Annual Report to DFID

Zimbabwe Girls’ Secondary Education

April 2015 – March 2016

Purchase Order Number: 40055163 DFID Component Code: 203292-101

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Report Contents 1. Project Details 2. Project Summary 3. Expected Results 4. Output Scoring 5. Progress and Results 6. Cost and Timescale 7. Evidence and Evaluation 8. Risk 9. Value for Money 10. Conditionality

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1. Project Details Implementing partners: Camfed International and Camfed Zimbabwe Project title: Zimbabwe Girls’ Secondary Education Project period: April 2012 – March 2017 Reporting period: April 2015 – March 2016 Report date: 29th April 2016 DFID component code: 203292-101 Purchase order number: 40055163 Project budget: £15,549,077

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2. Project Summary This project is designed to support vulnerable girls in rural areas to persist and succeed in secondary school as Zimbabwe’s education system recovers from the crises which marked the last decade. Through this project, DFID initially provided £12 million to Camfed Zimbabwe to halt the decline in girls’ participation in secondary education, over four years to 2016. This has mainly been delivered in the form of bursaries, with some complementary inputs ensuring and developing community engagement. The funding is designed to help Zimbabwe achieve gender parity in the secondary cycle, with consequent wide-ranging social and economic benefits. The project is being implemented in 28 districts, where 923 partner secondary schools are working with Camfed to improve retention and quality of education for girls. To date the project has provided 26,973 girls with bursaries and complementary support, including 6,952 girls who have completed four years of secondary education. The initial project time frame is April 2012 to March 2016: in December 2015 DFID approved a one-year costed extension, with additional funding of £3,549,077. This will enable continued support to rural girls in school, and introduce new interventions to support disabled children and vulnerable boys at secondary school, support to girls completing school to progress to further education, and community initiatives to tackle early marriage and pregnancy. Camfed’s bursary programme incorporates a holistic approach to tackling the obstacles impeding girls’ education at all levels. The bursary programme is one component of a broader, long-standing education programme. It thereby capitalises on already-existing infrastructure for delivery, as well as synergising with related activities that focus on improving the educational environment. It also links to CAMA, Camfed’s post-school programme that connects girls who complete secondary school with skills training, tertiary education and employment opportunities to enable them to make the transition to a secure adulthood supported by a network of their peers. Since March 2013, Camfed Zimbabwe has also delivered a project funded through DFID’s Girls’ Education Challenge Step Change Window, which provides a complementary investment in education quality. This involves CAMA members volunteering in their local schools as Learner Guides, using My Better World, a curriculum which has been designed by Camfed and CAMA members specifically to boost children’s aptitude for learning and enhance their prospects after school. The curriculum emphasises the students’ wellbeing and development of skills and qualities such as leadership, self-esteem, collaboration, and effective communication. This has been accompanied by Step Up Fund (SUF) support in secondary school, which provides a new, responsive mechanism of more tailored support for girls at high risk of dropping out of school, as well as targeted local initiatives to tackle obstacles to girls’ success, such as distance to school. With additional funding approved under the Girls’ Education Challenge, Camfed plans to conduct research into the effectiveness of the responsive model, which has the potential to achieve greater value for money at scale. As DFID monitoring visits have noted, the two initiatives co-exist well in the same partner schools, despite girls receiving varying levels of support: this is achieved through clear communication and the accountability and transparency of community-led selection processes. Camfed is continuing to build relationships with district, provincial and national officials at the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education (MoPSE). The national moratorium on school fees, achieved through effective lobbying by organisations including Camfed Zimbabwe, has held in the last academic year. Lessons from the bursary programme are shared regularly with the Ministry at all levels, with the aim of integrating best practice into government systems in order to extend capacity

4 for the delivery of bursaries and related programmes going forward; recently this has included sharing best practice in community-driven school feeding programmes, as a direct input into the design of the national school feeding scheme. Over the past year Camfed has contributed to ongoing consultations on the new Education Sector Strategic Plan (ESSP), and the Curriculum Review.

3. Expected Results Based on the project’s target districts and schools, which were approved by the MoPSE, the logframe for this project was revised by Camfed and approved by DFID in April 2013 and again in December 2015 following DFID approval of a funding extension to the programme. Progress to date shows Camfed is on track to achieve the following results: Impact: Zimbabwe achieves gender parity in the secondary cycle, with consequent wide-ranging social and economic benefits. Impact is measured through improved gender parity and increasing pass rates. The project will contribute towards the following impact-level indicators:

 Impact indicator 1: The Gender Parity Index will have stabilised at > 0.95 in secondary education.  Impact indicator 2: Examination pass rates at Form 4 will have increased from 19% to 33%. Progress towards these Impact level indicators is very encouraging; with 2014 EMIS data showing a Gender Parity Index of 1.0, and exam pass rates nationally having risen to 27.96% by the end of 2015. Outcome: Strengthened scope and quality of educational services enhances student access, retention and achievement in the secondary cycle, with special attention to disadvantaged girls. The outcome is measured through improved enrolment and completion rates across Forms 1-4 in 28 districts. By the end of the project:  Outcome indicator 1: Enrolment in Forms 1-4 in 28 districts will have increased from 162,860 (82,867 male and 79,993 female) to 282,916 (142,169 male and 140,747 female).  Outcome indicator 2: Completion rate (Forms 1-4) in 28 districts (gender disaggregated) is 94% for males and 88% for females by the end of the project.

4. Output Scoring Progress towards the project’s outputs is described below.

Output 1 Output 1: Disadvantaged girls supported in secondary school Forms 1-4 Output 1 score: A+

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Indicator(s) Milestone 2015 Achieved 2015 26,973 (cumulative) 1.1 Number of girls supported 24,000 17,000 supported in 2015

Progress against expected results: At the end of the year, the 2015 milestone was exceeded with 26,994 girls supported to date against the original project target of 24,000 girls. Two additional targets have been added under this output for the extension year of the project, reflecting the increased scope of activities funded – these will track the number of disabled students, and the number of highly disadvantaged boys enabled to go to school with a pilot package of support. The cumulative target against indicator 1.1 will increase to 30,186 to reflect the cost extension.

Performance description: During the past year, bursary provision including termly school fee payments and distribution of material support has been consistently timely, efficient and high quality, despite a context of growing environmental challenges including flooding and drought. Integration of Camfed’s programme database and financial systems during 2015 has enabled greater efficiencies in delivery and tracking, and regular training and support has helped to quickly embed this. The average unit cost of the bursary package was £123 in 2015, reduced from £152 in 2013. Key cost drivers continue to be school fees, examination fees and material items: however Camfed has continued to achieve value for money through bulk procurement, including through strong supplier relationships for shoes and sanitary wear. The national moratorium on school fees continues to hold, contributing to Camfed’s ability to maintain a lower unit cost. Strong programme ownership among the community stakeholder networks at the frontline of the delivery continues to ensure effective delivery as well as capacity building in district structures, which are integrated into these networks. Mother Support Groups working with School Based Committees and Teacher Mentors have continued to play a critical role in retaining girls in school. During 2015 members of the CAMA, alumnae network of young women who have graduated school with Camfed’s support have stepped up their role in helping girls stay in school. CAMA members volunteering in schools as Learner Guides, delivering the My Better World life skills and wellbeing curriculum, are well-placed given their deep personal understanding of the challenges supported girls face identify and follow up on those with lower attendance or who are at risk of drop-out. The influence of CAMA members’ positive role modelling in schools is reflected in the girls the programme supports forming their own peer groups to advocate against child marriages. Reports from community stakeholders regularly highlight instances of success in returning dropped-out girls to school. In Mt Darwin, for example, the CDC reported that it had been able to support the return of students, including a girl whose early arranged marriage it intervened to stop and a second girl who was counselled and persuaded against eloping. Early marriage and pregnancy is the single biggest cause of drop-out among bursary students, and nationally. During the course of the 2015 academic year, 11% (1,854 out of 17,000) of students supported by DFID Zimbabwe dropped out of school, with the most common reason being marriage and pregnancy.

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National level statistics show that high rates of teenage marriage among girls is a significant phenomenon in rural areas, where 27.4% of girls aged 15-19 are married, compared with 16.9% in urban areas. The current dire climactic conditions exacerbate the issue: in January the Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee’s (ZimVAC) reported a rise in parents marrying off their children as a ‘coping strategy’ against the increasingly dire climatic conditions facing the majority of the country.

Students supported by DFID Zimbabwe who dropped out in 2015, by drop out reason

Other known reason, 71, 4% Not enjoying Working, 35, 2% school, 83, 5% Passed Away, 22, 1% Illness, 16, 1% Maternity leave, Unclear/unverifia 3, 0% ble, 503, 27%

Pregnancy, 154, Marriage, 967, 8% 52%

Monitoring of dropout rates CDC members make significant efforts to meet with parents or guardians of children receiving support from Camfed during each of their monitoring visits, to ensure that parents/guardians are fully aware of the nature of support to which their child is entitled, and to encourage a supportive home environment. CDCs are also working with other stakeholder groups to find solutions to identified issues of drop-out: Lupane CDC, for example, reported that schools working together with MSGs at two secondary schools had established low cost boarding facilities to address the drop-out rates attributed to long distances travelled by its students. CDC members in Binga, Chikomba West, Gokwe North, Gokwe South, Guruve, Hurungwe, , Mbire, Mt Darwin, Muzarabani, Mwenezi, Nyaminyami, Nyanga, Umguza and Wedza conducted intensive monitoring visits to schools in November 2015 to achieve a deeper understanding of the

7 dynamics behind students dropping out of school, interviewing a wide range of stakeholders including students, Teacher Mentors, PSG members, and CAMA. In Binga the CDC visited five secondary schools. The team discovered that 74 male and 80 female students had dropped out of the five schools during the academic year. At two of the schools, drop-out numbers were slightly higher among boys, and the reverse was the case in the remaining three. Long distances children have to travel to school was identified as a major cause, as well as economic pressures, materialising in pressure for boys to join the local fishing industry, one of the major sources of income in Binga, and for girls to enter early marriages with fishermen, to lessen the economic challenges facing their families. In response, the CDC recommended that schools work with PSGs and others to increase awareness programmes on child marriage and the provision of school meals programmes so families are reassured that their children will be fed at school. They also suggested conducting induction or refresher training for new staff members and Head Teachers to help them understand their roles and responsibilities around the implementation of child protection policies in particular. In Chikomba West, the issues faced were similar, although drop-out rates were consistently higher for boys than for girls; the pull of the tobacco industry and its increasing use of child labour were cited as reasons. These findings by CDCs reinforce the case for piloting a targeted package of support for highly vulnerable boys, as planned for the extension year of this programme.

Impact weighting: 30% Revised since proposal submitted: No; will increase to 40% in costed extension period

Output 2 Output 2: Disadvantaged girls complete four years of secondary schooling (Forms 1-4) Output 2 score: A

Indicator(s) Milestone 2015 Achieved 2015 2.1 Progression of girls supported 85% 88% 92% (based on 76% 2.2 Attendance rate of girls supported 91% of all attendance data possible) 2.3 Number of girls supported 14,386 14,173 completing Form 4

Progress against expected results: Progress against two of the three indicators exceeded targets, with 88% of girls progressing to the next grade, against a target of 85%, and attendance rates of 92% recorded against a target of 91%, despite programme districts being among those worst affected by recent EL- Nino induced drought. The total number of girls completing Form 4 was slightly lower than expected at 14,173, reflecting an increase in pull factors including responsibilities to support family against the increasingly difficult economic and climatic conditions over the past year.

Performance description:

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Camfed has continued to support girls through their O and A Levels this year. Nationally, 310,917 candidates sat for the O-Level examinations in November 2015. 156,418 wrote five or more subjects while 43,581 obtained five or more subjects yielding a 27.86% pass rate which is an increase of 5.48% from the 2014 pass rate. Camfed supported 8,662 bursary clients to sit for their O-Level in 2015. Progression and attendance rates have remained high throughout the programme, as demonstrated by the following charts.

Progression of girls supported 2012 - 2015 120%

100% 99% 93% 93% 85%88% 87% 80% 80% 81% 83%

60%

40%

20%

0% 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Planned progression Achieved progression

As previously noted, progression measured in year one was very high at 99% and as predicted it reduced and stabilised at 93% in the following year. Adverse – and worsening – economic and environmental conditions combine to make this a particularly challenging time for girls to stay in school, reflected in the drop to 88% during 2015, although progression rates continue to outperform expectations.

Attendance rate of girls supported 2012 - 2015 94% 93% 92% 92% 92% 91% 91% 90% 89% 89% 88% 87% 86% 85% 84%

82%

80% 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Planned attendance Achieved Attendance

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 The attendance rates for girls supported under this grant have also continued to exceed the target milestones, in defiance of the increasing challenges they face. Overall attendance rates dropped by a single percentage point, from 93% in 2014, despite the districts where the programme is active being among the worst affected by drought. This reflects the effectiveness of the support system built around girls, and the resilience and commitment of PSGs and CAMA in particular. At the school level, Mother Support Groups (MSGs) have made significant contributions to keeping girls in school and increasing the resilience of the delivery structure against environmental and economic shocks. Home-grown school feeding programmes led by MSGs have been credited with positively improving retention and attendance among students. The recent midline study conducted under Girls’ Education Challenge funding looked at these programmes and found that many more Camfed partner schools in partner districts provide school lunches for their students than schools in non- partner districts. As many as 49% of intervention schools provide lunch to students at least some of the time, while none of the comparison schools reported ever providing lunch to students.

Intervention Comparison 100% 100% 80% 60% 51% 39% 40%

20% 7% 4% 0% 0% 0% 0% Yes, all of the time * Yes, most of the Yes, some of the No * time time *

As a result of the effectiveness of the home-grown school feeding initiative, Camfed has been invited by MoPSE to join a focus group exploring how it could introduce and sustain similar school feeding schemes across the country. 13,342 Camfed-supported students took their O-Level exams in 2015, and Camfed Zimbabwe is currently completing analysis of the results, including a comparison of students supported with full bursaries and those supported with the responsive Step Up Fund under the Girls’ Education Challenge. This analysis will be shared with DFID Zimbabwe as soon as it is available. At national level, 310,917 candidates sat for O-Level exams, of whom 156,418 wrote five or more subjects. 43,581 candidates passed five or more subjects, meaning the overall pass rate was 27.56%, an increase of 5.4% on 2014.

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The highest performer identified among Camfed beneficiaries during analysis to date, a student from Hurungwe District, maintained a daily commute of 16 kilometres to and from school and achieved 10 As, including in Mathematics, Integrated Science, Biology, and Physics, and one B, in English. She has ambitions to continue to pursue sciences and become a medical doctor: the costed extension to this grant agreed with DFID Zimbabwe will support a minimum of 600 girls to transition from Form 4 to further education, in response to the need identified to support students and their families and communities to realise the full value of the investment in their secondary education. This student’s greatest challenge, however, is that none of the neighbouring secondary schools are offering sciences at A-Level: this reflects an ongoing issue with poor provision and take-up of these subjects by continuing students. An initiative announced by the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development (MHTESTD) in early 2016 aimed to address this by offering to cover tuition and boarding costs for students taking STEM subjects at A-Level: there is ongoing dialogue between the MHTESTD and MoPSE on the eventual implementation of this scheme.

At A-level, 124 Camfed clients sat their exams in 2015, and 88% passed, matching the overall national pass rate for all girls. Nearly half (56) of the Camfed students achieved 8 points or better, and the highest achiever was a student from Nyanga who scored a total of 13 points (an A in History, and Bs in Shona and Divinity). When national A Level results in November 2015, national newspapers and the Zimsec1 analysis highlighted that girls outperformed boys overall in all 10 provinces. The Herald reported that in (which came 3rd highest in the ratings) 93.1% of female candidates passed, against 90.4% of male candidates. Mashonaland Central came fourth in the ratings with female pass rates at 92.7% and 87.1% for male candidates. Overall national pass rates among female students were 90.5%, while male pass rates were 85.4%. Impact weighting: 30% Revised since proposal submitted: No

Output 3 Output 3: Strengthened capacity to manage bursary schemes at school level and at district level Output 3 score: A+

Indicator(s) Milestones 2015 Achieved 2015 3.1 Number of School Development Committees (SDCs) adhering to guidelines for managing 899 923 bursaries efficiently and transparently 3.2 Number of district-level structures with broad representation of government ministries overseeing 28 28 resources for vulnerable children 3.3 Additional vulnerable children supported with 79,934 155,224 locally generated resources.

1 November 2015 Examination: Advance Level Results Analysis, Zimbabwe School Examinations Council, January 2016

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Progress against expected results: All 2015 milestones have been met, with two significantly exceeded. At the baseline there were 479 SDCs that were adhering to guidelines for managing bursaries. At the end of 2015, there were 923 recorded, which exceeds the target of 899. Partnerships with district and national level government structures have continued to ensure a broad range of representation overseeing resources for vulnerable children. There are 28 CDCs at district level adhering to this criterion, against the target of 28, representing full coverage of the programme districts. By the end of 2015, 155,224 additional vulnerable children had been supported with locally generated resources, far exceeding the 2015 target, as well as the final programme target of 122,934 children. Performance description: The achievements under this output have been secured by the strength and commitment of the networks of community stakeholders Camfed works with in Zimbabwe. These are critical in the current context of severe drought and a struggling economy, when formal social safety nets (including BEAM2) have been largely been eroded, increasing the number of children needing support and compounding the challenges they face. CDCs and SDCs are working together closely to ensure bursary support under this grant is directed towards the most vulnerable children. With limited resources available compared with increasing levels of demand from children, SDCs and CDCs’ in-depth knowledge of local context and the systems and processes they have been trained on by Camfed to ensure accountability in their decision-making, are pivotal. School Based Selection Committees (SBSCs) have undertaken rigorous selection procedures, overseen by CDCs, who verify their transparency and ensure multi-stakeholder involvement. These processes include visiting children’s homes to speak with their parents/guardians and get a clear picture of their circumstances. The interconnected challenges which girls have to face to continue in their education often emerge through these conversations. For example, the SBSC for described in their report the situation of one of the girls considered for support as follows: “She is a single orphan who stays with her old grandmother and her mother who is seriously ill. Two of her siblings did not finish school due to financial constraints…She has not paid anything as school fees. She does not have books or a uniform.” Understanding these problems in detail is essential so the SBCs and CDCs can direct children to appropriate support from Teacher Mentors, MSGs and CAMA members when they come to school. The broad representation of stakeholders on CDCs, who have strong links to several relevant ministries, social services, and local authorities, means individual children can be put in touch with them to receive further support as necessary. It also allows for wider structures and services for children experiencing abuse, for example, across schools and the district as a whole, to be improved and overall levels of local philanthropy to be increased. Exemplifying this diverse representation is the CDC, whose membership includes officials from: the Department of Social Services; the Ministry of Primary and Secondary

2 The Basic Education Assistance Module (BEAM) programme continues to be underfunded, resulting in more children seeking Camfed’s support. Latest estimates suggest just $10 million has been allocated to BEAM for 2016, and $64 million is currently owed to schools in arrears for school fees for children on the BEAM programme.

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Education; the Ministry of Women Affairs, Gender and Community Development; the Ministry of Home Affairs; Victim Friendly Units of police departments; the Registrar General’s Department; the Rural District Council; the Ministry of Health and Child Care; the Ministry of Youth, Indigenisation and Empowerment; MSGs; CAMA; the Office of the President & Cabinet and the District AIDS Action Programme under the National AIDS Council. Monitoring visits, led by CDCs, remain a key opportunity for the myriad ways in which community members are stepping up to support children to be recognised. The reports on visits conducted across districts in February and March 2016 highlighted particular achievements of communities in this regard, such as:

 Returning children who had dropped out to school (e.g. in Kwekwe, 14 girls were returned to school through the joint efforts of Teacher Mentors, Head Teachers, CAMA members trained as Learner Guides and Ward Development Officers, who provided counselling, food, stationery or uniforms as required).  Collective efforts by Mother Support Groups (MSGs) to support school meal schemes despite the national food shortages  Increased pass rates in some schools (e.g. Gohole High School in Matobo District recorded an 8.5% increase in pass rates at O Level, where no pupils had passed in the previous year) The leadership of MSGs in generating high levels of community philanthropy, even during this difficult period, has been particularly impressive; they have worked across districts and stakeholder groups (including CDCs, CAMA, Teacher Mentors and Child Protection Committees) to widen out support for vulnerable children beyond what any one of these groups, or indeed Camfed, could achieve alone. After witnessing the impact of MSGs, more fathers have become involved, with , for instance, now having men as active members in 37.5% of the groups visited on a recent monitoring trip; significant progress in a context where the care of children is traditionally left to mothers. MSGs from districts less severely affected by the drought have generously donated to their peers through exchange visits to help them continue feeding and clothing vulnerable children. For example, MSGs from Chikomba East donated 900kgs of maize, one bucket of groundnuts, three buckets of dried vegetables and 400kgs of clothes to their peers in , and mothers from Mbire donated 500kgs of maize, 400kgs of sorghum and 100kgs of cow-peas to MSGs at five schools in Matobo. Mothers from have perhaps been the most successful in bringing together stakeholder groups in order to benefit children, and have showcased the power of MSGs working together and parents’ role within the broader education system. In February, mothers from Guruve presented a collective donation of two tonnes of maize to the Camfed National Office with a note which read: “Guruve was also affected by the drought but, however we are better than other districts which are completely dry. Please take the little that we have put together for our children in those worse of districts and convey our love and solidarity to the children and the mothers.”

This maize has since been delivered to where it is expected to have a considerable impact on children’s lives. Such a significant donation was the culmination of a district event themed ‘MSG Guruve – Safety Net Fund support to orphans and vulnerable children’ jointly

13 organised by 27 MSGs with over 120 members and attended by over 1,423 parents, schoolchildren, teachers, traditional and Government leaders. Meals for the event were prepared and donated by the MSGs to the value of US $1,500. At the event, MSGs spoke of the need for communities to own both the problems facing local children and the solutions to these, and the District MSG Chairperson organised and distributed community contributions from which 271 school children benefited. These donations included money to buy shoes, soap, clothes, sanitary pads, pens, rulers, pencils and exercise books, worth a total value of US $709. The MP for Mashonaland Central, who attended the event, remarked that: “What the mothers have done is not ‘costly’ to an ordinary leader, businessman or politician but we do not do it. These poor struggling mothers are doing what we are supposed to do as leaders and Government. I have been schooled. I am touched. I am embarrassed. I lack words but all I can say is that our nation and future is safe in the hands of women.” It is this enthusiasm and these strong structures which the MoPSE will seek to harness during the roll-out of the National School Feeding Scheme from May 2016. Finally, CAMA members are working closely with MSGs and schools to support children emotionally, with material items (often purchased through the profits of their own businesses) and with their studies through the Learner Guide programme funded by DFID under the Girls’ Education Challenge. On average, Learner Guides in Zimbabwe have volunteered 282 hours of their time to supporting children since the GEC began, far surpassing expectations and reflecting these young women’s strong sense of commitment to paying the value of their own education forward. CAMA members’ involvement will increase this year as they participate with other community stakeholders in new initiatives to help tackle early marriage and child pregnancy. Impact weighting: 20% Revised since proposal submitted: No; will be reduced to 15% in the costed extension period.

Output 4 Output 4: Adoption of best practice in the Ministry at district and national level Output 4 score: A

Indicator(s) Milestone 2015 Achieved 2015 4.1 Number of meeting held between MoPSE and CAMFED to coordinate information-sharing at 30 104 district and national level 4.2 Number of new policies and procedures related to entitlement accountability adopted at the 3 1 national level and implemented at district and school level

Progress against expected results: The 2015 milestone for output indicator 4.1 has been well exceeded, with 104 meetings held cumulatively since the project began against a target of 30. This year, Camfed will focus on inputting

14 into the process of the Education Sector Strategic Plan (ESSP) development. The MoPSE is focusing on developing from the ESSP operational plans at all levels (National, Provincial and District), in which Camfed will fully participate in to ensure marginalised girls` support is prioritised as well as addressing inequities in rural secondary schools. A key priority will be to influence the design and implementation of the national school feeding programme being spearheaded by MoPSE starting in Term 2 2016. Camfed management representatives are participating in meetings on an ongoing basis, including joint monitoring visits to programme districts with MoPSE in order to encourage adoption of Camfed best practice into MoPSE’s national approach. Performance description: Camfed has continued to engage with key stakeholders in the education sector at national level over the last year. This has included strengthening its relationship with the MoPSE through regular feedback meetings and as well as meetings around emerging national priorities and policies (e.g. the Education Sector Strategic Planning meetings and the National School Feeding Scheme meetings). Highlights from recent meetings and joint activities are shared below:

 National School Feeding Scheme planning meetings: The MoPSE has recognised the value and potential replicability of the school meals schemes Camfed has supported MSGs to run in rural schools through recent monitoring visits and as such has incorporated elements of this into the proposed National School Feeding Scheme to be rolled out from May 2016, in response to the El Niño induced drought. The scheme will initially focus on infant level with government expecting to reach secondary schools later.3 In the meantime, Camfed has participated in two meetings hosted by the MoPSE and attended by representatives from UNICEF, the World Food Programme, J.F. Kapnek Trust, World Vision, ECOZI, Plan International, the Ministry of Public Service and Social Welfare and the Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development, to discuss the framework for a standardised and sustainable school feeding programme and map the resources available to support this from partners. Camfed welcomes this action to tackle children’s declining school attendance and learning due to hunger caused by the drought, and as soon as National School Feeding Scheme resources are extended to secondary level, MSGs familiar with how to run school meal sessions and with the infrastructure already in place to do so will be ready to take advantage of these.  Meeting to discuss implications of the Constitutional Court ruling on child marriages: On 20th January 2016, the Zimbabwe Constitutional Court outlawed child marriage and struck off Statutes Section 22(1) of the Marriage Act, which for decades had allowed girls under the age of 18 years to get married.4 Camfed has joined other child rights organisations including UNICEF, Childline, Zimbabwe National Council for the Welfare of the Child, Katswe Sisterhood, Plan International and Citizen Child, to call for the rapid enactment of laws that will enforce the constitutional ruling. This group met twice at UNICEF offices in the last quarter to understand the implications of the ruling and plan coordinated awareness raising amongst remote communities. Camfed Zimbabwe has since raised awareness of the legal changes within rural communities where girls are most affected by this issue and equipped them to take action against child marriage locally. CAMA

3 http://www.herald.co.zw/40-000t-grain-for-schools-feeding-scheme/ 4 http://www.reuters.com/article/us-zimbabwe-childmarriage-idUSKCN0UY27H

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members and MSGs are best placed to do this, and to support children who experience early marriage, given their familiar or even personal experience of its effects, particular on girls’ access to education.  Education Sector Strategic Plan meetings: Camfed has had the opportunity to participate in the development of the Education Sector Strategic Plan for 2016-2020 with the MoPSE throughout the past year. This has been an important means through which Camfed and its stakeholders at district level can directly feed into core education policy in Zimbabwe over the next five years, drawing on their wealth of experience in supporting some of the most marginalised children in the country to stay in school, and reflects the high regard in which the Camfed model is held by the MoPSE. Stakeholders reflected on the successes and shortcomings of the last Education Medium Term Plan, before supporting the drafting of the new Strategic Plan. Camfed attended the most recent meeting on 17th February to give final input into the draft and allocation of budget. Camfed will continue to support the MoPSE as it implements the central strategies laid out in the plan to improve the Zimbabwean education system; these include increasing access for all children, improving the quality of teaching and learning through a more relevant curriculum, and enhancing the management and monitoring of education service delivery.  Meeting with the Department of Social Services: Camfed also attended a meeting hosted by the Ministry of Labour and Social Services to form a strategy for coordinated efforts between the government and NGOs to assist orphans and vulnerable children (OVCs) access education, in the absence of sufficient BEAM support. Other organisations that attended the meeting included representatives from Plan International, World Vision, Department of Child Welfare (BEAM Fund), J.F Kapnek Trust, Matthew Rusike, Chiedza Childcare, Higher Life Foundation, SOS Children’s Villages and CDAS Trust. Improving accuracy of data on OVC was noted as a priority, so the most at-risk children could be identified and supported. The organisations present formed a steering committee and agreed to meet bi-monthly to devise a framework around this issue.  Regular meetings with MoPSE: Camfed has continued to attend the quarterly Education Coordination Group meetings at the MoPSE offices alongside representatives from UNICEF, DFID, and the Education Coalition Zimbabwe. Key Education Sector priorities have continued to be deliberated on under the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) and the Education Development Fund (EDF). A major focus has been on Performance Lag Address Programme (PLAP) activities, Early Reading Initiative (ERI), the ESSP, School Improvement Grants and the response to the El Niño induced drought. Camfed also attended a meeting on 26th January with the MoPSE Permanent Secretary and her team of Primary Directors and Directors from various departments. Camfed shared its organisational priorities for 2016 and agreed on ways to coordinate with MoPSE activities. As part of these discussions, Camfed was invited to: • Join the Secretary’s Merit Award Task Force to advise on various elements of the award (designed to award schools nationally for progressive polices to improve education) in line with the Director of Primary Education. As a result, Camfed attended a meeting on the Secretary’s Merit Award on 28th January 2016 with other CSOs to plan how partner organisations can help take this forward based on funding available. • Support the planning for training of the remaining inspectors on Teacher Professional Standards.

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• Share timelines for Camfed’s activities being implemented throughout the year with the Permanent Secretary. These meetings further strengthened Camfed’s organisational relationship with MoPSE and laid the groundwork for the joint monitoring visit to Matabeleland held in March. The Director of Secondary Education and the Deputy Director of Learner Welfare accompanied the Camfed National Director, on a monitoring visit to Matebeleland North and South Provinces. The monitoring team met the Provincial Education Directors, District Education Officers and visited schools in Umguza and Matobo Districts as preparation for the roll out of enhanced support for boys in the two provinces starting term 2 2016. The team also sought to observe how communities have managed to keep children in school despite the challenges they are facing, particularly through the school meals programmes they are running. The school meals programme run by PSGs with Camfed’s support was thought to be a successful model which is highly relevant to ongoing discussions around the National School Feeding Scheme. Another area of interest was to understand the barriers boys face in enrolling and remaining in school. The Provincial Education Directors of MoPSE, for both provinces, emphasised the importance of Camfed extending a bursary package tailored to the need of boys in the most affected districts and inputted in the strategy. Camfed will be taking forward the enhanced support of boys in Umguza, Lupane and Matobo beginning in May 2016 and input from stakeholders will be reflected in the programming for boys.

Impact weighting: 20% Revised since proposal submitted: No; will be reduced to 15% during costed extension period.

5. Progress and Results

Overall output score The overall output score is A: eight out of nine output milestone targets have been met or exceeded, and efforts under the ninth over the course of the last year are achieving positive progress and should lead to the target being met in the short term. Summary of overall progress High rates of progression, attendance and completion have been maintained across the bursary programme, despite a worsening national environmental and economic context. A cumulative total of 26,973 girls have been supported, significantly exceeding the target of 24,000. Camfed’s community partners and stakeholders have demonstrated strong ownership of the programme, and added to the value of DFID’s investment through their own philanthropy, and support to vulnerable children through feeding programmes and income generation activities. The one-year costed extension agreed by DFID in December 2015 demonstrates continued confidence in the programme, and will support Camfed in extending its model of support for vulnerable girls to reach other excluded groups, including disabled children and marginalised boys. Together with work under the Girls’ Education Challenge project, the programme is building a significant evidence base for what works in securing quality education for marginalised girls, and

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Camfed Zimbabwe is positioned to use this evidence base to advocate effectively, inform the potential expansion of Camfed’s regional programming, and secure new resources to extend its impact. The programme has contributed to the significant increase in CAMA membership as a result of supporting large cohorts of girls to complete secondary school: during 2015, the membership of CAMA Zimbabwe grew from 13,906 to 25,014. The growing network of educated, empowered young women represents a powerful force for change: young women are stepping up as leaders and philanthropists in their communities, multiplying the value of the investment in their education by supporting the next generation at school. Camfed’s challenge and opportunity over the next period is to ensure that CAMA is fully and effectively supported to develop as a framework for young women’s successful transition to secure adulthood, and a platform for their advocacy.

Direct feedback from beneficiaries Belinda Belinda is a Form 4 bursary student. She is an only child, and has lived with her grandmother since she was five years old, when her mother passed away. Her grandmother struggled to support her and she was often sent away from primary school because her fees were not paid. For a period, she was supported by a female teacher, who had identified her promise and paid her fees so she could continue to attend. This arrangement ended when the teacher was transferred to a different school, leaving her once again at risk of being sent away from school, and often hungry. This affected her performance and she did not do well in her Grade 7 examinations. She was identified for support by Camfed stakeholders in 2013, and despite travelling a distance of 20 kilometres to and from school every day is doing well. The support of Camfed and the community has enabled her to focus on learning at school, and she now has ambitions for tertiary education, saying, “I want to thank Camfed most for the help and support, which includes uniforms, sanitary items and schools fees since 2013 and the examination fees to be paid for this year. I hope I will pass all the 10 subjects with 6As and 4Bs. I wish to do Mathematics, Accounts and Computers at A level and take a BCom degree in Accounting at University of Technology. I want to become an Auditor or Accountant.” Winnet Winnet is a Form 4 bursary student. Her primary school years were seriously disrupted by very difficult family circumstances: her parents divorced when she was very young, and her father subsequently remarried and died very shortly afterwards. Her mother was hospitalised for a considerable time and so Winnet and her brother lived with their grandmother, who struggled to support Winnet’s education. On regaining her health, Winnet’s mother started a gardening project to try and support her children, but was unable to raise the funds to pay for Winnet to go to primary school. Ultimately Winnet’s mother went to work for the primary school to enable her to attend. Winnet’s application for BEAM funding was unsuccessful. In 2013, on completing Grade 7, Winnet was identified by community stakeholders who recognised that without additional support she would be unable to progress to secondary school, and she was selected for bursary support. Winnet writes, “[Camfed’s support] enabled me to proceed to secondary level. I am working extra hard to pass with better grades of As and Bs in all the eleven subjects at O-Level. I would like to proceed with my education to university so that I would be able to acquire a job and help other

18 vulnerable students and my family. I would like to be a lawyer after studying for a Bachelor of Arts in Law with the University of Zimbabwe.”

Key Challenges Hunger and drought Communities in the rural districts where Camfed works continue to experience the serious food insecurity highlighted in the last biannual report. Conditions have worsened as Zimbabwe is among the countries worst-affected by the El Niño cycle in recent months, and is now experiencing its most intense drought in decades. Rainfall totals for the year are less than 60% of the long term average,5 food production has halved compared to last year, and maize is 53% more expensive.6 The malnutrition rate amongst the youngest children is higher than it has been for 15 years.7 The President of Zimbabwe declared a national state of disaster in February 2016.8 This situation is likely to continue until at least September 2016.

In this situation, keeping girls in school becomes more challenging, as many families are currently prioritising finding food and so are not able to channel as much money towards education costs as anticipated. Children also feel pressure to attend school less regularly or drop out altogether so they can spend time working to contribute to household incomes or finding food. An estimated 6,000 children in Matabeleland North are skipping classes, citing hunger and the need to help out with house or farm work, and9 teenage pregnancies have been reported to be on the increase in most districts as some households resorting to marrying off their children as a coping strategy.10

Camfed continues to work closely with communities in programme districts to understand the challenges they are facing as a result of the drought and to support community structures including PSGs and other stakeholders to continue or launch initiatives to mitigate the impact of the drought on girls’ right to education. Despite the challenges members of PSGs running school meals schemes, or agricultural income-generating activities, are facing in common with the rest of the community, they are providing an important level of resilience for schools and vulnerable children, demonstrated through some of the examples given under Output 3.

Marginalisation of boys Camfed seeks to support the most marginalised children to continue their education, and whilst these are usually girls in the rural communities where Camfed works, boys can also be very

5 Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee Lean Season Monitoring Report – January 2016 6 http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2016/feb/17/el-nino-leaves-100-million-people-hungry- short-of-water-droughts-floods-worldwide 7 Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee Lean Season Monitoring Report – January 2016 8 http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/05/zimbabwe-declares-state-of-disaster-drought-robert- mugabe 9 ACAPS briefing note, 18 February 2016 10 Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee Lean Season Monitoring Report – January 2016

19 vulnerable in certain socio-economic contexts. In rural districts with economies based on seasonal/informal employment such as fishing or mining, or where there are high rates of migration to neighbouring countries, many young men feel pressure to get jobs in these industries to support their families; jobs that are often high risk. During a visit conducted by Camfed Zimbabwe’s National Director alongside representatives from the MoPSE to Matabeleland North and South, it was also highlighted that the transition rate for boys from primary to secondary school is very low, leaving boys at risk of dropping out between primary and secondary school. In response to these issues, and under the extension funding agreed by DFID, Camfed will develop and pilot a package of support that responds to boys’ specific needs in districts where more boys do not complete school, in consultation with a wide range of stakeholders, and drawing on the capacity of its established community-led infrastructure. Initially this package will be trialled in Matabeleland North (Umguza and Lupane) and Matabeleland South (Matobo), where EMIS data shows boys’ enrolment, transition and completion to be particularly low. According to 2014 EMIS figures, in Umguza 1,946 boys are enrolled in Forms 1-4 compared with 2,769 girls, resulting in a Gender Parity Index of 1.42; in Matobo 3,821 boys are enrolled in Forms 1-4 compared with 4,810 girls, resulting in a Gender Parity Index of 1.26.

6. Cost and Timescale The project is on track against original timescale and financial forecasts, and is progressing well towards Year 4 milestones. Activities have been carried out as planned with few or no delays, despite the challenges described above. Details of the expenditure to date against the forecast budget are provided below. Statement of Expenditure

Details Amount Year 4 Forecast £3,005,493 Funds received (01/04/2015-30/03/2016) £3,005,493 Spend by 30/03/2016 £3,005,493

Summary of Expenditure 1st April 2015 – 30th March 2016 Details Amount

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Secondary school bursaries £2,478,179 National level meetings £3,952 District launches £0 District Operations Secretariats £44,691 Training of Teacher Mentors £45,959 Training of School Development Committees & Whole School £103,730 Approach Training of district level committees £9,234 Monitoring £23,405 Training Resource Teams in data collection £23,471 Database development £12,086 Staff costs £194,498 Overhead costs £66,288 TOTAL EXPENDITURE £3,005,493

Key Cost Drivers During the reporting period, the bursary package accounted for £2,478,179 of expenditure and is equivalent to 82% of project expenditure for the period. Monitoring costs in this reporting period represent 2% of funds spent and staff costs represent 6% of costs during the year. 7. Evidence and Evaluation Key results from the Girls Education Challenge “A New Equilibrium for Girls” With its ambitious aim to increase retention of marginalised girls in early secondary education and improve their learning opportunities, the GEC SCW project is working across 991 secondary schools in 24 districts in Zimbabwe and 11 districts in Tanzania. The schools are located in rural areas characterised by poor infrastructure and low quality service provision. To date, a total of 67,912 marginalised girls in Zimbabwe have directly benefitted from interventions. In the last quarter of 2015, two years after the project launched, a significant midline study was conducted. A comprehensive set of Camfed interventions have targeted a range of barriers to girls’ educational outcomes. Tailored financial assistance has been provided to the most marginalised girls identified by their communities to address the direct and indirect costs of attending school. Community initiatives such as school feeding organised by PSGs, have helped to overcome particular challenges facing marginalised students. This has been especially crucial in the context of Zimbabwe’s decline in economic growth which has been exacerbated by widespread drought. Trained Teacher Mentors and SBCs have also contributed to girls’ welfare and participation in school.

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As a key innovation to bolster learning and retention for girls in rural secondary schools where the majority of teachers are male, Camfed introduced female Learner Guides to expand the presence of female role models at intervention schools. The Learner Guides are recent secondary school graduates from marginalised backgrounds, who had previously been supported through school by Camfed. They led both female and male students through a curriculum aimed at developing broad life skills and competencies to better prepare them for the critical transition from school to a secure and productive young adulthood. Learner Guides also organised academic study groups, assisted class teachers, provided counselling and followed up on students in danger of dropping out.

Learning interventions were targeted at all students, girls and boys. Despite improved learning outcomes for marginalised girls, attainment gaps persisted between more and less marginalised girls between the baseline and midline (although in Zimbabwe, the intervention was effective in slowing the growth between more marginalised and less marginalised girls when benchmarked against the comparison cohort). This result suggests that less marginalised girls were better able to capitalise on the opportunities for learning gains than their more marginalised peers, and that marginalised girls require further support to mitigate the longer term effects of marginalisation on their ability to learn.

The midline assessment provides statistically significant evidence that Camfed’s direct support for marginalised girls is associated with improved retention in both Tanzania and Zimbabwe. The likelihood of a marginalised girl dropping out of school between the baseline and the midline was more than one third greater (38%) for those in the comparison schools in Tanzania and nearly three times as high in Zimbabwe (275%). No difference in school attendance rates were detected for marginalised girls between baseline and midline, however, which suggests that retention may be a more meaningful indicator than attendance in tracking the outcomes of the target group of marginalised girls. Further investigation is needed as to whether and under what circumstances levels of attendance provide an effective reference point; erratic patterns in attendance, rather than overall attendance rates, may be more important as an indicator of girls’ vulnerability to school drop-out.

At this stage of the intervention, the drivers of success appear to include: the relevance of the financial support for marginalised girls at risk of drop out; the relevance of the study guides which have been used extensively by students and teachers; active and effective teacher mentors and Learner Guides; raised academic confidence among intervention school students; the motivation and empathy of the Learner Guides who themselves previously experienced marginalisation; strong community engagement and parental participation; and good partnerships with the Ministries of Education at all levels. The additional positive impact of the programme upon the recent school graduates who are operating as Learner Guides, including their gain in status and access to new opportunities, bears further investigation as an effective post-secondary transition intervention. 8. Risk At this point, the overall risk rating for the project remains at ‘low’. It was recognised that in early 2016, with the announcement of the state of emergency by the President, that the drought has started to affect how parents spend their money (diverting it from spend on school fees to purchasing food). The schools have also raised the alarm around the number of children coming to

22 school hungry and the effect that this is having on children’s ability to concentrate within classes. Despite this, there are currently no changes to the wider risk ratings described in the project proposal relating to Zimbabwe’s political stability (risk 1, medium), economic stability (risk 3, medium), functionality of schools (risk 2, low), and HIV epidemic (risk 4, low). Camfed is managing the impact of the drought and knock-on effects of the economic instability (in terms of the fiduciary risk that potentially affects Camfed Zimbabwe’s programme) and is working with its partners and stakeholders to curb the resulting increase in hunger by supporting the provision of school meals.

9. Value for Money Camfed continues exceed its targets within budget, and continues to achieve value for money through bulk procurement of items including sanitary wear and shoes from large manufacturers and creating the incentive for economies of scale which has ensured we are able to get very competitive prices. Generous savings have also been realised in the purchase stationery and uniforms when compared to prevailing market rates. Economy Securing savings on bursary items through careful procurement processes and bulk buying from suppliers with which Camfed has strong relationships remains a priority. In the last twelve months savings of $71,903 have been achieved on sanitary wear purchased. Sanitary supplies, which are distributed to girls three times a year, have been one of the entitlements which have seen the most significant unit cost decreases over the project period. The savings made on sanitary supplies and stationery have allowed Camfed to better cope with other costs which are rising, such as exam fees, meaning Camfed has been able to continue supporting girls on the bursary programme to sit as many O-Levels as they choose. An extensive summary of savings made in each district on the various products is highlighted at the bottom of this section.

Summary of savings ITEM Budgeted cost Actual cost Savings Savings on purchase of shoes $68,364 $56,948 $11,416 Savings on purchase of stationery $87,093 $44,871 $42,222 Savings on purchase of sanitary $256,442 $184,539 $71,903 Savings on purchase of uniforms $89,341 $74,663 $14,678 Total $501,240 $361,021 $140,219

Efficiency Camfed continues to meet or exceed its output milestones under this grant, and regularly reviews project inputs. The innovative integration of Camfed Zimbabwe’s financial, programme and impact systems, in SalesForce and FinancialForce, was completed and fully rolled out during 2015. This has largely removed labour-intensive manual data entry processes from the day-to-day administration of

23 the bursary programme. This will result in significant efficiencies in staff and resource time and cost, and will further increase accuracy, responsiveness and accountability in delivery, through automatic alignment of bursary payments with student records in the programme database. Recent innovations in Camfed’s mobile phone monitoring system have has led to improved efficiency. Camfed is now using an Open Data Kit Collect application to host questionnaires administered by stakeholders. Qualitative fieldwork indicated that stakeholders involved in data collection considered this a positive change. The efficiency of the data transfer process has also been increased through Camfed’s investment in Jitterbit, a cloud integration platform that reduces the work involved in moving data from ODK into Camfed’s Salesforce database. The previous system used to rely on a member of the Camfed IT Team linking data manually, whereas the Jitterbit platform allows for intelligent mapping of data from ODK into Salesforce on a more efficient basis. Effectiveness It has been highlighted that Camfed’s model of undertaking Teacher Training and mentorship is crucial to the sustainability of the Camfed initiative. This has been carried out through Learner Guides, Teacher Mentors and Camfed staff, many of whom are Camfed alumnae and members of CAMA. Not only are they able to provide strong supportive technical and leadership structures but also financial support to the most vulnerable children within their communities. The activism of communities and CAMA members is reflected in a high rate of local philanthropy that persists despite the challenges of the current drought: in 2015, CAMA collectively supported an additional 58,380 vulnerable children to go to school, including 40,866 girls at secondary school. Community stakeholders supported a further 155,244 children. Equity The design of a bursary to support boys has been based on informed discussions and in-depth research with a variety of partners including education and child protection organisations, and MoPSE. Similarly, with the support of the extension funding, Camfed is able to respond to a gap in provision consistently identified during the course of this programme around provision of support to disabled girls: a very small proportion of clients (1%) are recorded as disabled, but survey data including that gathered under DFID Girls’ Education Challenge funding suggests that the true proportion of girls experiencing disability or difficulty is much higher. Camfed has carried out exploratory visits in Hurungwe District, where the support package will be trialled, and liaised with stakeholders including District Education Officers and School Psychological Services to develop the model for support.

10. Conditionality This grant has no specific conditions.

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