New Hope, Chinese launch scholarship fund

In June the New Hope Foundation merged with the Chinese community to establish the New Hope Scholarship Fund.

The Chinese government has worked hard to support the development of Zimbabwe from the time of liberation struggle, especially in the education sector. It has helped large numbers of students from poor families in rural areas to acquire skills through vocational education to alleviate the poverty that enslaves them.

The Project aims to raise $50,000 for school fees to be paid for the current tern and hopes to raise $500,000 in 2014 and double that in 2015. Evidence-based research in communities across the country points to an enormous gap between school enrolment rates and completion rates for children in vulnerable situations. The exclusion of these children not only violates their right to education, it also prevents them from acquiring skills that would assist them in the future.

Some of the challenges include:

• High rate of school drop-outs and early pregnancy

• poverty and crime

• high rate of HIV/AIDs and other communicable diseases

• Rampant unemployment and loitering

• inadequate government subsidies

• inaccessibility of schools in rural and resettlement areas

• Lack of incentives and poor working conditions

• High teacher-child ratio

NHFZ’s vision is to ensure that all children, boys and girls alike, complete a full programme of education and gain skills for personal growth and life enhancement.

The organisation’s strategies include research and analysis of policy, legislative, social, economic and political trends and their impact on children; advocacy campaigns targeted at policy and decision makers at all levels and training programmes that build the confidence of children to know and claim their rights and responsibilities.