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Child participation in education initiatives: how-to guide
2007
Carolyn W. Fanelli and Mildred Mushunje
Catholic Relief Services (CRS) - Zimbabwe
Introduction
Jane has finished school for the day in Harare, Zimbabwe. She packs away her pencils and notebook and says “Toonana mangwana” (“See you tomorrow”) to her many friends. She passes by small homes growing green leafy kovo in their front yards and heads down the dusty road that leads to Mavambo Learning Center (MLC).
MLC is an accelerated learning center for children who have never before attended school, and it prepares these children to enter the public school system. The center is run by Mavambo Trust, a CRS/
Zimbabwe partner. Jane attended MLC for nine months in 2003, soon after both her parents died. After graduation, she was able to enter the fourth grade in her neighborhood public school. Mavambo
continued to support Jane by providing education assistance, which meant Jane did not have to find the money to pay school fees. She soon became a school prefect (student leader) and earned top grades. In addition, through Mavambo, she received training to become a peer counselor. Now, she visits MLC after school and teaches children in the community about HIV/AIDS, health and hygiene and other important topics. The peer education sessions are child-led—she and her fellow counselors determine the topics in consultation with other children, and they facilitate the sessions. Jane is also prepared to help her classmates with problems like feeling sad and depressed, and she knows who to go to in the community if children’s problems are too serious for her to handle.
Every month, Mavambo invites Jane and other children in the community to discuss how the organization’s various programs are going, what could be improved, and what new needs may exist.
In addition, Jane’s group of peer counselors elected her and one other student to represent them on their school’s Child Care Team. This means that once a month Jane and her fellow
counselor meet with a community volunteer and a teacher to discuss the problems facing children at the school and in the community, and talk about ways to solve these problems. Sometimes the Team decides it needs to take joint action; other times action points are assigned to one or more of the members. After the Team meeting, Jane and her fellow child representative inform the peer counselor group about what has been discussed, the decisions made, and the tasks they as a group need to carry out. She is always talking to her peers about issues that need to be raised at the next
Team meeting.
This story is true—and is described in more detail in this Guide. It highlights some of the rich possibilities for involving children in education initiatives, including leading the effort to educate their peers about HIV/AIDS and having the skills to counsel their classmates and refer them to trusted sources. This example also shows how children can truly represent a larger group of children on a joint adult-child committee, and make decisions and take actions with the support of, and in true partnership with, adults.
If you would like a similar story to be told about a child who is part of your education initiative, then this How-to Guide is for you. This Guide will show you the ways that some real-life organizations in Zimbabwe have made child participation happen, and provide clear steps and activities you can use to begin to facilitate child participation in your own education initiative.
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