Save the Children, in partnership with St John of God, has launched a three-year Inclusive Foundational Learning (IFL) project targeting children aged between three and five from ultra-poor households in Mzimba District.
On Saturday, Save the Children project manager Zindaba Lungu told a District Executive Committee (DEC) meeting in the district that the three-year project funded by Save the Children International Italy will strengthen existing community-based childcare centres (CBCCs) and improve preparatory classes (P-Classes) rollout.
She said: “We will work with 50 CBCCs in Traditional Authority [T/A] Mabilabo in the district to ensure an increase in enrolment of children as well as reaching out to children with disabilities.
“The project will also pilot five P-Classes in CBCCs in Mzimba South, 15 each in Mzuzu City and in primary schools in Salima District. These will target children aged five years as government prepares to roll out the P-Classes in the next academic year.”
Lungu said the project will also include rehabilitating CBCC structures that are not friendly or inclusive, to make them conducive and climate resilient.
“We will also empower CBCC committees, parents, traditional and religious leaders, teachers and mother groups to oversee quality, inclusion and sustainability of community-based early learning,” she said.
Mzimba district director of education and sports Bridget Ndau-Nungu welcomed the project, saying it will help address access and quality gaps in early childhood education in the district.
On his part, Mzimba district social welfare officer Bernard Nangwale urged partners to consider providing incentives to caregivers to motivate them.
Previously, Save the Children and St. John of God also implemented an inclusive early childhood care and development project in the district which phased out in 2025.
The project targeted 170 CBCCs in T/As Kampingo Sibande, M’mbelwa and Mzikubola reaching 11 000 learners and 560 caregivers
