Zimbabwe has been in lockdown since the end of March, and all schools were closed to prevent the spread of COVID-19. To support communities during this period, Save the Children introduced the Education Cannot Wait Project in Chitungwiza and Epworth towns, where 200 community facilitators including Eugenia were trained and have been conducting door to door home visits in the community.
Elsa’s disability, combined with the pairs status as orphans, make Elvis and Elsa particularly vulnerable to the impact of COVID-19.
When her father passed away in 2018, McClean’s family was forced to move out of their house as they could not afford to pay rent. Since then her mother been struggling to provide for her five children, as well as send them to school. 10 year old McClean lives with her mother and siblings in Seke rural area which lies approximately 40 kilometres east of the capital city, Harare.
Thanks to funding from Global Partnership for Education, Garanje School is one of the 141 schools affected by Cyclone Idai which will benefit from the schools rehabilitation programme by Save the Children and the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education.
The Safe Back to School Campaign dialogue, comes against a background where most schools in Zimbabwe have remained closed for the greater part of the year 2020 due to the outbreak of COVID 19 in the country in March. While children in developed countries quickly moved to have online lessons, in Zimbabwe this was mostly possible for learners enrolled in private schools only. Most children enrolled in public schools could not have online lessons due to a myriad of challenges, notably lack of computers, electricity, absence of internet and Wi-Fi among others, thus denying thousands of children their right to education throughout the COVID-19 period.
Save the Children has carried out a global study to understand how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted children’s health, nutrition, learning, wellbeing, protection, family finances, and poverty - and to identify the needs of children and their families. The research was implemented in 46 countries with 31,683 parents and caregivers and 13,477 children aged between 11 and 17. This brief summarizes the key findings of the impact of COVID-19 on children in urban areas.