Hope everyone had a restorative weekend. First, a very huge thank you and congratulations to our Impact Network Race for Impact Marathon Runners – Alex Mayer, Caroline Pidgeon, Christina St. John, Katie Palmer, Laura Smith and my very own dad, Dilip Patel! Together they raised over $35K for Impact Network programs in Zambia.
Read MoreIn June, Impact Network facilitated a 5-day Financial Education workshop in 5 villages reaching 345 women, comprising of both NetGirls players and community women. After the completion of the Financial Education workshop, several groups submitted proposals for a poultry income generating project.
Read MoreParent engagement day is a termly event for Impact Network where parents, teachers, learners, and other stakeholders of the community come together to address various issues affecting the academics and wellbeing of the learners. Parent engagement has provided numerous benefits since its inception, including the improvement of parent-teacher ties as well as community and organizational relationships. It has also inspired and motivated parents to assist their children beyond basic school.
Read MoreI’ve been reflecting a bit as we plan for 2024 and especially for the future of Read Smart, and I thought I might share some of the best moments I’ve seen across all our schools while watching one powerful transformation take place in our students – learning to read.
Read MoreLast week, the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize went to an Iranian activist for “for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all” – Narges Mohammadi. Born on April of 1972, in Zanjan, Iran, she grew up in Qorveh, Karaj and attended Qazvin International University. During her time in university, she wrote a number of articles supporting women’s rights in Iran in the student newspaper and was arrested for the first time for criticizing the government
Read MoreIt’s fall in NYC which means that folks are training for the marathon, coming up in November. It reminded me of the incredible story of Kathrine Switzer. Switzer was the first woman to officially run the Boston marathon 55+ years ago (A quick side note: runner Bobby Gibb ran the previous year but had finished unofficially because she wasn’t registered. She finished ahead of two thirds of the male runners!).
Read MoreThis year marks 20 years since Mister Rogers died, back in 2003. If you were a child sometime between 1968 and 2001, and you had access to a TV, you likely watched Mister Rogers. And you’ll probably remember some of the most emblematic components of his show – his zipper sweaters, the shoelaces on his sneakers, and the famous theme song. But so much of what I have learned about Mister Rogers goes beyond these routines ingrained in my memory.
Read MoreI joined Impact Network in June this year, and since then, I've had the privilege of engaging in both a management and teacher training program. In the short time I've been here, I've come to appreciate the profound impact of continuous professional development on our staff’s growth and the growth of the organization. I’m excited to share with you some of my takeaways from these trainings!
Read MoreYesterday, like much of America, we were swept up in the women’s singles tennis finals featuring Coco Gauff and Aryna Sabalenka. In the end, Gauff went on to win an emotional victory – and at the age of 19, winning her first major singles title, she accepted her prize money and thanked Billie Jean King who was up on the stage with her.
Read MoreInadequate infrastructure is a common challenge for community schools in Zambia. The absence of enough learning space and sanitary facilities is a reality for many Impact Network schools as well. Throughout the year, we continuously assess all school structures to determine the priority needs. In addition to small maintenance works, we carry out larger structure repairs, primarily to roofs and sometimes to walls.
Read MoreA few days ago, India made history as the first country ever to land a mission to the southern polar region of the moon. I’ve watched the video about a half dozen times now and it seems like it’s a mix between a 1980s video game, and the most awe-inspiring video I’ve seen all summer (mostly the latter!).
Read MoreIn 2023, we started a new partnership with the Ministry of Education which includes the allocation of government Head Teachers to our Katete West schools. This is our first major undertaking of embedding government staff into our programing and model. These teachers have all been allocated classes for them to be teaching using the eSchool 360 framework. Pictured below is the Kalowe head teacher, Mr. Pious Kawinga Zulu, teaching Grade 3 using our activity-based lessons!
Read MoreI recently came across an event taking place in a few weeks that is set to be hosted by Mulenga Kapwepwe. Kapwepwe is the daughter of Zambia’s former vice-president, Simon Kapwepwe, who served from 1967 to 1970, only three years after Zambia declared its independence from the British.
Read MoreAs we closed the term, all Impact Network teachers held a special parent engagement day event at all the schools. The theme for the event was “Secondary School and Beyond! Planning for the Future.” As such, activities and discussion for this day encouraged parents and learners to discuss future goals for attending school and pursuing a career/livelihood. The parent engagement day was very interesting and characterized with lots of fun through role plays, songs, poems, and career dress up.
Read MoreI hope everyone had a restful weekend! While the time difference has made the schedule less than ideal, we’ve been enjoying the Women’s World Cup in our household all week long. In particular, we have been rooting for The Copper Queens – Zambia’s women’s team, who was the first landlocked African country to make it to the World Cup (men’s or women’s). They qualified by reaching the semi-finals of the 2022 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations.
Read MoreOn 23rd June, 2023 all Impact Network schools held a special day of activities related to upcycling. The upcycling day focused on using recyclable local materials to craft different items in line with topics studied in Expressive Arts, Social Studies, Technology Studies and Science. The day was characterized by lots of fun and learner-centered activities and gave an opportunity to all learners to express their knowledge and skills in different subjects with support from their respective class teachers.
Read MoreI recently got to watch a movie called Air, which details how the shoe company Nike struck a business deal with rookie Michael Jordan. It completely changed the industry and launched Air Jordans as a household name. At the time, Jordan was a rookie player and had already made a name for himself with his incredible slam dunks.
Read MoreLast month, we facilitated Financial Education Workshops with women in the Mtaya area, chosen for being one of the zones that is part of NetGirls Zambia. Over the course of 5 days, workshops were held in 6 different villages. In total, 347 women participated, many of them NetGirls players from both the junior and varsity leagues. This was all made possible through funding from Deloitte Zambia!
Read MoreAbout a decade ago, my family held a lip-sync battle during Thanksgiving. It was a fun little thing to create and perform, and it took me all of three seconds to decide who I wanted to dress up as. And earlier this year, the world said goodbye to the real her – Tina Turner.
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