Complementary educational measures for children and adolescents without primary education in Zimbabwe (GIZ)

As a result of the strong arm tactics of the Mugabe regime, the Zimbabwean economy suffered an unparalleled collapse, stripping it of the past progress it had made. Primary schools completion rates sank to less than 40% per year, and only 25% of test results were at or above a passing score. Parents began doubting the value of their children attending school, and rethinking their willingness to invest in it. The key issue arises that alternative opportunities for formal education, and thus a path to employment, are not available for children and youths who do not attend or prematurely end their primary education. The GIZ tackles this issue by offering children and adolescents without a primary education the opportunity to receive hands-on vocational training. This project has established itself on the national level and continues to develop through pilot projects in the hopes that concepts and application strategies learned in pilot communities can be applied across Zimbabwe. The goal is the creation of a modularly constructed tutorial program for children and youths of varying ages and levels of background knowledge. In addition, locally available lesson plans as well as teaching and learning materials will be adapted for the purposes of the project. Nongovernmental partners will be selected, trained and contracted for the project implementation in pilot districts.
After an initial evaluation within a framework contract, the ABI was contracted until mid-2014 to support the project and its activities by consulting on the ongoing political and economic developments in Zimbabwe. The last consultation was from March to April 2014.