Today marks four years since we began our work in Zambia. Take a look at just how far we've come...
FLASHBACK TO APRIL 2014
In our second training ever, I began to teach the School Directors how to manage their finances. We were all learning so many things (especially me). I covered a multitude of topics, but the one thing that truly stuck with them was the cashbook. Prior to this training, the schools had very few financial records and rarely knew how much money they had at any given time. But the concept of a simple cashbook that showed their current balance mesmerized them and they immediately began to use it. Equipped with this one simple tool, our schools began to see a change in their financial status. By tracking expenses, they were better able to maximize their limited resources. They began to grow that little balance, and to be able to do more as schools. Since that time, I have seen them do many things with their own resources they would have previously claimed impossible - including building new toilets, hiring more teachers, and even raising the salaries to a more livable wage. One little cashbook began the process of transformation in our schools more than three years ago.
Flashback to the beginning. Our first financial management training in April 2014.
FAST FORWARD TO LAST WEEK
In our 9th Management Training just last week, the same School Directors came together to discuss financial management again. This year, things looked radically different. Now trusted friends, schools began to open up about the true challenges they face when it comes to finances. They discussed times when they have misused money, struggled to keep records, and failed to report properly. As their trusted partner, I was able to teach them much more than a cashbook this time. From recordkeeping to reconciliation to reporting, they are now equipped with new tools to continue strengthening their financial management practices.
And the most exciting part… we used computers to practice these new skills. When we began this journey four years ago, the majority of our partner schools did not have a single computer… nor have any clue how to work one. Through our partnership and the Grant Program, each school has purchased at least one computer over the years. We are teaching our Directors and Teachers how to use them, and they are in turn teaching their students. This is a significant change in the life of our schools!
Fast forward to last week where our directors used their own computers to learn how to record, reconcile, and report their finances.
Building on four years of partnership, we are witnessing sustainable transformation take place in our schools, both in the Director's office and in the classrooms. And we can't contain our excitement when we think about how these changes will benefit future generations of children that will come through these 10 schools!
Thank you for being a part of impacting the future of Zambia! Your donations, your prayers, your advocacy is changing lives! Celebrate four years with us by sharing this update with your friends. The more support we have from you the more support we can give to schools in Zambia!
~ Whitney Morreau