![Workshop at Mayanda]()
Workshop at Mayanda
"My name is Taonga. I am a 23 years old married women and a mother of two. My father died when I was young and my mother, a small scale businesswoman was sponsoring my education. It was after I failed my Grade 9 examination that I decided to get married.
In 2022 School Club Zambia introduced the Own your Destiny project in my community which uses football amongst other things to help girls go back to school. I was among the people that attended the meeting and the project gave me a hope of returning to school.
Whilst I longed to return to school, the challenge was my husband, he did not like the idea of me going back to school instead he wanted me to stay home and care for the children. I was sad but kept my hope alive. I love my husband and I want him to support me. I registered and attended literacy and numeracy lessons, but I still wanted to return to school. After some months School Club Zambia organised a Boys and Men alliance workshop and I was happy my husband was in attendance. He was happy with the meeting which had speeches from prominant leaders in our communtiy and the Ministry of Education. After the meeting he agreed to help me go back to school.
From the start-up capital I was given after the entrepreneurship training, I was able to join a savings group, I used part of my savings to pay for my external examination.
I’m now doing my grade 9 at Mayanda primary under adult education. My husband helps with my studies and house chores when I’m at school. He helps take care of the children so that I attend my lessons on time.
I know if I get my education, I will be able to improve my life, I am confident I will complete my education and become a nurse.
Joining school club has raised my confidence for a better future and through school club, my husband is supporting me in my education. Thank you, School Club Zambia for your support"
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It has now been 7 months since we raised the money for our Boys and Men Alliance project on #GivingTuesday through the support and kindness of donors like you.
We have now held Boys and Men workshops at 4 schools and the impact can be seen in the personal feedback that we have received from girls and women like Taonga as well as from feedback from particpants after the workshop.
All of the workshops have followed the same schedule like the below at the meeting which was held at Mayanda Primary School in March.
Mayanda Primary School Boys and Men Alliance Workshop
The panel of speakers consisted of 2 officers from the Ministry of Education - the District Standards Officer and the Guidance and Counselling Officer. We had a clinical officer from Maamba General Hospital on behalf of Ministry of Health, 2 respected community members, and officers from SCZ as well 3 school administration members.
In attendance there were 50 men from the community around Mayanda, mostly fathers and husbands of girls on the Own youyr Destiny project
Topic One: The Importance of Girls' Education
Led by the Ministry of Education's District Guidance and Counselling Officer (Mr Neene)
At the beginning of the workshop, we asked the participants to close their eyes and raise their hand if they felt that its important for a girl child to complete 12 years of education, over 30 men present raised their hands, out of these, over 15 were raised high with belief, the rest were in doubt.
The Guidance and Counselling officer talked about the importance of education, he emphasised that education is an equalizer, and that it was easier for an educated woman to raise their children. He informed the participants that there are many options of how one can go back to school, adult education being one of them.
Mr Neene stressed the point that, when women are educated, it is easier for them to manage a home, while in school, they are taught many things including how to manage money.
One participant asked a question that, what do you do if after you educate a woman then she leaves you. Some parents present responded that it all starts by agreeing and being on the same page at home, you need to sit down as families so that everyone understands the steps about to be taken, that way, there will be less problems. One parent said, usually when a man doesn’t want to take his wife to school, there are underlying factors that lead to this, they have to solve all these issues then everything will move smoothly. Other parents really stressed the important role parents play in a girls life, they have to stress to the man married to her the value of education and how they want their child to get an education, parents who are capable of supporting their daughter with school even while married, they shouldn’t hesitate but support their children, that way, even the husbands will see the importance and take up the responsibility.
Another parent stressed how educating girls could lead to reduced teenage pregnancies, because school will keep them busy and also teach them how to care for themselves and avoid to get pregnant before they are ready.
One of the parents present emphasised to his colleagues on why it is important to educate our children because children still have a chance to change their lives by being educated. He gave himself as an example, he has educated 4 girls and they are all doing fine, one of them is even working out of the country.
Education Standards Officer – Open and Distance Learning
The ESO emphasized that the biggest work to return children back to school starts at home, parents need to encourage their children to be educated. Parents spend more time at home, it their duty to encourage these children.
The ESO asked the group of men to come up with ways in which they will support their wives or children to return to school. The main points raised from the open discussion include;
- The men agreed to allow their children and wives to return to school.
- Encourage their children and wives on the importance of education.
- They agreed to help with chores to give more time to their wives to do school work.
- Reduce resentment towards their wives as they return to school.
- Regularly check their school work to ensure hat they are attending the classes and doing the school work.
- Communicate clearly with the wives so that they can be on the same page.
- Support with school requirements.
- Or if the husband cant help with chores, they should help by finding someone else who can help with chores.
Topic Two: Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights
Maternal Health
Mr Tembo from the MoH explained the process of maternal health to the men present, he talked about the different tests that are initially conducted at the beginning of this process which include HIV, and other STIs. He talked about how important this process is to the mothers and unborn child. Mr Tembo emphasized that when a woman becomes pregnant, she becomes government property, and that it was important for girls to complete 12 years of education, this will help them to understand and follow the antenatal cards to follow the growth of a child.
Mr Tembo shared statistics that, maternal death rate was at 10 deaths per 100 births, he went on to say, out of these 10 deaths, it was found that 7 of the 10 never reached their G9 of education. He also shared that, 600 out of 1000 children below 5 years develop malnutrition, out of 600, about 270 are born from mothers who are not educated, he went on to emphasize why it as important to educate girls because will lead to better health of children in the long run.
Family Planning
He talked about the importance of family planning and how it can help families to be able to educate their children if they space them right. He talked about the different types of family planning and emphasised how important it was for women to have some education for them to be able to use these services with ease.
In closing, he emphasised how important it was for a woman to be educated because most of these health related problems will affect women the most, he mentioned that lack of education is one of the biggest causes of malnutrition, and we can help solve this problem by educating our children.
Topic Three: Gender Based Violence
Victim Support Unit (Maamba Police)
Mr Siakamena, one of the community members from Mweemba community explained what GBV is and gave real life examples.
He spoke on the different causes of gender based violence in our communities like jealousy from the husband towards the wife, infidelity by partners, and not being on the same page at home. He spoke of different ways that we can prevent GBV in our homes by reducing jealousy and improving communication with our partners.
Closing from the Minstry of Education
In closing, the ESO stressed the point that its even more important that men are in the forefront advocating for women’s education to help improve the health of the community, because men are the head of these homes and if they spoke strongly about something, change will be seen.
She closed by asking again how many thought girls should finish their 12 years of education, everyone raised their hands confidently.
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We still have 6 more community meetings to run but we are extremely proud to see the impact that the first Boys and Men workshops have achieved, particualrly with more and more girls from these schools returning to education.
Thank you to everyone that donated to this project which continues to be an essential step in helping us to end child marriage, illiteracy and achieve greater gender equality in our rural district.
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![Siansowa workshop]()
Siansowa workshop
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![Brainstorming session with Victim Support Unit]()
Brainstorming session with Victim Support Unit
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