Transforming The Lives of Children

Through our Education initiatives, we give many vulnerable children a chance to step out of the cycle of poverty

Our edu­ca­tion sup­port pro­grams are focused on increas­ing access to edu­ca­tion and  bet­ter nutri­tion for vul­ner­a­ble chil­dren in the com­mu­ni­ties we oper­ate. We achieve this  through pro­vid­ing fund­ing for learn­ing tools, edu­ca­tion facil­i­ties and school feed­ing pro­grams that pro­vides basic nutri­tion at the most crit­i­cal growth stage. Most poor fam­i­lies strug­gle to pro­vide qual­i­ty edu­ca­tion for their chil­dren which is cru­cial in help­ing most chil­dren to rise above the gap of pover­ty. In most instances, the chil­dren from poor fam­i­lies do not have par­ents that have received basic pri­ma­ry edu­ca­tion and there­fore the cycle of pover­ty con­tin­ues. Usu­al­ly, girls are even more dis­ad­van­taged and usu­al­ly end up drop­ping out of school and end up in ear­ly mar­riages. Our Edu­ca­tion ini­tia­tives pri­mar­i­ly focus on Two areas; that is improv­ing access to edu­ca­tion by fund­ing learn­ing tools such as text books, and oth­er required sta­tionery as well as  edu­ca­tion infra­struc­ture such as desks, class­room and oth­er edu­ca­tion­al require­ments on the one hand.

The oth­er focus area is pro­vi­sion of basic nutri­tion through our school feed­ing pro­grams. Our school feed­ing pro­grams not only help chil­dren com­ing from very poor homes to have a meal but also increas­es school atten­dance and reduces ear­ly child mar­riages in a coun­try were ear­ly mar­riages are one of the high­est in Sub Sahara Africa.

Our edu­ca­tion sup­port pro­grams are focused on increas­ing access to edu­ca­tion and  bet­ter nutri­tion for vul­ner­a­ble chil­dren in the com­mu­ni­ties we oper­ate. We achieve this  through pro­vid­ing fund­ing for learn­ing tools, edu­ca­tion facil­i­ties and school feed­ing pro­grams that pro­vides basic nutri­tion at the most crit­i­cal growth stage. Most poor fam­i­lies strug­gle to pro­vide qual­i­ty edu­ca­tion for their chil­dren which is cru­cial in help­ing most chil­dren to rise above the gap of pover­ty. In most instances, the chil­dren from poor fam­i­lies do not have par­ents that have received basic pri­ma­ry edu­ca­tion and there­fore the cycle of pover­ty con­tin­ues. Usu­al­ly, girls are even more dis­ad­van­taged and usu­al­ly end up drop­ping out of school and end up in ear­ly mar­riages. Our Edu­ca­tion ini­tia­tives pri­mar­i­ly focus on Two areas; that is improv­ing access to edu­ca­tion by fund­ing learn­ing tools such as text books, and oth­er required sta­tionery as well as  edu­ca­tion infra­struc­ture such as desks, class­room and oth­er edu­ca­tion­al require­ments on the one hand.  The oth­er focus area is pro­vi­sion of basic nutri­tion through our school feed­ing pro­grams. Our school feed­ing pro­grams not only help chil­dren com­ing from very poor homes to have a meal but also increas­es school atten­dance and reduces ear­ly child mar­riages in a coun­try were ear­ly mar­riages are one of the high­est in Sub Sahara Africa.

ACCESS TO BASIC EDUCATION

In Zam­bia about 25 per­cent of the chil­dren use com­mu­ni­ty schools which are severe­ly under­fund­ed and rely on the community’s mea­gre con­tri­bu­tions to fund the basic edu­ca­tion of their chil­dren. They are approx­i­mate­ly 3000 com­mu­ni­ty schools which are plagued with poor infra­struc­ture, lim­it­ed learn­ing tools and lack of suf­fi­cient trained teach­ers among oth­er issues faced by com­mu­ni­ty schools. Most com­mu­ni­ty schools are sup­port­ed by vol­un­teer teach­ers who include High School grad­u­ates, and some have received Grade 9 edu­ca­tion.

Only about 16% of teach­ers in com­mu­ni­ty schools have attained Teacher train­ing com­pared to over 84% in Pub­lic schools. The class­rooms are over­crowd­ed with almost 60 stu­dents per class there­by under­min­ing the qual­i­ty of edu­ca­tion. In Rur­al areas about 23% of the chil­dren fail to attend school com­pared to their Urban coun­ter­parts of about 9%. Accord­ing to UNICEF data about 740,0000 school aged chil­dren in Zam­bia are not in school while 30 per­cent of Zam­bian ado­les­cents will attain a high school edu­ca­tion. This clear­ly calls for con­cert­ed efforts to help many vul­ner­a­ble chil­dren to have a basic edu­ca­tion so that they can have a chance to attain their full poten­tial.

ACCESS TO BASIC EDUCATION

In Zam­bia about 25 per­cent of the chil­dren use com­mu­ni­ty schools which are severe­ly under­fund­ed and rely on the community’s mea­gre con­tri­bu­tions to fund the basic edu­ca­tion of their chil­dren. They are approx­i­mate­ly 3000 com­mu­ni­ty schools which are plagued with poor infra­struc­ture, lim­it­ed learn­ing tools and lack of suf­fi­cient trained teach­ers among oth­er issues faced by com­mu­ni­ty schools. Most com­mu­ni­ty schools are sup­port­ed by vol­un­teer teach­ers who include High School grad­u­ates, and some have received Grade 9 edu­ca­tion. Only about 16% of teach­ers in com­mu­ni­ty schools have attained Teacher train­ing com­pared to over 84% in Pub­lic schools. The class­rooms are over­crowd­ed with almost 60 stu­dents per class there­by under­min­ing the qual­i­ty of edu­ca­tion. In Rur­al areas about 23% of the chil­dren fail to attend school com­pared to their Urban coun­ter­parts of about 9%. Accord­ing to UNICEF data about 740,0000 school aged chil­dren in Zam­bia are not in school while 30 per­cent of Zam­bian ado­les­cents will attain a high school edu­ca­tion. This clear­ly calls for con­cert­ed efforts to help many vul­ner­a­ble chil­dren to have a basic edu­ca­tion so that they can have a chance to attain their full poten­tial.

62.7 mil­lion Chil­dren in Africa live below the pover­ty line of $1.97

59.4% of Zambia’s chil­dren live in poor house­holds with 45.4% in extreme pover­ty.

35% Zam­bian stunt­ing lev­els in chil­dren are sig­nif­i­cant­ly high as a result of poor nutri­tion.

6/10 Zam­bian chil­dren between the age of 6–59months are anaemic because of poor nutri­tion.

Under invest­ment in nutri­tion and health in the first 8000 days of life has a sig­nif­i­cant lim­i­ta­tion on crit­i­cal devel­op­ment

Through our school feed­ing pro­grams, it costs only $1.50 to feed a child break­fast for a month

25% of Zam­bian chil­dren use severe­ly under­fund­ed com­mu­ni­ty schools.

25/30 Coun­tries with the low­est Human Cap­i­tal Index are in Africa

740,000 Zam­bian school aged chil­dren are not in school.

Only about 30% of Zam­bian ado­les­cents attain high school edu­ca­tion.

FEEDING PROGRAMS

To improve learn­ing, we are also focussed on fund­ing feed­ing pro­grams in schools with­out gov­ern­ment feed­ing pro­grams. Most of the chil­dren com­ing from these homes do not have break­fast before going to school and in rur­al set­tings they have to trav­el long dis­tancesin some instances more than 5km, mak­ing it dif­fi­cult for them to con­cen­trate in class. By fund­ing feed­ing pro­grams in schools in the poor­est com­mu­ni­ties we help improve enroll­ment and atten­dance for the most vul­ner­a­ble chil­dren espe­cial­ly for girls who are often required to stay home to help with domes­tic duties or mar­ried off at a very young age.  By pro­vid­ing a meal in schools, it sup­ple­ments the bud­get of poor house­holds and encour­ages par­ents to send their chil­dren to school.

FEEDING PROGRAMS

To improve learn­ing, we are also focussed on fund­ing feed­ing pro­grams in schools with­out gov­ern­ment feed­ing pro­grams. Most of the chil­dren com­ing from these homes do not have break­fast before going to school and in rur­al set­tings they have to trav­el long dis­tancesin some instances more than 5km, mak­ing it dif­fi­cult for them to con­cen­trate in class. By fund­ing feed­ing pro­grams in schools in the poor­est com­mu­ni­ties we help improve enroll­ment and atten­dance for the most vul­ner­a­ble chil­dren espe­cial­ly for girls who are often required to stay home to help with domes­tic duties or mar­ried off at a very young age.  By pro­vid­ing a meal in schools, it sup­ple­ments the bud­get of poor house­holds and encour­ages par­ents to send their chil­dren to school.

Accord­ing to the Unit­ed Nations research data, the cre­ation of human cap­i­tal is depen­dent on good nutri­tion and health in the first 8000 days of life which goes into the for­ma­tive ado­les­cent years. Accord­ing, to the human cap­i­tal index rank­ings, 25 of the 30 coun­tries with the low­est human cap­i­tal Index rank­ings are in Africa. It is for this rea­son that at Sim­pact Foun­da­tion we see our sup­port of school feed­ing pro­grams as a major step in help­ing vul­ner­a­ble chil­dren reach their full poten­tial and ulti­mate­ly devel­op­ment of human cap­i­tal required for eco­nom­ic devel­op­ment. The ben­e­fits of fund­ing the school feed­ing pro­grams include bet­ter nutri­tion and child devel­op­ment, improved learn­ing and school atten­dance and reduces child mar­riages and ear­ly preg­nan­cies for girls.

Accord­ing to the Unit­ed Nations research data, the cre­ation of human cap­i­tal is depen­dent on good nutri­tion and health in the first 8000 days of life which goes into the for­ma­tive ado­les­cent years. Accord­ing, to the human cap­i­tal index rank­ings, 25 of the 30 coun­tries with the low­est human cap­i­tal Index rank­ings are in Africa. It is for this rea­son that at Sim­pact Foun­da­tion we see our sup­port of school feed­ing pro­grams as a major step in help­ing vul­ner­a­ble chil­dren reach their full poten­tial and ulti­mate­ly devel­op­ment of human cap­i­tal required for eco­nom­ic devel­op­ment. The ben­e­fits of fund­ing the school feed­ing pro­grams include bet­ter nutri­tion and child devel­op­ment, improved learn­ing and school atten­dance and reduces child mar­riages and ear­ly preg­nan­cies for girls.

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