A shortage of schools in rural Zambia means many communities have no access to quality education. Schools that are open are drastically underfunded and have insufficient infrastructure, facilities and resources such as classrooms, toilets, teaching and learning aids, and the vast majority receives little or no teacher training.
Thanks to support from the Halcrow Foundation, the charity Baraka Community Partnerships (BCP) is building a Learning Centre in the Kapiri-Mposhi district in Central Province, Zambia. The centre will be a community-based learning hub open to local schools, teachers and students. It will include a library, classroom, office, IT centre, storeroom and toilets, with equipment such as computers, books, desks and teaching aids.
Teacher training programme
As well as building the Learning Centre, BCP is designing a training and professional development programme for teachers and school management teams which will take place at the centre. The charity is consulting with potential beneficiaries of this programme to find out what their training and resource needs are, and this will feed back into the course planning. The centre’s training and IT centre will be available to all teachers from across the country and will be free of charge to students and teachers alike.
Various local partners, such as The British Council in Zambia, will also run core skills workshops at the centre to provide teacher training and IT training.
Employment opportunities
BCP’s project goal is to improve education in the local community and wider area, and provide long-term teaching support. This will help improve exam results and overall school performance, and encourage more students to finish secondary school. The centre and course programmes will also improve teacher motivation and professionalism, and promote a better culture of reading and learning. Ultimately the project will boost employment opportunities and improve the income of local families.
The centre and learning programme will also be open to teachers and students across Zambia who are beneficiaries of Baraka Zambia’s Education Programme. BCP’s long term goal is to replicate the project in other areas of the country.
Baraka Community Partnerships
Baraka Community Partnerships concentrates on projects in Zambia and Laos that develop schools, promote healthcare and instigate water and sanitation programmes. It looks at long-term, sustainable solutions for communities that are based on their own ideas, goals and aspirations. All projects are suggested or initiated by local people, so in this way BCP helps communities turn their own vision into reality.
