Learners at Murape Secondary School proudly show off their tree seedlings

Members of the Climate Change Movers club at Murape High School in Zimbabwe are determined to fight the effects of climate change by helping empower its members to not only make decisions, but to act on those decisions.

This year the Climate Change Movers decided to step up a gear with their climate change mitigation programme, and work to influence school policy. The club started a new project called, “One New Learner, One Tree, Makes Murape Cool”.

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Boys at Motsekuoa High School’s retreat pledge to become responsible men

A two-day retreat for 175 boys from Lesotho’s Motsekuoa High School provided an opportunity to learn, as well as share opinions, feelings, and thoughts on a variety of issues including leadership, good hygiene and sexual and reproductive health and rights.

“The retreat, which took place in September, provided boys with the opportunity to establish lifelong friendships and develop their problem-solving skills in a safe environment,” said FutureLife-Now! health coordinator, Puleng Nthinya. She added that the main aim of the retreat was to empower boys with the skills, knowledge and attitudes necessary to make positive decisions about their lives.

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As poor waste management and sanitation problems increase in schools, YASD has started training schools in environmental conservation, waste management, and recycling. Through the support from FutureLife-Now! the organisation has trained about 30 students from NGOWE CDSS in Lilongwe on paper recycling, including paper making and tissue making from waste paper. Waste such as newspaper, notebooks and stationary, and other writable papers are often dumped and burnt, polluting the environment, but YASD sees this as an opportunity. Currently, NGOWE CDSS is the only community Day Secondary School in Malawi that recycles and manages waste papers into valuable products.

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With the increased number of new HIV infections, teen pregnancies, and drug use amongst adolescents and young people, YASD aligned its interventions to ensure that young people are empowered with the right information for them to make health decisions. It has been training the young people in SRHR, mental health, and social life skills so that they refrain from indulging themselves in sexual and high risk behaviours.

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With inequality perpetuated by racism, xenophobia, gender stereotypes, harmful gender norms, discrimination and related intolerances, schools seem to face a great deal of obstacles, which impact negatively on learning, teaching and general school governance. The Council for Education Ministries released two documents for intensive consultation in provinces and districts, to address intersectional matters of transformation in in the education system.

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Since the conceptualisation and development of the CSTL Framework and accompanying  Handbook more than a decade ago, the school eco-system, socio-economic and socio- educational landscape of South Africa have significantly evolved. 

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This film explores the experiences of a secondary school learner from Dedza District in Malawi who is in deep shock after receiving a positive HIV test from the hospital. She is very destressed and doesn't know what to do and thinks that her future is bleak. The story opens with her on her own, crying which captures the attention of the other learners.

 While walking past, a Youth Facilitator, notices her crying under a tree while her friends are learning in class. The HIV results have made her isolate herself from the rest of her friends and her shock makes her forgets that she is supposed to be in class at that time. 

The Youth Facilitator then speaks to her and encourages her by explaining that being HIV positive doesn't mean the end of one’s life, rather it is good that she now knows her status so that she can start taking her medication and ensure that she adheres to the treatment. He explains that when she starts taking treatment, she can live a healthy, normal health life like her peers. The Youth Facilitator also assists her with a strategy she can use to make sure she adheres to her medication regime.

Click to watch.

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A two-day Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) partners’ meeting is currently underway in Harare, Zimbabwe. Regional Programme Manager Megan Cockerill and Regional MER  Specialist Jennifer Norins have joined participants to  share work and progress of programmes and projects funded by SDC. 

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CSTL is a framework through which Ministries of Education of the SADC Member States can lead and coordinate the range of care and support services delivered in and through schools

Care and Support for Teaching and Learning (CSTL) is an innovative approach that responds to the millions of children and youth in the SADC region whose right to education is compromised by a host of barriers to quality teaching and learning. In an effort to support the education sector to strengthen their systems so that schools are able to serve as sites of integrated support where quality education is secured, an online community – CSTL Pulse – was launched in May 2021.

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