Refusing to Give Up on Education
Phanely’s Story
Phanely: Rebuilding Her Future Through SkillsHub
Meet Phanely Mwanza.
Phanely lives in Bauleni Compound, Zambia. After losing the parent who was supporting her family, she was forced to leave school in Grade 11 and take on work as a security guard to provide for her younger siblings.
Her education could have ended there.
Despite working through the night - finishing at 5:00AM - she continues her learning through the Pestalozzi SkillsHub.
Through our SkillsHub project in partnership with Edulution, Phanely is rebuilding her foundational skills in numeracy and literacy using a facilitated digital learning platform designed for students whose education has been interrupted.
I was forced to get married after losing my parents, but I refused. I chose to educate myself. I knock off at 05:00 AM and still create time for learning at the Skills Hub. After I complete my lessons and skills training, I will earn my certificate and get myself where I am supposed to be
Phanely
Phanely’s experience reflects a wider reality. For many young people in Zambia, education is not a straight path. Interrupted schooling, financial pressure and limited access mean that opportunity often falls out of reach - not because of a lack of ability, but because systems are not designed for them to return.
SkillsHub was built in response to this.
By combining Edulution’s accelerated learning model with vocational and mindset training, students can pick up where their schooling stopped - rebuilding both their skills and their confidence as they move towards further training or work.
In its first year, learners in the Edulution module achieved an average grade-level improvement of 2.44 in just over 100 hours of self-paced learning.
Phanely is working towards completing her training - building the skills to shape her own future, and support those around her.
Read our SkillsHub impact report for more in-depth information about the results of the project in its first year:
