MIET AFRICA

Bushu Secondary School, a modest institution located in Zimbabwe’s Shamva District, stands as a testament to the transformative power of community-led initiatives.

The reality of Bushu is that of a community operating within a socio-economic context marked by school dropouts due to the lure of artisanal gold mining, early marriage and substance abuse. Yet through its involvement in the FutureLife-Now! Programme, the school is emerging as a beacon of hope, confronting these challenges head-on.

The school’s proactive approach is exemplified by the recent self-initiated and self-funded “health service jamboree” it held in November. Over two hundred learners, parents and members of the community gathered together, providing the FutureLife-Now! country team and various of its partner organisations with a platform to disseminate vital information and foster community engagement.

The jamboree was graced by the presence of Chief Bushu, who articulated his strong endorsement of the FutureLife-Now!

Zabeta Ngoma is a determined Grade 10 pupil at Kapiri Day Secondary School, a rural school in the Kapiri District in Zambia. Having shown great promise academically, she was confronted by a challenge that threatened her scholastic journey.

Every day, Zabeta had to walk five kilometres to and then back from school as her family couldn’t afford the bus fare. The arduous trek was taking a toll on her mental wellbeing, and she was deeply unhappy. Then one day she attended a FutureLife-Now! club in which she found solace among friends and in the FutureLife-Now! facilitator, Renard Mwiinga.

The topic that day was mental health, and during the session, Renard sensed Zabeta’s distress. He created a safe space for her to unburden herself, and she shared her story with him. Through his empathetic listening, Renard helped Zabeta to confront her emotions, develop coping strategies and to recognise her own resilience.

A stated aim of FutureLife-Now! is that it develops healthy and empowered young people who can lead responses to 21st century challenges, including those related to climate change. A good example of this in practice is the “climate change fair” that FutureLife-Now! hosted at Thetsane High School.

Thetsane, in the Maseru District, has participated in the FutureLife-Now! Programme since Phase 1, benefitting from its many initiatives. Now, in Phase 2 it serves as a hub of support to the “new” schools that have joined the programme. In this support role, the school invited five other FutureLife-Now! high schools in the district— Abia, Lesia, Masowe, Puthiatsana and St Catherine—to come together for a fair aimed at promoting youth empowerment. By enhancing their knowledge and capacity to address the risks of climate change, and by promoting youth-led climate-focused activities, the youth were galvanised to mitigate the effects of climate change on their vulnerable school communities.

Originally piloted in four Member States (Lesotho, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe), FutureLife-Now! was launched in South Africa in 2023. Through it, learners in the FutureLife-Now! schools in South Africa have been exposed to a variety of the programme’s themes, including sexual and reproductive health and rights and climate change awareness and its effects.

The programme’s target audience are primary and secondary schools learners, including girls and boys who are going through puberty—an exciting time for them, but one that is also fraught with mystery and misconception.

Puberty is one of the most interesting stages that young people go through. It marks the transition from childhood to young adulthood and brings a range of emotions, such as sadness, embarrassment, excitement, and confusion. – Andile Gininda, MIET AFRICA youth facilitator

So in the last few months, MIET AFRICA’s youth facilitators,

Stop the rape culture. Stop sexual harassment. Stop gender-based violence. Stop it, and stop it now! Mundra Kulele, GBV activist

Gender-based violence, or GBV, has long been a scourge in our societies, so the FutureLife-Now! Programme welcomed the opportunity to organise a GBV Awareness Open Day on 30 May at Mkwichi Secondary School under the theme: Harnessing the inequalities and injustices faced by young people and finding ways to end them.

Gender officers from the district council led the event. They addressed gender issues, while focussing on how learners can identify different forms of GBV, as well as the mechanisms for reporting them. Other speakers included police officers who discussed victim support unit services and a child protection worker, who explained GBV case management structures at the community level.

The event had multi-generational participation, as apart from the learners, representatives from the Parent Teacher Association,

In a powerful demonstration of its commitment to youth empowerment and cultural preservation, FutureLife-Now! Zimbabwe, in partnership with Campaign for Female Education (known as CAMFED), successfully conducted Ubuntu Leadership Training sessions from 17 to 28 June.

FutureLife-Now! conducted the training under the auspices of the Girls Education Accelerator (GEA) programme in 35 districts and reached an impressive 1 092 teachers and senior education officials, but importantly, also about 2 000 exceptional young women leaders—including junior parliamentarians, head girls and prefects.

The training kicked off with a train-the-trainer workshop that focused on the five pillars of Ubuntu—Self-Knowledge, Self-Confidence, Resilience, Empathy, and Service—all of which resonate deeply with the values enshrined in Zimbabwe’s new Heritage-Based Curriculum.

The training sessions were carefully crafted to provide these young leaders with the tools and inspiration they need to make a real difference in their communities. Sessions included interactive workshops,

“I am because you are,” the African philosopher, JS Mbiti’s, famous phrase sums up the essence of Ubuntu. On 14 and 15 June, the Confucius Institute at the University of Zambia buzzed with the spirit of unity as the FutureLife-Now! Programme hosted transformative training sessions run by the Ubuntu Leaders Academy.

With sessions facilitated by FutureLife-Now!’s Aussie Ndlovu (youth development officer) and Charity Banda (education coordinator), the event gathered participants from various backgrounds, including secondary school students, educators and heads of governmental bodies, to explore the core components of Ubuntu. The facilitators took participants on a journey, starting with self-knowledge, then guiding them through introspective exercises to uncover their strengths and areas for growth. As Sarah Masitaki, a FutureLife-Now! youth facilitator, observed, “This training has helped me understand myself better, which is the first step to becoming a better leader.”

Inspired by the words of Nelson Mandela,

In general, people are motivated to do better when the efforts they have made are affirmed and they are given clear feedback about areas where they might improve. So it is with the 40 FutureLife-Now! Phases 1 and 2 schools, with the in-country team, collaborating with the Ministry of Education and Training, conducting principals’ progress sharing meetings during the schools’ winter vacation in July.

The team held four separate meetings, one in each of the four districts (Berea, Leribe, Mafeteng and Maseru) where the FutureLife-Now! programme is implemented. The meetings’ objectives were to ensure that the principals fully “own” the programme. As Kuleile Rantsane, the country manager notes, it surely shows something about their commitment that all 40 principals attended. The meetings provide a platform not only for reflection on how the programme is running, but also an opportunity for principals to collaborate and to share on progress made,