Stories of Impact! Click here to read some inspiring stories, of how we have helped young people overcome challenges, improve their education and sustain their own livelihoods

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Stories of Impact! Click here to read some inspiring stories, of how we have helped young people overcome challenges, improve their education and sustain their own livelihoods 〰️〰️〰️

School club zambia

School Club Zambia exists because for many young people in rural Zambia, access to education alone is not enough. Poverty, limited employment opportunities, climate shocks and the pressures facing girls can prevent young people from completing their education or turning education into a secure future. As a women-led organisation, we work alongside schools and communities to address these interconnected challenges through girls’ education, vocational training, enterprise development, literacy and climate resilience.

We work primarily through partner schools because in rural Zambia a school is much more than a place of learning. It is an important and trusted community resource where parents and communities meet, health services can be delivered and young people can be reached with information and support on issues such as early marriage, gender-based violence and sexual and reproductive health. By working through existing community structures, we can build trust and develop practical solutions alongside the people we support, rather than imposing them from outside.

At the same time, we recognise that the most vulnerable young people are often those who are no longer in school or at greatest risk of dropping out. Our next stage is therefore the development of a Climate Resilience Centre on SCZ-owned land near Maamba. The Centre will complement our work through partner schools, providing a permanent local hub for tailoring, weaving, IT and entrepreneurship, regenerative agriculture and climate resilience. It will allow us to reach those who can be missed by the formal education system, particularly girls, while creating a sustainable resource for the wider community. Our aim is to build on more than 15 years of locally rooted work to give young people practical skills, opportunities and greater control over their futures.

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Young Carpenters.jpg — Our Vision

School Club Zambia envisions a Zambia where every child has access to a high quality, vocational and creative education as outlined in the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child. We believe in an education system that leads to job security and life opportunities for Zambia’s youth.
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Our Partners

Our Funding Partners

Since 2011, School Club Zambia has been fortunate to work with a diverse range of funding partners who share our vision for transformative education. Our support has been bolstered by generous contributions from the Egmont Trust, Gurnsey Overseas Aid, Comic Relief, UK Aid, and the UNDP GEF Small Grants Programme. We are also proud to have long-term corporate social responsibility partners, such as The Restaurant Group PLC, whose ongoing commitment helps us sustain and expand our programmes. Their support is vital in enabling us to create lasting impact in the rural communities we serve.

Find out how we fund our programmes

Our Impact

Since 2011, we have worked alongside schools, communities and local education authorities in rural Zambia to improve children’s access to quality education and help young people build the skills and opportunities they need for the future. We work through partner schools because, in rural Zambia, a school is much more than a place of learning: it is a trusted community space where families meet, health services can reach communities and young people can be supported on issues that affect their education and futures.
Our work brings together five interconnected areas: self-financing schools, vocational and entrepreneurship training, literacy and early childhood education, girls’ education and climate resilience. We use innovative and practical ways to engage young people, including football, play-to-learn approaches, art and creativity, alongside hands-on vocational and enterprise training. These approaches help make learning relevant and engaging while giving young people opportunities to develop practical skills, confidence and knowledge.
We have developed our programmes over many years in response to the priorities of the communities we work with, including the barriers that prevent girls from remaining in education, poverty, limited employment opportunities and the growing impact of climate change. Our next stage is the development of our Climate Resilience Centre, which will complement our work through partner schools while enabling us to reach some of the young people most likely to be missed by the formal education system, particularly girls who are out of school or at risk of dropping out. Through this combined approach, we aim to help young people not only access education, but gain the skills, resilience and opportunities to shape their own futures.
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£45k+

£45,000 Raised Independently by Our School RUn Businesses since 2011.

This has been reinvested back into enterprises or been used to develop the schools. To date the profits from the schools’ businesses are paying for community teachers salaries and built two teachers house; 3 classroom blocks; toilets and hand washing stations and allowed schools to buy essential resources like chalk and paper.

6000+

More than 6000 children A YEAR BENEFIT FROM our Programmes.

Since 2011, we have directly supported over 20,00 children through our 4 thematic areas of self-financing schools; vocational education; literacy development and girls education.

3500+

Over 3,500 girls Have been supported through our girls’ education programmes.

This is an innovative 3 tiered approach to over-coming the particular barriers girls face in completing their education. We believe in the power of the female entrepreneur and the urgent need to upskill our young women so that they may reach their full potential.

Get Involved

Over half of the 19 million people living in Zambia are under the age of 15, making it one of the fastest growing and youngest countries in the world. Yet whilst only 66% of the population is literate according to UNESCO and 1 out of 2 Zambians are under or unemployed, what livelihood options will be available to this next generation? We believe that schools need innovative financial and technical strategies to provide the qualitative education that this next generation so desperately needs.

We know that we are making an impact in rural Zambia, as we carefully measure the targets of our projects and their overall outcomes on our organisation’s long-term goals. An example of these achievements is the 40.4% reduction in the number of days that girls’ miss off school (Girls of Sinazongwe Project funded by FCDO 2019 -2021) and the 25% reduction in extreme poverty amongst 500 targeted households (Agricultural Hubs for Sustainable Schools Project)

Yet we need the support of people like you to reach more schools and rural young people, especially as we develop our new Climate Resilience Centre. Can you help?

Generation changers

Sign up to give a monthly regular donation of £10 a month or more and you will become part of our incredible Generation Changers Club. Generation changers are the core support of our work so they receive a special quarterly update report and a welcome gift of an apron from our amazing young tailors’ club!

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Innovation ambassadors

Our Innovation Ambassadors take part in a 6 month structured internship that pairs international volunteers with volunteers from our partner communities. Innovation Ambassadors work together to either start or expand school-run businesses which have a long-lasting impact on the sustainability of our schools.

Be the change

Make a Donation

As a small charity operating on less than £100,000 a year, every little bit goes a long way in helping us to support more schools. A gift of £5 could provide 1 girl with training in how to make re-usable sanitary wear which will prevent her from missing school or £50 could equip 12 young farmers with the skills to price and grade their produce properly.

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