Today marks the end of an era for us and a step in to the new.
Since 2009 we have been partnering with Community Schools in the Copperbelt Province of Zambia, supporting them financially and professionally. We originally set up our Child Sponsorship Programme as a simple way to help fund the financial contributions to the school. We have been blessed by many loyal and generous supporters who have journeyed with us for the past decade and more.
Over recent years as we have worked with teachers in professional development we have seen the challenges teachers and pupils face, particularly in the area of literacy, so have worked to develop education resources with local specialists.
For the past four years we have refined and piloted our resources in schools and are now delighted to be working with the Zambian Ministry of Education rolling out training for our adapted Jolly Phonics literacy programme. Throughout December and January we are training 1,500 teachers in the Copperbelt Province which will impact over 60,000 children, enabling them to learn to read and write with greater fluency.
This is extremely exciting for us as a team, however it also requires more of our focus and time, therefore creating some key developments and changes within Beyond Ourselves. The child sponsorship programme has served an incredible purpose over the past decade, however with the focus of our work at Beyond Ourselves now on greater Provincial and National impact we have made the decision to end the child sponsorship programme at the end of December 2021.
From 1st January 2022 regular giving will be redirected from ‘Child Sponsorship” to our wider impact initiatives for Community Schools and Education Development in Zambia.
We hope you are as excited as us for these changes and the impact they will have.
If you are a regular giver and are happy to continue with your giving there is no need to take any action or contact us, unless of course you want to increase your amount!
However, if you do want to end your giving then please do contact your bank to cancel your standing order and drop us an email to let us know.
This is a really exciting new chapter in the journey of Beyond Ourselves and we would love it if you would continue to join us on the adventure!
