Tackling Energy Poverty

Learning At Taonga Market - Zambia

Focus Areas: Education

Partners: Education Development Center (EDC), Ministry of Education

Donor: British public through The Times Appeal; Reuters; Rotary in Great Britain and Ireland; The Economist Trust

Beneficiaries: Children, Learners, Community Mentors

Project Launched: 2004

In Zambia, an estimated one in four people is HIV positive or ill with AIDS. As a result, Zambia has one of the largest orphaned populations in the world. Many orphans have had to support themselves and cannot to attend formal school.

The Ministry of Education's Educational Broadcasting Services, working with Education Development Center (EDC, launched a 20 episode pilot radio education project in July 2000, called Learning At Taonga Market (LATM), to educate orphans and vulnerable children using interactive radio instruction (IRI) methodology. The programme was extended nationally in 2001 to cover the whole primary school curriculum. Today, LATM is now broadcast across Zambia for Grades 1-5.

To support this excellent educational programme, in 2004 we provided more than 3,000 Lifeline radios to the LATM project with the generous support of Rotary District 1160 (Ireland). A further 900 Lifeline radios were distributed in February 2006 with funds raised by The Times of London Christmas Appeal and more radios have been funded by Reuters and Rotary in Great Britain and Ireland. Zambian students listen to their Lifeline radio

Learning At Taonga Market is a resounding success. Tests by Education Development Center show that children who attend Lifeline radio classes regularly achieve higher exam scores than children in formal schools. In 2007, with support from USAID, the Ministry of Education bought 8,000 Lifeline radios for distribution to government and community schools across the country.

Press Clippings

The Times