Goal 2: Universal Primary Education

Interactive Radio Instruction (IRI) is one of the means by which the Zambian government is attempting to bring education to primary aged children in remote areas of the country where there is no access to conventional schools.  The programme started on a small scale in Zambia six years ago and is gradually spreading through the country, as more and more facilitators are trained. At the beginning of 2005, IRI was reaching 36000 Zambian children. The programme follows the three term Zambian school year. One lesson is broadcast per week day per class level. Currently lessons for Grade One to Grade Six are broadcast daily. Next year Grade Seven will be added to the schedule, completing the primary school programme.  IRI depends on the extent of radio transmission coverage in remote areas. The national radio station broadcasts the IRI lessons, as do many local community radio stations, but these am/fm frequencies are not available in every part of the country.

IRI depends on a village having a literate English speaker among its number, who is prepared to work voluntarily to facilitate learning in the local language. That person receives a week’s training and is provided with a wind up radio, lesson notes, charts, attendance lists, a blackboard and chalk.  Support personnel from the local district teachers’ resource centre visit the IRI ‘school’ about ten times a year. The children are given an A5 exercise book and a pencil at the beginning of each year.  The lesson is broadcast on the wind up radio in English.  One very brief set of instructions are given in English by the broadcaster with an indication of the number of seconds that the facilitator has to communicate these instructions to the children and complete the task.  The facilitator then communicates in the local language of which there are many in Zambia. Then the broadcaster gives the next set of instructions and so on.

IRI started in the Lukulu District in 2005 with ten centres. Sr Elizabeth Donnan IBVM had the opportunity to visit Teddie Sikuku, a community volunteer teaching in one of these centres, a mud thatched church, and describes her experience:  “It was just wonderful to watch Teddie’s Grade 1 class of 28 children in action.  In one lesson they covered a wide range of topics including reading, writing, vowels, shapes, maths, action words, careers, role playing, singing, dancing, and English.

The first half of the lesson comprised of the radio instructions, described above.  The second half of the lesson was revision accompanied by background music. The children, under guidance, wrote up the lesson in their books.  If they no longer had their A5 exercise book, they wrote on the sand floor with their fingers.  About twelve children still had their books and Teddie corrected them on the spot.   The roll was taken and then as it was Friday, Teddie had to communicate that they did not come to school for the next two days, at which they jumped twice.  They finished with a song, in typical siLozi style, alternating solo and chorus with clapping on the off beat.  My general sense was that the content and method of the lesson were sound and that some of the children were coping well with the input”.

The Zambian government in the past has been tardy in its provision of primary school education and depended to some extent on community schools. In the last few years it has accelerated the building of schools in remote areas as well as started to pay salaries in community schools. There is still a shortage of trained teachers but the government has initiated an ambitious programme to train existing teachers. IRI is presumably a stop gap measure until full schooling with trained teachers can be provided.  One third of primary school aged children in rural Zambia are not in school.  It is a tremendous challenge to the Zambian government to achieve universal primary education by 2015, the target of MDG 2.

One way by which the Zambian government is trying to address the empowerment of women is through CAMFED (Campaign for Female Education).  It is a Child Protection Policy which recognizes that girls are especially vulnerable to abuse and that they require special protection, and believes that empowering girls is the foundation for enabling them to be less vulnerable to abuse of any kind.

CAMFED’s vision is of a world in which every child is educated, protected, respected and valued, and grows up to turn the tide of poverty.  In a context of poverty in which rural girls are marginalized and at risk of HIV/AIDS infection, CAMFED  Zambia’s mission is to ensure that all vulnerable children especially girls, can access and complete school in an environment where their rights are respected and protected and they are empowered to contribute meaningfully to the development of their families, communities and nation.

This is particularly significant in the rural District of Lukulu where CAMFED is just about to be implemented.  Currently there are only only two secondary schools within the township of Lukulu itself which serves the intake from a total of seventy primary or community schools across the entire district.  Any pupils from the rural villages who are privileged enough to qualify and access a place at these secondary schools have to leave home and find a room within Lukulu itself.  This places the young girls in a particularly vulnerable position, away from home and guardians.  Apart from having to walk long distances most weekends to their home village and carry food back for the coming week they often find only squalid rooms, unsuitable for study or living in, are in danger as they walk to their room each evening from school in the dark, and can easily be prevailed upon for sexual favours as a form of payment for the room.  A high rate of teenage pregnancy is sadly common place among school girls. 

Steps to counteract this serious problem in relation to the education of girls and their accommodation were taken by the local Catholic Parish Community and Oblate priests when as early as 2000 they initiated the ‘dormitory project’.  This is a community response to provide dormitory accommodation close to the school for up to 100 girls.

It is hoped that the dormitory will be completed and furnished for the beginning of the new school year in 2008.  Girls will be accommodated in a safe environment, and thus will be able to study without fear.  It is hoped that this will both increase their success in education and reduce the number of pregnancies and girls dropping out of school.  When CAMFED visited Lukulu recently they were most impressed with the dormitory project and it is likely that they will enter into a partnership with the parish community to provide funding, and material support to secure the future of the project.

Goal 4: Reduce Child Mortality

In July 2006, the Medical Superintendent of the local district hospital approached 

Sr Pat Hanvey IBVM, seeking support for milk for four orphaned infants all of whose mothers had died in childbirth.  The hospital did not have the resources to provide formula milk for these babies and the extended families had no means whatsoever of purchasing milk.  Without supplement feeding these babies would surely die as so many before them.

Since then we have become aware that the problem is so much greater from the nursing staffs who work in the under-five clinic and the HIV PMTCT (Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission) Clinic.  A high proportion of babies and infants who pass through these clinics are seriously undernourished.  This is mainly due to the babies being orphaned as noted above or through mothers dying from AIDS.  In addition many surviving mothers have insufficient milk to nurse the babies because of their own illness or malnourishment.

As a response to these specific needs a comprehensive milk programme was established in January 2007 with funding which had been made available to the Loreto Sisters for their work.  These funds have since been augmented by a number of international donors and presently there are over 50 babies on the programme all of whom receive a weekly milk supplement.

The programme operates in partnership with the local health authorities since nurses are responsible for identifying and referring babies at risk to the programme, and deeming them ready for discharge when appropriate.  In Lukulu itself the milk is distributed by two volunteers from the local community, but increasingly  Rural Health Centres (RHC) have requested assistance.  Where these are easily accessible, or where the Clinical Officer in charge is willing to collect the milk from the main distribution point, and monitor the distribution, these can be assisted.  Currently four RHCs are being assisted and this is working very well largely due to the responsibility and good accountability of the personnel at these centres.

The programme has now been going for over one year and of the 50 babies currently registered, 15 of these are receiving the milk from their local rural health centre.  Some of these are orphans but many are also children of mothers who are HIV+. A total of 8 babies have been successfully discharged from the programme, and sadly we have recorded 5 deaths over this period.  However these deaths have not been attributed to malnourishment but rather other causes such as malaria.  In the near future it is hoped to enhance the programme by having health, nutrition and child-care workshops for the parents and guardians and hopefully this will further improve the survival of vulnerable babies.

Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS

The Western Province has one of the highest HIV and AIDS prevalence situations in Zambia with an average rate of 13%.  The western Province has also one of the most organized and respected  traditional leadership structures in Zambia, referred to as the Barotse Royal Establishment (BRE).   The BRE has recently taken an important initiative in the fight against HIV/AIDS by establishing an ‘Against AIDS Campaign’.  As stated by Ngambela (Prime Minister) Manyando Mukela on behalf of the Litunga (King) HRH Lubosi Imwiko II, this action plan “is a demonstration of the willingness of the chiefs and other traditional leaders of the Western Province of Zambia, to examine their society and to take action to review traditional practices considered inimical to the success of the fight against HIV and AIDS in the entire Barotse Kingdom.”  This is an important step indeed as this traditional leadership structure has remained strong with considerable influence on communities in terms of moral leadership and guidance.

Another recent initiative local to the Lukulu District in the effort to combat HIV/AIDS is the introduction of a mobile VCT (Voluntary Counselling and Testing) service to the Rural Health Centre of Mbanga, some forty kms through deep sand from the main township of Lukulu.  This is one full day journey on foot or by ox cart, the only form of transport for the local community.  The service has been initiated through a partnership involving the Diocese of Mongu Home Based Care, the District Health Management Team and the Loreto Sisters.  Health personnel from the hospital have been taken to the site for counselling and testing every two weeks on a regular basis.  Blood samples were collected and taken to Lukulu for analysis, and results brought back to Mbanga as part of the post-test counseling routine.  As necessary, those found to be HIV positive were conveyed to Lukulu for CD4 counts, initiation of antiretroviral therapy (ART), or review.  During the pilot phase of this project a total of 152 clients were tested, 19 found to be HIV+, 4 taken for CD4 counts and 2 started on ART.  The life of 10 patients who had previously accessed treatment and ART through their own efforts was made so much easier by easy access to the hospital in Lukulu for review. 

The success of this pilot scheme warrants its extension into the future and efforts are presently being made to replicate this to other Rural Health Centres.  While free HIV/AIDS testing and ARV drugs are available at Lukulu District Hospital, the rural and impoverished nature of the catchment area means that the services are realistically only available to those who live within a 5 – 10 km radius of the township. Mobile outreach to the more remote areas for testing and ART adherence and monitoring will greatly enhance access to testing and treatment, another significant step in the efforts to combat HIV/AIDS in the Lukulu District.

GOAL 8: Global Partnership

In July 2005, the President of the USA launched the Presidential Malaria Initiative (PMI).  He pledged to increase US funding by more than $1.2 billion over five years to reduce deaths due to malaria by 50% in African countries among which Zambia is one.  As noted in the PMI Annual Report (March 2007) PMI is already saving lives and has reached more than 6 million Africans.  In the first three focus countries – Uganda, Tanzania, and Angola – PMI distributed more than 1 million mosquito nets to protect  pregnant women and children under age 5; conducted indoor residual spraying campaigns to shield over 2 million people; and procured over a million treatments of highly effective artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) and other anti-malarial drugs to treat the disease.  This year, an additional 30 million people are expected to benefit from lifesaving treatment and prevention measures as PMI expands to four additional countries. 

PMI coordinates with national malaria control programs and international partners, such as the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), including faith-based and community groups.  In the case of Lukulu, it is the latter, a faith based community group, the Diocese of Mongu Home Based Care, which is the agent on the ground that will be distributing mosquito nets provided by the PMI through USAID and CRS (Catholic Relief Services, the AID agency representing the Catholic Episcopal Conference in the US). 

Malaria remains a leading cause of ill health and preventable deaths in Zambia, and Lukulu is no exception to this.  It is especially dangerous to children under 5 yrs, pregnant mothers and those whose immune system has been compromised through HIV/AIDS.  Sr Pat Hanvey IBVM coordinates the Home Based Care in Lukulu, and the patients enrolled in this programme, a total of 150 people, will form the target group for this current distribution of mosquito nets.  However, nets will be distributed to the households of the patients and not just the individual, according to the number of sleeping spaces in the homes, with priority being given also to children and pregnant mothers. It is anticipated that the allocation will allow for up to three nets to be given per household, and considering that several people will sleep under one net, the beneficiaries of this relatively small distribution node are likely to be in the order of a thousand people. This is not an insignificant number of people to gain protection against a killer disease and illustrates well how global partnerships can work to bring about change at a local level.