The partnership between Midlands Community College and Sesame Workshop International South Africa, funded by the Grindrod Family Centenary Trust, puts children’s own experiences at the centre of the evidence. Almost no data exists on how young children in South Africa experience or understand climate change. A new study, led by Midlands Community College (MCC) in partnership with Sesame Workshop International South Africa (SWISA) and funded by the Grindrod Family Centenary Trust (GFCT), sets out to close that gap. The study has been approved by the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education (KZN DoE).
Understanding climate change awareness, perceptions, practices, and early learning engagement among children, caregivers and Early Childhood Development practitioners will examine how children aged 0–5, their caregivers, and Early Childhood Development (ECD) practitioners across KwaZulu-Natal understand, experience, and respond to climate change, in response to growing evidence that its effects are felt most acutely by children in rural and under-resourced communities.
Why this study, why now?
South Africa has no shortage of climate policy commitments. What it lacks is evidence of how climate change is already shaping the daily lives of its youngest citizens: the flooding, drought, and extreme heat that disrupt ECD attendance, strain caregivers, and go largely unrecorded in national data. This study is designed to produce that baseline evidence, and to make sure children’s own experiences inform how the country responds, rather than being an afterthought to it.
What the research will ask:
- How children, caregivers, and ECD practitioners across KwaZulu-Natal understand and engage with climate change and environmental sustainability
- Which climate-related concerns are most prevalent among families
- How environmental concepts are currently introduced to young children, at home and in ECD settings
- What barriers limit climate-responsive education in ECD settings
- What resources parents and practitioners most need to help children manage climate-related risks
Research began in June 2026 and will continue through February 2027 across ECD centres in KwaZulu-Natal.
“Climate change is already shaping how children in KwaZulu-Natal grow up- through flooding, drought, and disrupted school days- yet almost no data exists on how they, or the adults raising and teaching them, understand or cope with it. This study exists to close that gap, and to make sure young children are treated as evidence, not an afterthought, in how South Africa responds to climate change.”- Candy Goodlad, Midlands Community College.
“Sesame Workshop has long believed that children can be powerful agents of change when they are met with age-appropriate, joyful learning. This partnership allows us to build a genuinely local evidence base for climate-responsive early learning in KwaZulu-Natal.”- Fathima Rawat, Sesame Workshop International South Africa.
Why it matters
Findings will provide baseline evidence to help the wider ECD sector, including resource and training organisations (RTOs), strengthen climate-responsive ECD programming, including contextually relevant climate education resources, curriculum integration approaches, parent engagement strategies, and community-based interventions.
The research is also expected to deepen understanding of how climate-related events such as flooding, drought, extreme heat, and severe weather affect children’s physical health, emotional wellbeing, and access to safe learning environments.
Children did not create the climate crisis, but they are already living inside it. This research is a first step toward making sure their experience shapes the response, not just the aftermath.
Ethical safeguards
The research is guided by a joint Ethical Research and Child Safeguarding Protocol developed by Midlands Community College and Sesame Workshop International South Africa. Participation is voluntary and based on informed consent; written consent is obtained from caregivers and practitioners ahead of focus group discussions, and from parents on behalf of children.
All participant data is handled in accordance with the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA), and in line with MCC’s existing image consent protocols, no identifying images of children will be used in any research or communications materials without explicit, opt-in caregiver consent.
About Midlands Community College
Midlands Community College supports learners along a birth-to-tertiary education pathway, with a particular focus on Early Childhood Development. The college works closely with communities, practitioners and partners to ensure that its training, research and programme development respond to the changing realities affecting young children and their families in KwaZulu-Natal.
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About Sesame Workshop International South Africa
Sesame Workshop International South Africa is the impact nonprofit whose mission is to help children everywhere to be stronger, smarter, and kinder. For over 25 years, we have worked at the intersection of education, media, and research, creating joyful experiences that enrich minds and expand hearts, all in the service of empowering each generation to build a better world.
Our beloved characters, iconic shows, direct services, and outreach in communities bring playful early learning to children in the context of all the ecosystem partners (families, parents, ECD centres, educational institutions etc), that enable them to be the best they can be. Takalani Sesame, the South African adaptation of Sesame Street, launched in 2000 and has impacted millions of young lives to date.
Follow Sesame Workshop International South Africa and Takalani Sesame on LinkedIn, Facebook, X, Instagram, YouTube and via the website.
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