In Zambia, rural girls and learners with special education needs are among the most marginalised people. Even though Zambia has attained gender parity in education at primary school level, more girls than boys start dropping out when they reach secondary school level. In the case of children with disabilities, they face more barriers to education than other children, due to poor implementation of inclusive education policies. 

Zambia National Education Coalition (ZANEC) identifies six main situational problems to inclusive education, which it seeks to address through the project, namely: Low financing to the education sector; poor utilisation of budgetary allocations; poor implementation of education sector plans; poor mainstreaming of gender and disability issues in national plans and budgets; low participation of citizens in service delivery monitoring; and inadequate opportunities for learning and advocacy at international level.  

The project will build on the efforts made in the previous phase of the project implemented between April 2022 – December 2023. To tackle the above issues, this project phase will entail five strategic interventions: 

• Advocacy on education revenue and expenditure budget. 

• Participation in policy development, planning, and monitoring implementation of education sector plans. 

• Undertake advocacy campaigns to promote gender and disability mainstreaming. 

• Support local citizen participation in public social accountability monitoring. 

• Participate in international learning and advocacy meetings. 

The project envisages that these strategies will contribute to bring about three main impacts: improved progress towards achieving SDG 4 national targets; improved achievement of gender and disability national indicators; and improved quality of education in targeted schools. 

To realise the desired policy changes, ZANEC will engage key stakeholders, such as the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Finance, Members of Parliament, Cooperating Partners, and the Constituency Development Fund Committees. Furthermore, ZANEC will enhance its advocacy through constant engagements with other CSOs within and outside the country.  Awareness raising and social mobilisation interventions will target Parent Teacher Committees, teachers, learners, traditional leaders, and ZANEC member organisations. 

To enhance the sustainability of the project results, these several stakeholders will be involved and engaged from the inception of the project. ZANEC places member organisations and learners at the centre of the demand for quality service delivery in the education sector. To this effect, Parent Teachers Committees, learners, teachers, officials from the District Education Board Office, and people living with disabilities will be trained in social accountability. By offering training to these stakeholders, ZANEC is assured of both a sustained advocacy voice and continued monitoring of education service delivery beyond this project phase. 

The Zambia National Education Coalition (ZANEC) is a coalition of 93 non-state actors including community-based organisations, faith-based organisations, NGOs, teacher trade unions, and student unions working in the education and skills sector in Zambia. Through this project ZANEC will contribute to their overall mission of promoting quality and inclusive education for all, through influencing policy, building consensus, holding duty bearers accountable, and strengthening the capacities of stakeholders in the education sector. 

An earlier phase of the project was carried out between April 2022 – December 2023. The current project is part of the EOL extension phase of 2024-2026. Read more about the previous phase of the project here.