record behind it, in that order.

The 2026 assessmentThe record since 2015

Kayamandi, June 2026

Eighty-one per cent of assessed children on track for their age.

An independent, accredited ELOM assessor, DataDrive2030, assessed 48 children aged four and five across 15 CoRE-affiliated early learning programmes in Kayamandi, in isiXhosa, in June 2026.

The Early Learning Outcomes Measure (ELOM 4&5) is a standardised, 23-item direct assessment across five domains of development. 'On track' means a child can do the tasks expected of a child their age; the standard is set at the score reached by the top 40 per cent of children in the instrument's 2016 validation sample.

Nationally, the Thrive by Five Index 2024 found 46 per cent of children attending early learning programmes on track. The Kayamandi figure is 81 per cent. The two figures use the same instrument and the same standard, but a nationally representative survey and a single-site snapshot of 48 children are different kinds of evidence. The comparison shows where this group of children stands relative to other measured groups, not how much CoRE added.

A child spells the word "pen" with cut-out letters on a mat.

ELOM 4&5 domains, share of sample on track

81%

overall (Total ELOM score)

As of June 2026

98%

emergent literacy and language

As of June 2026

83%

emergent numeracy and mathematics

As of June 2026

56%

cognition and executive functioning

As of June 2026

48%

fine motor coordination and visual-motor integration

As of June 2026

42%

gross motor development

As of June 2026

48 children across 15 CoRE-affiliated early learning programmes in Kayamandi, assessed once in June 2026. A once-off snapshot describes where these children stand today; on its own it does not establish that CoRE caused the result. ELOM describes groups, not individual children. Figures are as reported in Indaba's June 2026 evidence briefing, drawing on the DataDrive2030 Indaba Institute Child Outcomes Report.

Reading the domains

Where the result is strongest, and where it is not.

A hand traces a sandpaper numeral 2 on a green card.

Domain-level detail matters more than the headline. In emergent literacy and language, 98 per cent of the sample was on track; in emergent numeracy and mathematics, 83 per cent. Both sit at the centre of a Montessori prepared environment, rich in language and sensorial material.

Cognition and executive functioning, arguably the hardest domain to shift through training alone because it reflects sustained attention and self-regulation rather than content knowledge, stood at 56 per cent.

Gross motor development, at 42 per cent, and fine motor coordination, at 48 per cent, are the honest exception. We treat them not as results to minimise but as the clearest signal in the data for where CoRE should place more deliberate emphasis: movement, outdoor practical life and gross motor materials.

The limits, stated plainly

Four reasons to hold the number carefully.

  1. Scale

    Forty-eight children across fifteen programmes is a genuine, independently assessed sample, but a small one. A smaller sample carries wider statistical uncertainty.

  2. Design

    A single-site dipstick describes current status. It does not prove programme causation the way a baseline-to-endline study of the same children does. It tells us where these children stand, not how far they travelled.

  3. Context

    ELOM scores move with household income, practitioner experience and setting. This sample comes from one low-fee, historically under-resourced township community.

  4. What ELOM cannot see

    ELOM is pedagogy-agnostic. It was not built to detect the markers of a Montessori classroom: extended self-chosen concentration, grace and courtesy, visible order and calm. Facilitators describe these; they are observations, not measured results.

What comes next

Our next piece of work is to turn a striking snapshot into defended evidence over time.

Studies that follow the same children from baseline to endline, at greater scale and rigour, so that an 81 per cent result becomes a replicated finding rather than a single data point. Partners and timing will be published once confirmed.

Ambition · planned work, not results yet

Women sit around a training table covered with notebooks and folded paper shapes; one in a red jumper smiles.
Learning together around the table. Photographed before April 2024.

Practice, observed

Kayamandi 2025: learning alongside practitioners.

The Kayamandi 2025 Group 1 report records a starting group of 35 teachers and principals representing 31 early childhood centres. Visits and workshops explored how the everyday environment could better support children's activity.

Facilitator observations and follow-up visits describe changes such as bringing materials within reach and organising activities. These are contextual practice observations, not a controlled evaluation or evidence of long-term child outcomes.

Beyond the measure

What practitioners and facilitators see.

A trainer stands smiling behind a practitioner who is working with small materials at a training table.
Training with an Institute trainer. Photographed before April 2024.

Indaba's 2024 programme reporting describes adults changing how they see and interact with children after CoRE; children seeking out learning more actively; children taking what they learn home to their families. Classrooms once marked by noise and disorder are described as calmer and more focused.

These are practice observations, consistently reported but not measured child outcomes. We include them because they are part of what the people closest to the work see, and we label them for what they are.

The record

2015 to 2026, dated.

  1. 2015

    The Indaba Foundation is established

    The beginning of an eight-year commitment to building a delivery platform for early childhood teacher training.

  2. 2016

    The Indaba Institute follows

    The Foundation's training partner and pedagogical engine.

  3. 2018–2019

    CoRE is piloted in India

    Educateurs sans Frontières pilots CoRE in Andhra Pradesh; lessons from the pilot shape CoRE South Africa.

  4. 2021

    Kayamandi proof of concept

    Twenty-four days of contact time, in English and isiXhosa, supported by Stellenbosch Municipality. Seventeen practitioners complete the programme with EsF certificates by November; Klapmuts follows.

  5. 2022–2023

    CoRE goes to market in South Africa

    A delivery partnership with Stellenbosch Municipality and support from private-sector partners.

  6. 2023

    Seven CoRE programmes

    892 centre visits; the Earth Stewardship and Nutrition curriculum rolled out.

  7. April 2024

    A three-year plan is set

    Targets for 2024–2026 are published, 'with the necessary investment': 52 programmes, 1 820 practitioners, 45 500 children, 60 Facilitators-in-Training, 26 facilitators.

    Ambition

  8. 2024

    Facilitators train in ELOM

    CoRE facilitators begin training to use the Early Learning Outcomes Measure.

  9. 2025

    Kayamandi Group 1

    35 teachers and principals from 31 early childhood centres.

  10. June 2026

    Independent ELOM assessment, Kayamandi

    81% of 48 assessed children in 15 CoRE-affiliated programmes on track for their age. Five active CoRE facilitators deliver the programme.

An honest gap

What was planned in 2024, and what can be verified in 2026.

April 2024 targets for 2024–2026

  • 52 CoRE programmes
  • 1 820 practitioners trained
  • 45 500 children impacted
  • 60 Facilitators-in-Training
  • 26 facilitators

Verifiable, October 2026

  • 5 active CoRE facilitators (June 2026)
  • Kayamandi Group 1: 35 teachers and principals from 31 centres (2025)
  • 48 children independently assessed across 15 programmes (June 2026)
  • Programme, practitioner and reach totals for 2024–2026: not yet documented

Delivery totals for 2024–2026 are not documented in the sources available to us. They will be added once confirmed from programme records. Until then, the 2024 targets must not be read as achievements.

Deeper reading

Field chapters from the prospectus

Help us know more

Fund the evidence as well as the work.

Independent assessment and long-term studies are a funding priority in their own right. Gifts can be directed to them.

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