PARTNERS
PAF believes in networking with other stakeholders in education and other development issues in order to maximize impact in communities. Key among these stakeholders are the civic and traditional leaders with whom PAF maintains close collaboration on its community interventions. A critical partner is the Government as the custodian of the people’s rights through the Ministries of Education, Health, Agriculture and Community Development.
We, at PAF, from our in-depth experience of working with rural communities know the importance of participation and ownership if any intervention is to be rooted in the way of life and therefore be sustained. We thus bring our community mobilization to our partnerships, linking the community beneficiaries to our partners and other stakeholders to widen their scope of learning and benefit. Among the many programmes we have partnered in different areas of community concern and interest:
PAF and Community Schools
It is through the processes in Reflect Circles that target groups identified and expressed the need to address their critical concerns, including their children’s education. Those expressions have over the years given birth to the 42 PAF core schools and extended their support to over 145 others across the seven districts, reaching well over 30,000 learners with direct project support from 2017 to 2019 only.
Support to schools has included:
- Construction/rehabilitation/provision of schools, school furniture, teaching/learning materials
- Improvement of water and sanitation through building toilets, providing boreholes, and CLTS/SLTS (Community and School Led Total Sanitation) WASHE projects
- Training of communities in advocacy approaches/tools such as participatory school governance, and the community scorecard
- Girls’ Action Forums –a mentorship programme that builds learning and social skills
- Training community school teachers in basic pedagogy, child friendly & CSEN methodologies
- Climate Change projects/activities- sustainable landscape management through climate change awareness, conducting youth debates on natural resource conservation in the local schools of Mazabuka, garden and fruit tree planting.
PAF and the GAF
The Girls’ Action Forum is PAF’s flagship model to the empowerment of women and girls. is a tool that responds to the challenges faced by girls in rural communities. Girls’ Action Forum (GAF) is a platform to build positive relationships, embrace diversity-positive messages and to develop life skills. The GAF builds a community for girls to thrive and succeed by celebrating individuality while providing safe spaces to connect and share their voices and common experiences. It’s a place to learn, to play and to grow, a safe place to be and to become.
In the GAF girls are given the right skills, space and encouragement to empower them to develop their voices in their communities, navigate their own paths and thrive! We believe that no girl should be left behind! PAF partnered with the Roger Federer Foundation (RFF) from 2011, and from 2014 piloted GAF in 76 community schools in Mumbwa District in Central and Eastern Provinces of Zambia. GAF was expanded to an additional 80 schools in Chadiza, Mambwe and Chipata between 2017 and 2019. The model was replicated with support from Porticus and other partners in 40 community schools in Southern and Central Provinces between 2014 and 2021.
PAF and Climate Change
As one of the expanded areas of its strategic focus PAF has forged new partnerships to tackle climate change and its attendant consequences.
In 2018 PAF partnered with Solidaridad to advocate for the conservation of natural resources in the Lower Kafue Sub Basin. The follow-on project, the Clean & Green School, targeting areas experiencing the effects of drought, deforestation and land degradation, engages learners to impart knowledge and skills in sustainable landscape management (SLM).
PAF was engaged between 2019 and 2021 to partner in water resource management interventions with WWF. This included conducting community mobilization and engagement meetings to disseminate information on the Lower Kafue River Basin Health Report Card. By December 2019 community engagements meetings had taken place in the 10 chiefdoms along the Lower Kafue Basin. Engagements also focused on how community members can take ownership to reduce the negative human practices so as to improve the basin’s health.
PAF and the Village Partnership Model – VPM
From January 2023 PAF has partnered with SHANTA Foundation in its Village Partnership Model (VPM); a sustainable, holistic, community-led development model implemented in Myanmar; adapting the model to the Zambian context while incorporating PAF’s mentorship approach, the Girls’ Action Forum (GAF) in the Women and Girls’ Empowerment project. The model takes advantage of our unique knowledge and experience in community development and mobilization. The project is being implemented in four villages in Siyowi, Chief Mwanachingwala in Mazabuka.
PAF’s “School That Grows”.
In 2023 PAF acquired land in Shimabala Kafue, supported by our long-term partners the United Church of Canada, to begin the journey to achieving a long-standing dream to build a boarding school that will provide quality education for girls. Through this project we envision increased self-sustainability as the organisation continues to support women and girls’ empowerment.