The Department of Social Development has encouraged Early Childhood Development (ECD) services that have not yet applied for the ECD Employment Stimulus Relief Fund (ESRF) to apply before the new closing date.
The department has extended the closing date of the applications for the ECD-ESRF from 19 February to 26 February 2021.
The department said that in addition to the GovChat application platform at https://govchat.app that is currently used, it has made available another web-form to assist with larger organisation submissions which is available on the https://ecd.gov.za/ website.
“ECD services that have already completed their applications on the GovChat platform do not need to submit another application through the new web-form as duplicate submissions for the same ECD service may lead to administrative delays,” the department said in a statement.
In addition, as a further support mechanism to ECD services in respect of completing applications, the department in partnership with the DG-Murray Trust has made available a number of non-governmental organisations, and over 2 000 Harambee Youth support services that are stationed throughout in all districts to assist ECD services with the application process.
The Provincial Departments of Social Development through their local offices are also available to assist ECD services throughout the country.
Any ECD service that requires assistance can visit their local Social Development Offices. In addition, they can send an email to [email protected] or contact the call centre on 0800 089 666 and support will be provided.
A list of NGO coordinators are posted on the DSD website that can be accessed on www.dsd.gov.za.
“For ECD services that have submitted applications on the Central Supplier Database (CSD), it is requested that these ECD services check their bank verification status to ensure that they have been successful.
“It is vital that the ECD services do this as the department will not be able to process any payments for ECD services whose bank verification has not been successful,” the department explained. – SAnews.gov.za
