IMPACT NETWORK COVID-19 RESPONSE
2020: A TIMELINE OF OUR RESPONSE
Schools close in Zambia
At the time, Zambia had no recorded cases, but schools closed to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in mid-March. We distributed 12,000 care packages to our students and families, containing information on the virus, handwashing instructions, soap, and stay-at-home work packets. At the time, it was our biggest and quickest distribution effort in our ten-year history.
MoreImpact Network creates 10,000 masks
We launched our mask initiative under Impact Health in early April and worked with local tailors to sew over 10,000 in April! By the end of the summer, we had made and distributed over 20,000 masks to students, families, and local hospitals.
MoreImpact Radio is launched!
While online and mobile learning had taken off in some regions, it remained impossible for many students and communities where we work. Most of our students do not have access to electricity and are located in areas with poor internet and cellular networks. We pivoted quickly to start working with Rising on Air to launch Impact Radio in June, broadcasting across Eastern Zambia to all students. We focused our work on early adaptations and translations of basic literacy and numeracy lessons, and our team transformed overnight into local radio personalities!
More Listen to a radio lessonGrade Seven classes reopen
We reopened seventh grade classes, in accordance with the Ministry of General Education (this is considered an examination year). We limited class sizes to 8-10 students, limited the classroom rotations, and sanitized the classrooms three times a day. Our students and teachers wore masks the whole day!
MoreTeachers visit outside student homes
Impact Network teachers started to conduct dozens of 1:1 tutoring sessions each week with their students outside their homes, in socially distant visits. Some teachers were walking over an hour to meet their students, and bringing along teaching aides to help them and their families.
More300 Local Language Stories Written
During the COVID-19 pandemic, our teachers wrote and illustrated over 300 much-needed storybooks written in the local language, Chinyanja. We uploaded these into the African Storybook Project application to expand the reach of each story across the continent!
See an exampleZambia’s President, Edgar Lungu, announces the reopening of schools
After guidance from UNICEF and the World Bank, school reopenings are announced in Zambia with a very quick timeline.
All Grades Reopen Safely
Schools reopen across all of our classrooms, with social distancing and mask mandates. We also encourage the use of outdoor spaces for class time and have created a curriculum for the remainder of 2020 that prioritizes social and emotional learning, literacy and numeracy, and safe spaces for all of our students.
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