The Government of the Republic of Zambia with support from the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) is implementing the Zambia Enhancing Early Learning (ZEEL) Project. With a US$ 39.01 million grant, this represents the first-ever large investment in the early child education (ECE) sector in Zambia.
This project aims to improve equitable access to quality learning conditions in early childhood education for children 3 to 6 years of age in the 45 targeted districts in the country.
To achieve this project development objective, the Government through the ZEEL Project is constructing 110 Hub centres in 45 districts in all the ten provinces of the country. The Government is constructing a further 330 satellite Centres which will be connected to the Hub centres. A Hub Centre is a one-by-two Classroom block by design, while a satellite Centre is a one-by-one classroom block. Each Hub Centre will cost ZMK1.2million while a Satellite Centre will also cost ZMK1.6million.
In efforts towards construction of the 110 Hub Centres, the ZEEL project has in quarter 4 of 2023 to quarter 1 of 2024, identified and validated 58 sites where the Early Childhood Education schools will be constructed.
The construction of these schools has to adhere to the World Bank guidelines on environmental and social management plans (ESMPs). ESMPs specify the mitigation and management measures that the ZEEL project commits itself to adhere to during the construction of the Hubs and satellite Centres to minimize the negative impact on the environment and communities in areas where construction will take place. ESMPs address for instance, plans that have been put in place to manage quarry sites during and post construction, dust emissions, and social issues, for instance, labour disputes, gender-based violence, and conflicts.
Therefore, out of the 58 sites validated, 52 sites have had ESMPs prepared and approved, and construction will commence soon after the Government has disbursement monies to each school for construction.
The construction of these ECE Hubs is based on community mode which means that communities themselves in these sites are the ones who are building Schools while the the Government through the ZEEL is project financing, management, coordination, supervision, monitoring, and evaluation, and communication.
As part of the project package, preconstruction training was conducted in all ten provinces where communities from validated schools were organised into groups. These training sessions were conducted in 8 provinces, Central, Eastern, Luapula, Lusaka, Muchinga, Northern, North Western, and Western.