poverty relief through education

Problem

Mwambezi village is located 12 km from the town of Mbala in Northern Province of Zambia, Africa. This village has no school. School going children have to walk at least 12 km to attend school. Children in early grades from K-4 never manage to walk 12 km to attend school. As a result, this village hardly has any children reaching grade seven. If they cannot reach grade seven, there is no way they can reach grade twelve. Without education people have no literacy and numeracy skills, the foundation for success in today's world. Lack of children's education is the root cause of much poverty among the people of Mwambezi village.

The Solution

Building a school at Mwambezi village will allow young children to receive early education while close to their parents at the village. The school may be built in stages of 3 or 4 classrooms at each stage. Once the children reach grade 7 they are mature enough to attend secondary school anywhere outside the village. Of course, as resources allow, it would be fine to build the school to grade twelve.

Strategy

Since the government has not built a school at Mwambezi village, the people of the village should themselves build the school. Ntungo Noble provides the community with training and mentorship in developing the school.

Goals

1. To train and mentor the Mwambezi community in developing a school that children can attend while close to their parents.
2. Provide children access to early childhood education
3. Provide shelter and a place for educating children of the village
4. To reduce the incidence of poverty through access to education
5. To change people's mindset through education from superstition to socio-economic development

Project Development Activities

1. Develop school architectural drawings (completed)
2. Develop project plan for K-7 School construction (Completed)
3. Conduct fundraising for training resources for K-7 School (Ongoing)
4. Mobilize the people of Mwambezi village to make baked bricks and participate in building the K-7 School (Ongoing)
5. Construct K-7 School in stages 3-4 classrooms at a time. (One Block completed Gr. 1-3)
6. Furnish the school classrooms with desks, teacher’s table and chair and shelving (Three classrooms furnished)
7. Sink a borehole for the school (Completed)
8. Inaugurate and celebrate the opening of the K-3 School Block (Completed)
9. Develop Grade 4-7 Classrooms (Pending/In progress)

K-7 School Operational Activities

1. Register the school with the government’s Department of Education (Completed)
2. Identify a principal officer for the school (Completed)
3. Identify teachers for the school (Ongoing)
4. Establish a process for educational supplies procurement (Completed)
5. Establish a process for providing support to needy students from the village (Completed)
6. Establish an operational sustainability plan for the K-7 School

Anticipated Impact

1. More girls will be able to attend school which will result it gender equity with boys
2. Increased literacy and numeracy among the people of Mwambezi village
3. Improved opportunities to reach higher grades of education
4. Improved opportunities for living productive lives in adulthood
5. Improved opportunities for engagement in socio-economic development during adulthood

PS: The people of Mwambezi Village decided to name the school championed by Ntungo Noble as Ntungo Community School out of courtesy, appreciation and recognition of the work of Ntungo Noble.