Professional and Community Development
- Providing books, computers, basic materials to schools
Primary schools in rural areas of Zambia are in great need of resources as they are generally devoid of basic supplies, including books and basic writing materials. Teachers are often forced to teach from outdated materials or memory alone. This contributes to student drop-out rates, failing scores on secondary school entrance exams and a general lack of results. In the long run we hope that the Ministry of Education will attain the resources to provide sufficient books to all of its schools and enable us to focus on other core programs.
We distribute textbooks and school supplies to sites that the ME is unable to serve. All textbooks are sourced from publishers that meet government curriculum requirements. The type and number of textbooks, readers, workbooks, wall charts and other learning materials are determined based on the needs of the site.
We establish Knowledge Centers that serve as focal points for learning at the schools. These centers vary from site to site but generally include the following components: library, computer lab, meeting and study rooms, and mentorship labs. The exact constituency of each Knowledge Center depends on the needs and available resources of each site, for instance access to electricity and available space. While we ask the local community to provide a suitable physical structure for the Knowledge Center, when this is not possible, we work with communities to build an adequate structure.
The KnowledgeBeat team works closely with the school to establish mechanisms for tracking and accounting for the resources and measuring results, including securing safe locations for storage, documenting usage, and monitoring student attendance and performance.
Professional and Community Development
- Enabling teachers to more effectively deliver high quality education and engaging communities in educational development
Resources are only as effective as the teachers who are leading the class make them. In rural areas, teachers are used to working with minimal resources. Our staff offers school faculty short courses in professional development designed to improve their ability to deliver high quality education. The program teaches methods for improving children’s attention, student involvement in the learning and teaching process, lesson planning, the use of supplementary learning materials, academic record keeping, and driving overall results. KnowledgeBeat encourages teachers to emphasize instilling children with integrity, leadership, entrepreneurship, empathy, passion, civic awareness and responsibility.
In order for students to understand the importance and value of education, families and communities must do so as well. Many rural areas of Zambia are composed of subsistence based communities where a child’s presence in the fields or the mines is perceived as more valuable than their presence in the classroom. We help schools engage families and communities in children’s education through initiatives that resonate with Zambian culture. Our goal is to enable the school to become a center piece of the community in which it resides and for the people to take pride in the opportunities it creates for the children.
Because participation and commitment on the part of the school and the community is imperative to the success of each of KnowledgeBeat’s programs, this program is initiated in each site KnowledgeBeat enters. Typically prior to the launch of any of KnowledgeBeat’s other programs, a one week development seminar is held for education professionals and community members. Depending on the site implementation plan, the modules may continue beyond one week in conjunction with the establishment of other KnowledgeBeat programs. In each instance, KnowledgeBeat team members will conduct maintenance sessions on either a monthly or quarterly basis.
- Empowering girls to surmount social norms within their communities and realize new opportunities for personal growth
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Girls deserve equal opportunities to boys, but families often choose not to provide girls with the means they need to stay in school. Additionally, girls often drop out of school at a young age to get married and begin a family. This activity is especially prevalent in rural areas. The U.N. has stated that educating girls yields the highest return of any investment in the developing world, noting that each year a girl stays in school adds another five years to her life expectancy, reduces HIV/AIDS transmission rates and improves the prospects that her future children are born healthy. We wish to assist the Ministry of Education in its efforts to enhance girls access and commitment to education by both encouraging young girls to stay enrolled in primary school and providing the top female students with scholarships to attend secondary schools.
Our girls advancement program consists of two components. The first involves a mentorship and development program conducted at our sites for primary school girls. The program targets attacking the root causes of the issues that prevent school age girls from completing their education. KnowledgeBeat identifies, selects and trains teachers and school administrators in leading seminars and serving as mentors to the girl students. Regular mentorship meetings are held with the girls and the families to inform them of the importance and value of education and how that fits into motherhood and family development, and also to instate practices and offer resources that enable the girls to remain in school. Additionally, we bring women who have broken out of traditional roles to serve as leaders in the community and business into the areas we work to serve as role models.
The second component involves granting scholarships to select girls to attend secondary school. Participation in the mentorship program serves as a strong indication of each girls commitment and passion for pursuing an education, forming a preliminary basis for selection. Additionally, performance on in-class exams, class participation, scores on national secondary school entrance exams and interviews form the remaining basis for selection. Determinations are made by school administrators and our staff to ensure that selected girls are both qualified and motivated to take advantage of the scholarships. Recipients receive full financial coverage for school and living expenses as well as active mentorship from our team for the full duration of secondary school.
- Driving initiatives in and outside of the classroom that target environmental science, health and resource management
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Conservation and natural resource management are extremely important for any society and are increasingly at the forefront of people’s minds as the effects of global warming and natural resource depletion become evident. A delicate balance exists between harvesting resources for basic survival whether chopping lumbar, expanding crop land, hunting or otherwise and conserving and preserving resources for the future. Providing students with a framework to understand and assess how to sustainably manage resources is a vital aspect of our program. Furthermore, technologies and goods are often introduced to these communities before there is an infrastructure in place to manage and dispose of them appropriately. Consequently, burning plastic waste, planting crops on top of buried metal, and other practices that negatively impact the environment and human health are commonplace. Our program helps alleviate these practices by not only educating children about the dangers but also providing alternative solutions.
The sad reality is that the majority of children living in Zambia know almost nothing about the astounding wildlife and natural beauty resident in their country. Additionally, despite treasures such as Victoria Falls and Kafue National Park, Zambia receives a lower number of tourists than its neighbors. The UNDP hypothesizes that improved management of Zambia’s wildlife resources could generate up to an additional $1 billion annually in economic development. Our program educates children about wildlife management and conservation, providing a foundation that will enable ecotourism initiatives to further the economic and environmental health of Zambia.
The specific topics and implementation plan for this program are actively being developed by the KnowledgeBeat team and ZAWA in conjunction with the Ngoma Basic School. Details and roll-out plan will be posted as they become available.
