ZIMBABWE AIDS ORPHANS SOCIETY - Zimbabwen Aids-Orvot ry

Our strategy is to help diligent children who would otherwisebe marginalised through lack of education. Ourprogramme is based in Dzivarasekwa, a poor townshipwith a population of 100,000 on the outskirts of Zimbabwe’scapital, Harare. We support the children over thelong term in their own community. The total number ofchildren is kept at around 400, of whom 65% are girls.Girls ready for schoolof Dzikwa Society, was established in 2009 and is currentlybeing registered as a Private Volunteer Organisation(PVO), with the task of promoting local fund raisingand attracting sponsors and donors.Principles of Society’s fundraisingThe Society finances its activities by collecting membershipfees, sponsorship payments and other dedicatedsupport payments, as well as donations in kind and incash. The cost of administration in Finland is coveredby membership fees. Support for the children’s welfare,e.g. their daily meals, health care, sport and recreation,is acquired as earmarked donations received from regulardonors and by making specific needs known in thesocial media. Sponsors and supporters are encouragedto make celebration donations and to leave legacies tothe Society in their wills. Small-scale sales of crafts areheld in connection with various events.Since 2006, the Society has received project grants fromFinland’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs under its NGO DevelopmentCooperation Programme.Values we believe in are• Honesty• Openness and a sense of responsibility• Making an effort & taking initiative• Help for the less fortunate• Care for one’s own environmentOur programme has neither political nor religious affiliation.The Society is committed to the ethical principles ofdevelopment cooperation implemented with grants fromthe Finnish Government.IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PROGRAMMEFrom support for one boy to key player inDzivarasekwaThe education support programme was launched on theinitiative of the Finnish founders in 1992. Ten years later,in 2002, the Dzikwa Trust Fund (Dzikwa) was set up inZimbabwe to plan, steer, implement and monitor supportactivities. A new civil society organisation, the FriendsDzikwa has received a grant from the Embassy of Finlandin Lusaka under the Fund for Local Co-operation.A written cooperation agreement has been concludedbetween the Society and Dzikwa. The Society sendsdonated funds in full to Dzikwa for the purposes setout in the cooperation agreement. The financing of andfundraising for investment projects such as building arekept separate from other activities. Special projects (e.g.reforestation) have their own budget and are monitoredseparately from support activities. Neither the Societynor Dzikwa takes long-terms loans to finance its programmeactivities or building investment.Dzikwa has also received grants from the Embassy ofFinland in Lusaka and in Maputo under the Fund for LocalCo-operation.Going to school in Zimbabwe – no compulsoryeducationZimbabwe has a good school network but going to schoolcosts money. Compulsory school charges are:• tuition fees, computer lesson fees• exam fees, fees for practicals• levies for school maintenance and toppingup teachers’ salaries• levies for books, practicals, building funds andschool buses• school uniforms and shoesMost of the children in the programme attend governmentand municipal day schools in Dzivarasekwa. Sevenof these are primary schools and two are secondaryschools. A small number of Dzikwa children attend aprivate secondary day school in Dzivarasekwa and twosecondary level boarding schools outside Harare.Technology holds no problems for us7