The Zamfund Model
To understand the Zamfund Model, picture Sarafina, one of the top students at Nakatindi Community School in Livingstone. After completing her exams and gaining admission to St.Mary’s School, the top high school in Livingstone, she sought sponsorship to pay for her school fees and uniform. Like many talented and hard-working women before her, she failed to secure financial suppor
t from non-profit agencies and charities in Livingstone who repeatedly told her they were only focused on sponsoring the poorest of the poor for primary education. She was told that she was already better off than many of her peers because she had completed middle school, and was unlikely to be supported. Sarafina has since run away from Livingstone, married, and hasn’t been heard from anyone since. After recognizing this critical flaw, Sam Peisch decided to start Zamfund with the express purpose of supporting the hundreds of gifted, hard-working women in Livingstone whose aspirations for attending high school are repeatedly undermined or unaddressed by the current sponsorship model. By supporting individuals that are the most capable and determined to complete high school, Zamfund will have a much lower drop-out rate than the current sponsorship model. More importantly, Zamfund will provide full scholarships for students such as Sarafina to attend high school, so the individuals with the most potential and best chance of succeeding are allowed to succeed: young women. According to the UN and the World Bank, women are the best predictors of economic and national development. They are the development investment with the highest individual, communal, and national returns. Most importantly, investing in women’s education has been shown repeatedly in World Bank and UN studies to improve statistics from economic growth to infant mortality to political freedom to HIV transmission rates. Yet despite these conclusions, few charities and non-governmental organizations have initiatives dedicated to improving access to education for women. Zamfund hopes to address this problem and harness the power of women through education to improve the economic, political, and societal development of Zambia. Working with local experts from St. Mary’s School, the Happy Africa Foundation, and local schools, Zamfund will identify, evaluate, and ultimately assist high-performing female students through scholarships to fully finance the costs of high school. In order to qualify for any form of grant, candidates must meet Zamfund’s admissions criteria for character, leadership, and academic excellence. By supporting and promoting female education, Zamfund is not only harnessing one of the most untapped resources in Zambia, it is making the safest and most successful investment in Zambia’s future.
