The district education manager, Mahlompho Shaabe, delivering a note of appreciation
Three School Health and Nutrition days are scheduled annually on the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) school calendar (in 2023, these are 3 March, 19 May and 22 September). They are intended to highlight the collaboration and linkages needed between the MoET and MoH as directed by Lesotho’s School Health and Nutrition Policy of 2018, because the promotion of the health of learners in schools is a critical step towards quality achievement in education.
On 3 March, to celebrate this relationship, a School Health and Nutrition Day was conducted by the MoET, in collaboration with Ministry of Health (MoH), and with the support of the FutureLife-Now! Programme. A total of 13 high schools in the Mafeteng district participated, where the FutureLife-Now! Programme is supporting schools.
The district education manager, Mahlompho Shaabe, delivered a word of appreciation, noting that she is indeed thankful to FutureLife-Now! for the support provided. It was her firm belief, she said, that learners would benefit from the health services to be provided that day.
Addressing barriers to teaching and learning needs a holistic approach and is everyone’s responsibility.
With this in mind, between January and November 2022, the FutureLife-Now! Programme in Malawi ran Care and Support for Teaching and Learning (CSTL) School Community Workshops in its 10 pilot schools. These were aimed at improving education outcomes by bringing together all key stakeholders (teachers and other educators, those in management structures, parents, community leaders, health workers, child protection workers, forestry assistants, agriculture officers, police officers) to develop their knowledge, capacity and commitment to addressing barriers to teaching and learning.
Schools are now reaping the fruits of these workshops. Umbwi Secondary in Dedza is one such school. Here are some of the initiatives that are bringing benefits to all its learners, including those experiencing barriers to learning.
Health workers have commenced conducting talks on topics such as HIV&AIDS and other aspects of sexual reproductive health and rights (SRHR); these have raised awareness and created demand for integrated SHRH, gender-based violence and HIV services, as well as strengthening the referral system between Umbwi Secondary and the Dedza District Hospital.
“The health talks have changed my life,” says Thokozani Alfred, the school’s head boy. “I now understand the SRHR package, its importance and how I can access the services. They have also cleared some myths and misconceptions about HIV&AIDS through provision of accurate information.”
In recent years, so much research, writing and action has been directed towards the girl child, but little or practically nothing was done for the boy child. In fact, the phrase “boy child” has only come to prominence recently. Even in the FutureLife-Now! schools, there is a lot of work done by other organizations specifically for girls. For example, one of these organizations has recently built a state-of-the-art girl’s toilet in one of the schools.
Such work is, of course, salutary and necessary, but FutureLife-Now! recognises that boys too have needs; they too are vulnerable. To truly address gender-inequality, those vulnerabilities also need to be addressed. Boys and young men feeling neglected later causes many of the gender-related problems that we see in our communities.
FutureLife-Now! in Zimbabwe started boys mentorship clubs, the main purpose of which was to give boys a platform to talk and discuss the issues that they face, and then to find solutions together. But the boys themselves need to be heard. So, here, in their voices, are what some of the young men, members of the mentorship clubs, have to say.
Youth Action for Success and Development ,YASD has been conducting four research models to develop alternative fertilizers to drive a sustainable solution in eradicating poverty and food insecurity while improving livelihoods in the communities. Since 2019, YASD has been on the frontline promoting alternative solutions for organic farmers who constantly face rising input costs.
The President of South Africa has officially cited the Care and Support for Teaching and Learning (CSTL) framework during his keynote address at the 2023 Basic Education Sector Lekgotla last week. He said: “Care and support for teaching and learning must be institutionalised as a tool to improve learner outcomes and retention rates.” In partnership with SADC and its Member States, and with support from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, MIET AFRICA developed and tested the CSTL model in response to the many vulnerabilities hindering the learning and development of children and youth in the SADC region, and in 2016, the CSTL Policy Framework was adopted by the 16 SADC Ministers of Education. The Framework mandates Ministries of Education to mainstream care and support and provides guidelines for the provision of integrated services through their schools. The various care and support needs of learners are addressed through a policy framework of 10 pillars, namely: safety and protection, psychosocial support, nutrition, health, social welfare, material support, infrastructure, community participation, curriculum support, extra-curricular support.
The CSTL model is one which views all stakeholders as co-educators within a learning ecosystem. Ministries of Education create a policy environment that mandates, enables and supports the development of all schools as CSTL coordinating hubs that facilitate the provision of:
Services and support provided by a range of partners to ensure inclusion, retention and completion of school by vulnerable children and youth
Quality, relevant 21st century education for agency to address pressing development challenges
Moomba Boarding Secondary School held a Health Expo, giving 150 learners from grades 8 to 12 the opportunity to access vital health information and services.
Sepiso Lisulo, FutureLife-Now! focal person, organized the Health Expo at the FutureLife-Now! pilot school. The event, that took place on Sunday, 18 September, focused on providing a range of health services to learners.
School principal Maxwell Nyirenda officially opened the Health Expo by informing the learners that this would give them a rare opportunity to obtain critical information to help them make safe and healthy decisions regarding their future. The event was tailored in such a way that learners were provided with and given access to integrated, comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services.
Pride of place: Nashville High School. FutureLife-Now! Leadership Club members present their winning business plan
As part of the FutureLife-Now! programme, Nashville High School has implemented many initiatives to empower young people on issues around health, education and development. One particular initiative has been to use clubs to encourage and enable youth agency. The most successful of these is the FutureLife-Now! Leadership Club.
Club chairperson, Calton Nemutenzi, was inspired by FutureLife-Now! to use his “power within” to think of a way to implement his knowledge for the benefit of many. He and a group of fellow learners noticed that many farmers in their area were keeping rabbits for meat production. At the same time, these farmers were forced to spend a large amount of money on costly chemical fertilisers for their crops, which created financial challenges.
For Nemutenzi and his friends, a light went on – the rabbits could provide the perfect solution to the farmers’ problems – and so the rabbit urine fertilizer project was born.
A participant keenly following the discussions during the workshop
Did you know that a third of HIV infections in adults are among young women aged 15-24? Did you know that women are almost twice as likely to have HIV as men? These alarming facts underscore the urgent need to address societal and structural barriers, including economic and legal constraints, to access equitable HIV prevention, treatment, and care.
In response, the FutureLife-Now! programme in Malawi, through the Ministry of Education and in partnership with the Ministry of Health, developed an HIV manual tailored for use by school health and nutrition (SHN) teachers and youth facilitators.
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