Give Solar Power to Luanshya Youth Center

Progress

To close the information gap stagnating Luanshya youth and to help accelerate digital equity in Zambia, the Luanshya Information and Learning Center (LINC)was founded in 2023 through a personal grant to the founder, Theresa Lungu,  with the goal to equip high school graduates and youth in the 16–25-year age group with essential skills and resources for a successful transition to higher education, employment, or entrepreneurship and to create opportunities for learning, support literacy and education, and help shape new ideas and perspectives that are central to a creative and innovative community. 

Activities

• Provides free computer access and internet to the community.

Currently we have 12 computers, 1 projector, 6 conferencing microphones, 1 whiteboard and unlimited Wi-Fi. To keep up with demand, we offer outside seating for individuals to access Wi-Fi on personal devices. The center is especially beneficial to youth from high-poverty locations, which is the vast majority in Luanshya, who are benefiting from learning opportunities outside of school. They come from homes without computers or smart phones. In some instances, a parent may have a phone but unable to afford adequate Wi-Fi. While our target audience are young people from 16-25 years, the center is frequented by all age groups including primary school pupils who are learning to use computers and adults alike.

• Holds free training workshops to equip high school graduates and youth in the 16–25-year age group with essential skills and resources for a successful transition to higher education, employment, or entrepreneurship. We also push public service as a critical tool for community development as well as guidance on writing successfully for job and college applications. The workshops have 30 in person attendees, which is capacity for the space, and open to unlimited ZOOM attendees.

• Promotes public service and community engagement.

We work with and engage local expertise and professionals as facilitators for our workshops and strongly believe in community engagement for sustainable learning. The Luanshya District Education Board Secretary is a member of our board of advisors and a source of guidance on critical youth needs. The Mayor is also a strong frequently seeks information on impact.

• Offers internships to 4 grade 11 pupils and equip them with resources to start preparing for their last year of high school.

Partnerships

The Harvard Education Press has donated and shipped 350 higher education books to the Luanshya Information and Learning Center after reading about the center through a Harvard Gazette article.

The American Counselling Association is a recent partner and has donated 100 books to the center. 

Future Projects

1. Currently, the Center is not inclusive to people with disabilities, particularly wheelchair bound patrons because the building is not handicap accessible. To become accessible, viable and inclusive to all, the 60-year-old library that houses the Center, needs adapting to include accessible entrances and restrooms as well as a child/family friendly restroom. This will be an improvement to the existing facilities which are two toilets, one for women and the other for men. We have children using the building for early childhood classes who need clean water for drinking and hand washing after activities.

1. The town experiences electricity rationing due to droughts and other factors that affect adequate distribution of electricity. The electricity rationing can range from 2-8 hours a day and has caused the Center to reduce operating hours and thereby cutting the impact of our services to the community. Configuring the library to solar energy will solve the problem of electricity blackouts and enable us to provide a much-needed service to the /community for more hours per day. The water supply to the library is also through an electric pumped borehole. The solar configuration will enable the building to have clean running water every day. Currently, water is stored in two drums outside of the toilets. This is both unsanitary and unsightly. We have children using the building for early childhood classes who need clean water for drinking and hand washing after activities.

 Challenges

As a small, emergent, nonprofit organization without an operating budget, we face unique needs as we develop our infrastructure and programs and strive to sustain our organization’s stability and institutional strengthening, for example:

The library that houses the center is 60 years old and has little to no updates to the facilities and have not addressed the following:

• Changing needs of residents in terms of information access.
• Lack of funding for basic services.
• Reliance on electricity without harnessing readily available solar energy.
• The need to leverage funds through partnerships.
• Backlog of deteriorating assets that need renovation. The building is not handicap accessible and prevents us from inclusively providing services to all.

Links:

• Our Facebook Page