Education Matters: Talent meets opportunity in Zimbabwe

Image © Education Matters

Education Matters is a not-for-profit organisation that provides bright children in Zimbabwe with the skills to become tomorrow’s leaders and innovators, in particular young people who would never have access to these opportunities ordinarily.

Since Zimbabwe’s economic downturn in the 2000s, infrastructure has deteriorated, salaries have stagnated, and quality teachers have left for greener pastures. Therefore, the gap between public and private provision continues to widen. In particular, the quality of education has declined, and as a result, Zimbabwe has been caught in a cycle of losing or overlooking its young talent – and in turn, the future leaders who could help turn their homeland’s fortunes around.

This Zimbabwean reality has motivated Education Matters to break this cycle.  “Zimbabwe has many determined and talented students who lack only financial resources and information to better their educational futures. Too often we focus on poverty and not the potential of remarkably resilient, empathetic, and bright young Zimbabweans,” says founder and director Rebecca Zeigler Mano. “We’re here to help motivated students realise their dreams.”

Education Matters offers a range of programmes to achieve this aim: Career Connect matches Zimbabwean students studying overseas with internships back home during vacations; TWEENS provides peer tutoring for young refugees in Tongogara Refugee Camp, located south-east of Zimbabwe.

At its heart is USAP Community School which began in 1999 as a college access programme to help high-achieving, low-income students access university education abroad. The programme supported talented students in their final school year through coaching and workshops. For 20 years, USAP has helped over 400 Zimbabweans gain full scholarships to top colleges and universities around the world, including Harvard, Yale, Amherst, Smith, Pomona, Princeton, MIT, Brown, Columbia, Stanford, and many more. Its pathways have already led to young Zimbabweans achieving PhDs, and to successful new enterprises being started in Africa.

In 2020 this bold and creative programme found its own home – USAP Community School, first at a rented location, and now in a newly built residential campus in Marondera, located about 72 km east of Harare. Students follow a two-year curriculum that fosters critical thinking and problem-solving skills and empowers them to research and make an impact on their communities. Here, Cambridge A level Sciences curriculum sits alongside the exploration of African culture, arts, sports, and social entrepreneurship.

“Our demanding curriculum builds skill levels, nurtures creativity, and allows them to question and explore learning,” says the head of the school, Ellen Mutambara Mapiko. “We support young people who are thinking through how to address challenges in Zimbabwe, to start thinking about how to come home to build up the society, before they even leave.”

In the school’s Capstone project, final-year students apply their knowledge and skills to research a real-world challenge in their home community. After graduating, selected fellows receive funding to return home and put their ideas into action on a six-month project. For example, Melody is considering how to solve the problem of delayed access to medical help. Theoneste is looking at the impacts of crop-raiding in Tongogara Refugee Camp, and Munashe is researching the health effects of pesticides on farmers in Bindura.

“I hope to create positive change, starting from my community,” Munashe says. “By helping label pesticide containers in native languages and simple diagrams, I aim to help farmers across Zimbabwe, not only in Bindura.”

With Education Matters’ support for promising young people like Melody, Theoneste, and Munashe, tomorrow’s Zimbabwe has equal promise.

Oak supports Education Matters as part of our Zimbabwe Programme, which funds local organisations involved in supporting the hopes and aspirations of Zimbabweans, particularly those furthest from opportunity. We support organisations operating in priority areas, including building skills and fostering entrepreneurship, and empowering Zimbabweans to improve their lives and communities.