Day One

As a team we went to the CCF* (ChildFund) office in Lusaka and meet with CCF . We also met the National director of CCF in Zambia Victor Koyi. What an amazing man. Incredibly passionate about CCF and what they are doing to help children and people here in Zambia. He gave a brief insite into the education system in Zambia and what CCF's role is in helping to promote quality education. He stressed the importance of improving teacher resources, improving the infrastructure and ensuring that the teachers are delivery a quality education. He metioned that attendance had improved in schools from 65% to 90%, however there are needs to improve the infrastructure to cope with the influx. The Zambian government is recruiting 10,000 teachers a year this is partly because of the need for teachers with role increases and the aids pandemic which has had a hugh impact on teachers.


Interesting facts:

• Govt only spends 15% of budget on education needs to increase to 20% to make a difference.
• Teacher salary $250 US a month.

The team met Lillian Kapula the Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Education in Zambia. This woman made a real impact on me personally. She has amazing passion and she understands the needs for education reform. She also understands the need for a NOW approach. She is an action woman, and she took time from her incredibly busy schedule to see us. However she was so appreciative that we had come all the way from NZ to make a difference to a child in Zambia. Especially the Mumbwa district where the need is great. She stressed to us " Embrace the challenge and show your colleagues some comfort". She knows that we can't change things immediately but we can make a difference in the children's and teacher's lives. Through her leadership and reform she plans to scale the heights of education during this difficult time and she is proud to do it. Lillian stressed to us that her action plan included the need to increase the contact time between students and teachers through reducing class sizes. She is a woman of substance.

*CCF Zambia is part of the ChildFund global family

Helen Wilson
Rotorua Intermediate School