Save the Children is the world’s leading development and humanitarian agency for

children, with over 95 years of experience in health and nutrition, food security and livelihoods, education, protection, and HIV and AIDS as well as in emergency humanitarian response. Save the Children has operated in Malawi since 1983 working directly or through partners in all 28 districts. In 2012 Save the Children’s programmes reached over 5.2 million people, 35% of the population of Malawi.

Save the Children’s programmes are only possible because of the generous financial assistance from multiple funding sources. These include the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Canadian International Development Agency, the European Commission, John Hopkins University, JHPIEGO, Catholic Relief Services, Banca Intessa and Barilla, General Electric Foundation, Martin Devenish Foundation, ECLT Foundation, Segal Family Foundation and individual donors through our sponsorship programme.

Save the Children works with the government to ensure that communities receive quality basic services. In particular Save the Children seeks to bring positive and lasting change to children through interventions in the following areas:-

• Health• Education & Early Child Development• Food Security and Livelihoods• Child Protection

We do this by:-• Developing evidence-based replicable solutions• Using our experience to advocate and mobilize for better practices, programmes and policies for children• Supporting effective implementation of those practices, programmes and policies at scale.

BASIC EDUCATION

Save the ChildrenNgerengere House, Off Mchinji Road,

P.O. Box 30374Lilongwe, Malawi

Tel: +265 1 762667malawi@savethechildren.org

Save the Children is the world’s leading independent organization for

children

Our VisionA world in which every child attains the

right to survival, protection, development and participation

Our MissionTo inspire breakthrough in the way the world treats children and to achieve

immediate and lasting change in their lives

BASIC EDUCATION

Basic Education refers to the whole range of educational activities taking place in various set-tings (formal, non formal and informal) that aim at meeting the basic learning needs. In broad terms Basic Education includes pre-primary education, primary education and adult literacy programs.

Goals and Objectives

Basic Education programs in Save the Children a im at enabling children in the targeted

locations to enjoy the right to compre-hensive care, quality education and

protection by 2015. The strategic objective for the program is to achieve improved learning outcomes through provision of quality basic education. While issues of access are paramount, emphasis is also placed on the improvement of quality so that

illiteracy is drastically reduced. Save the Children encourag-

es community participation in school management and child protection in order to

enhance child participation in education particularly with girls. Additionally Save the Children endeavors to work with other NGOs to ad-vocate for enabling policies and increased resources for educational services.

Children Reached

Under Sponsorship, basic education is imple-mented in four zones within Traditional Authority (TA) Chikowi in the district of Zomba. It works in 40 schools and serves over 41,000 children. In addition, there are basic education programs operating in three other districts, Mchinji, Ntchisi, and Rumphi. These programs are a microcosm of the basic education programs under Sponsorship. Together, they reach over 60,000 children with roughly an equal enrollment number of boys and girls.

Program activities

The program has been constructing child friendly schools since 2007 and has also been renovating old school blocks and classrooms. In Zomba alone, the program has consucted 52 additonal

classrooms and rehabilitated 25 classrooms in Traditional Authorities (TA) Chikowi and Mulumbe. These efforts go a long way to reduce the number of children who have to learn outside in the open.

Partners

The program works with the Ministry of Education at national, district and school levels for the enhancement of teacher professional development programs.The program also collaborates with the district education network to improve the effectiveness of committees and different parties such as parents and protection action groups, who are involved in establishing suitable learning environments for students.