Thrive by Five, the early childhood development monitor driving data-led development

Daily Maverick · 🇿🇦 public South Africa · Aug 17, 2026 · 942 words · By Tamsin Metelerkamp

Data-Driven Policy Philanthropic Leadership Early Childhood Development (ECD)

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What to know about Data-Driven Policy

From an early age, DataDrive2030 founder and executive director Sonja Giese knew that her future would involve working in the child development sector.

Claims checked 13

Techniques found 2

Topics 3

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage

Left0%

Center100%

Right0%

2 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

From an early age, DataDrive2030 founder and executive director Sonja Giese knew that her future would involve working in the child development sector.

Why it matters

Her awareness of both the vulnerability of children and the social injustices shaping South African society was the driving force behind a more-than-30-year career marked by milestones in research and problem solving.

Common ground

One of these milestones was the release of a game-changing report on the early childhood development (ECD) sector, the Thrive by Five Index, in 2022.

Perspective signals

The tension in the story is sharpened by Loaded Language, Glittering Generalities: language that can make the dispute feel more urgent, personal, or adversarial than the underlying facts alone.

Follow-up questions

What new context would change how readers understand this Data-Driven Policy story?
What evidence would most clearly confirm or weaken the claim that Later, while holding a leadership postition at the early childhood NGO Ilifa Labantwana?
How does this story connect Data-Driven Policy with Philanthropic Leadership over the next few days?

open_in_new Read the original article: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-08-17-thrive-by-five-uses-data-to-d…

psychologyPropaganda Techniques Detected

eFinder identified 2 propaganda techniques in this article. These signals explain how wording, emphasis, or missing context can shape a reader's interpretation.

warning

Loaded Language 80% confidence

Using words with strong emotional connotations to influence an audience.

Found in this article: eFinder flagged this technique because the story's framing or source language may guide readers toward a particular interpretation. Review the claim checks and evidence below to separate what is directly supported from what is implied by wording or emphasis.

Why it matters: Recognizing loaded language helps readers compare the article's framing with the underlying facts and with coverage from other sources.

warning

Glittering Generalities 70% confidence

Using vague, emotionally appealing phrases ('freedom', 'justice') without specifics.

Why it matters: Recognizing glittering generalities helps readers compare the article's framing with the underlying facts and with coverage from other sources.

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 13 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

check_circle Corroborated 6

schedule Pending 3

help Insufficient Evidence 2

verified Verified 1

info Single Source 1

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Claim 1: “Later, while holding a leadership postition at the early childhood NGO Ilifa Labantwana”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No evidence was found in the provided search results regarding Sonja Giese's position at Ilifa Labantwana.

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Claim 2: “The national survey behind the index, conducted every three years, measures the proportion of children aged 50 to 59 months across all nine provinces who are developmentally on track”

CORROBORATED

Multiple sources confirm the survey is conducted every three years, targets children aged 50-59 months, and covers all nine provinces.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Global Peace Index (GPI) is a report produced by the Australia-based NGO Institute for Economics & Peace (IEP) which measures the relative position of nations' and regions' peacefulness. The GPI r…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Peace_Index

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Democracy Index published by the British media company the Economist Group is an index measuring the quality of democracy across the world. This quantitative and comparative assessment is centrall…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Economist_Democracy_Index

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Women, Peace and Security Index (WPS) scores and ranks countries in terms of women's security, justice, and inclusion. The index is widely used to compare countries as well as their development tr…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women,_Peace_and_Security_Inde…

+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 3: “The 2024 survey was led by the Department of Basic Education and coordinated by DataDrive2030.”

CORROBORATED

Multiple sources, including a PDF of national findings and LinkedIn, confirm the 2024 survey was led by the Department of Basic Education and coordinated by DataDrive2030.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — The latest Thrive by Five Index, South Africa’s national survey on preschool development coordinated by DataDrive2030 and led by the Department of Basic Education, reveals an urgent reality: Only 42% …
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/datadrive2030_thrive-by-five-…

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web search NEUTRAL — The Thrive by Five Index is South Africa’s most comprehensive national survey of preschool child outcomes.The 2024 survey was led. by the Department of Basic Education and coordinated by DataDrive2030…
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/395586362_Thrive_by…

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web search NEUTRAL — National Department of Basic Education. Menu. Home.Presented by Ms Sonja Giese, Executive Director of DataDrive2030, the Index revealed both progress and challenges among enrolled four-year-olds
https://www.education.gov.za/ArchivedDocuments/ArchivedArtic…

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Claim 4: “If you look at four year olds, it’s always hovered at around 70% accessing [early learning programmes]”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

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Claim 5: “The index was initiated by Innovation Edge – an impact-first investor founded by Giese”

CORROBORATED

Multiple sources confirm Sonja Giese was the founding Executive Director of Innovation Edge and that Innovation Edge initiated the Thrive by Five Index.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Sonja Giese, the former Founding Executive Director of Innovation Edge, shares South Africa’s experience with measuring children’s early learning outcomes on a nationally representative sample and aud…
https://www.ecdmeasure.org/resources/a-spotlight-on-south-af…

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web search NEUTRAL — Sonja Giese. Index lead. Sonja Giese was founding Executive Director of Innovation Edge (IE) and led the organisation and IE’s data work for eight years.
https://thrivebyfive.co.za/about/

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web search NEUTRAL — Sonja Giese, Former Founding Executive Director of Innovation Edge.The Thrive by Five Index, therefore, provides the DBE with a baseline measure of service quality and child outcomes at the time that …
https://www.unmc.edu/publichealth/cghad/together-for-ece/202…

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Claim 6: “In 2014, Giese founded Innovation Edge.”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

While sources confirm she founded Innovation Edge, none of the provided evidence specify the year 2014.

verified

Claim 7: “the release of a game-changing report on the early childhood development (ECD) sector, the Thrive by Five Index, in 2022”

VERIFIED

Web search results from the Minister for Basic Education and other reports confirm the existence and purpose of the Thrive by Five Index. While the specific 2022 date is implied by the 'baseline' nature and the subsequent 2024 survey, the index's existence is strongly verified.

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+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 8: “During her time as the HIV/Aids coordinator at the University of Cape Town’s Children’s Institute in the early 2000s”

CORROBORATED

Sources confirm Sonja Giese established and grew the HIV/AIDS programme at the UCT Children's Institute between 1999 and 2005.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — University of Cape Town, Children's Institute, Research affiliate.Implementation of these policies and programmes has not been uniformly successful. This chapter examines the progress made within the …
https://uct.academia.edu/SonjaGiese

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web search NEUTRAL — Cape Town, Centre for Actuarial Research, University of Cape Town. Giese, S., H. Meintjes, R. Croke, R. Chamberlain.Report submitted to HIV/AIDS directorate, National Department of Health, January 200…
https://cyc-net.org/cyc-online/cycol-1103-giese.html

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web search NEUTRAL — Between 1999 and 2005, Sonja established and grew the HIV/AIDS programme at the Children’s Institute (UCT), generating cutting edge research to inform policy debate and appropriate service delivery fo…
https://bulungulaincubator.wordpress.com/general-info/meet-o…

info

Claim 9: “In identifying the non-enrolled children, we had to knock on over 20,000 doors”

SINGLE SOURCE

The web search results provided for this claim are completely irrelevant (discussing tourism management and shipping accidents) and do not mention the survey or the number of doors knocked.

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web search NEUTRAL — A junior second-tier university graduate in Tourism Management passed by, who had just graduated and worked at a travel agency for a week before resigning, now works in cross-border e-commerce. The To…
https://www.zhihu.com/en/answer/772710033

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web search NEUTRAL — 山东青岛市北海造船有限公司一艘外籍货轮靠港维修期间起火，已造成 25 人遇难，目前情况如何？
https://www.zhihu.com/explore

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web search NEUTRAL — 作者：电脑知识网来源：电脑知识网链接： C盘Roaming里文件能删除吗很多人发现电脑中C:\Users\用户名\AppData 占据了很大的空间，那么可以将其删除吗？下面为大家详细介绍相关知识！尽量不要删除，这里边存放的是软件运行时和结束后的数据和配置文件，如果删了，会导致软件不正常或者出错的 ...
https://www.zhihu.com/question/52675585

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Claim 10: “She led the organisation for eight years before founding DataDrive2030 in 2022.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

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Claim 11: “It was the largest survey of preschool child outcomes ever attempted in South Africa.”

CORROBORATED

Three separate web sources explicitly state that the Thrive by Five Index is the largest survey of preschool child outcomes ever attempted/undertaken in South Africa.

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+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 12: “DataDrive2030 founder and executive director Sonja Giese”

CORROBORATED

Multiple independent sources, including the official DataDrive2030 website and LinkedIn, confirm Sonja Giese is the founder and executive director.

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web search NEUTRAL — Sonja is founding executive director of DataDrive2030, a social enterprise that aims to… · Experience: DataDrive2030 · Education: University of Cape Town · Location: City of Cape Town · 500+ connectio…
https://za.linkedin.com/in/sonja-giese-85736448

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web search NEUTRAL — Sonja Giese. Executive Director and Founder. Sonja is an ardent social entrepreneur and creative problem solver, with over 30 years experience tackling development challenges facing children in South …
https://datadrive2030.co.za/about/

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web search NEUTRAL — She is founding Executive Director of DataDrive2030, a South African based social enterprise that supports the collection and use of high quality data to drive improved child outcomes in the first 6 y…
https://acceleratelearning.stanford.edu/event/early-childhoo…

schedule

Claim 13: “The “core business” of DataDrive2030 is the early learning outcomes measurement (Elom) tools”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.