Empowering local people in Zambia

It is safe to say that working in a country and a sector for well over a decade means you learn a lot along the way! We are thankful for all the years and all our experiences since 2008. We have learnt to regularly evaluate how we work and not be afraid to make changes as we learn and grow.

From ‘making a difference’ to mutuality

When we started, our narrative was very much about ‘making a difference’. We were aware there are no quick-fixes to poverty alleviation and knew we were committed to long-term change. Yet we have learned it is perhaps a little less about ‘making a difference’ and more about mutuality and empowerment.

Moving on from child sponsorship

We started out with child sponsorship as that was a known vehicle for raising funds and connecting people to a cause. However, we knew we wanted to do some things differently to honour both our donors and beneficiaries well. We made a decision right at the start that 100% of the sponsorship money would go to Zambia (we would raise funds separately for any UK/admin costs). We also made the decision that every child at our partner schools would receive the same education/meals etc. regardless of whether they were ‘sponsored’ or not – we committed to raising the extra funds to cover any sponsorship shortfall. This meant that children didn’t know whether they were sponsored or not – every child was valued. There were no special letters or gifts for some children and not others.

The plan wasn’t for the child sponsorship programme to run forever, as we have always wanted to develop our partner schools so that they are no longer so financially reliant on us. This isn’t necessarily an easy road as we journey out of such a depth of partnership with schools, but it is one we are committed to.

Empowering local people in Zambia

Our heart is to equip and empower local people in Zambia. Whether that’s by employing local labourers when funding building projects, or by training teachers to teach literacy, or by giving the girl child the opportunity to discover their God given identity and potential.

Over the years we have also insisted that all partner schools, bursary students and any recipients of financial support have also contributed something towards the cost themselves. By doing this, we have found it empowers and gives dignity to all and places value on what is being received.

There has no doubt been a change in our narrative from ‘making a difference’ to ‘here’s how transformation really happens’. We will keep on adapting and making changes so that we can ensure the continued impact and future sustainability of our work.