We develop and operate programs as part of our holistic model for community-led transformation.

Through the Read for Rose Special Education Program in Kafue, Zambia, we’re opening doors for children with disabilities to access quality education and life skills.

Disability is not inability. We seek to transform the education landscape in Zambia for children and youth living with disabilities.

  • Disability prevalence

    In Zambia, 4.4% of children between the ages of 2 and 17 live with disabilities. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 1.3 million people in Zambia face disabilities, defined as living with “long-term physical, mental, intellectual, or sensory impairments that may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others“.¹

  • Obstacles to quality education

    UNESCO estimates that fewer than 10% of African children with known disabilities attend school. While some progress has been made to grant all children access to an education, 90% of children in low-income countries do not receive an education.²

  • Ripple effects in families & communities

    Many families raising children with disabilities or special needs lack the skills / resources that are crucial for educating and empowering their children, a problem further compounded by community-wide misconceptions and stigmas that result in the marginalization of specially-abled children and their exclusion from daily life.³

Access to inclusive and quality education empowers individuals and fosters lasting social change. Here’s how we are transforming lives.

Febby Choombe, Director of Special Education and Co-Director of the Amos Youth Centre (our flagship Learning & Leadership Center in Kafue, Zambia), serves as the lead teacher for children participating in the Read for Rose Special Education Program.

In March 2019, the Amos Youth Centre (our flagship Learning & Leadership Center in Kafue, Zambia) opened the Read for Rose Special Education Program.

Today, 27 children with a diverse range of disabilities (including visual impairments, hearing impairments, cerebral palsy, spina bifada / hydrocephalus, autism and epilepsy) have individualized learning plans that include acquiring life-changing language, academic, and occupational skills.

We also regularly create the space for the children at Read for Rose to learn side-by-side with the 700+ other students who access daily and weekly programming at our Learning & Leadership Center.

Through family and community outreach, we are challenging deeply rooted stigmas. We are shifting paradigms so that individuals with disabilities can achieve independence, economic empowerment, quality livelihoods, and social acceptance.

Read for Rose is a thriving collaboration between community leaders, students, and their families.

Our unique approach

Inclusive education has been widely recognized as the best way for children with disabilities to learn, empowering them side-by-side with their peers — and thus confronting the deeply rooted stigmas surrounding disability from an early age.

Beyond classroom work, Read for Rose features inclusive and holistic activities:

  • Tending a community garden;

  • Learning about entrepreneurship and obtaining practical skills like knitting doormats, which are sold locally to support the students’ families;

  • Joining the 700+ other children who participate in programming at the Center for the annual Life Skills & Leadership Camp, designed to build confidence and to develop team-building and leadership skills;

  • Participating in the International Day for People with Disabilities to advocate for change at the national level in Zambia (read our blog post).

“Here at Read for Rose, we are committed to teaching children so that they can live independent lives and become changemakers for their communities. We do not focus on the disability, but on their abilities.”

— Febby Choombe, Director of Special Education, Read for Rose

We’re empowering children with disabilities and special needs through the Read for Rose Special Education Program

Life-changing impact

27 specially-abled students at our Learning & Leadership Center have access to individualized learning plans, tailored to their unique abilities and academic potential.

Several Read for Rose students have learned sign language and braille for the first time, opening the door to attend a local, publicly funded school for children with vision and hearing impairments.

2 Read for Rose students living with speech and hearing impairments acquired the skills necessary to join their peers at a local secondary school.

Family members of Read for Rose students have learned sign language, mending communication barriers and enabling them to communicate fully with their children and siblings for the first time.

Give the gift of empowerment

When we invest in children with disabilities and special needs, we empower them to lead fulfilled lives and to achieve social acceptance through broader societal change.

Data sources

1 “Disability Among Children in Zambia”, Policy Monitoring and Research Centre, 2020

2 UNESCO 2020 Global Education Monitoring Project

3 “Disability Among Children in Zambia”, Policy Monitoring and Research Centre, 2020