Increasing Civic Participation in Children’s Right to Education

Following Zimbabwe’s political transition in 2017, we engaged national parliamentarians, as well as province, district and school-level education and social welfare officials, to support social, economic and civic reforms aimed at promoting access to educational rights for children across Zimbabwe. At the same time, we mobilized children and communities in three districts to demand, support, and monitor reforms.

Key project achievements include:

• Developed policy briefs and budgetary motions
• Conducted sustained advocacy for increased government commitment to and resource allocation for education for all children;
• Trained 5 school development committees on meaningful participation of children in decision-making processes and school governance, and on financial management and transparency;
• Established and trained of 5 child advisory boards on accountability and positive teacher engagement;
• Developed community engagement guidelines and trained 42 Ministry of Primary and Secondary education officials in their use
• Piloted community engagement guidelines in 3 districts, leading to ongoing national roll-out;
• Sensitized 398 community members on the value of education and their role in ensuring access for vulnerable children, including girls and children with disabilities;
• Conducted a corporate engagement campaign and successfully mobilized private sector contributions for education support.