Education

The Malilangwe Trust offers scholarships and administers donations to promising young scholars chosen from the surrounding community schools. This gives students the opportunity to stay in school with Malilangwe’s supervision and mentorship. Bursaries are awarded to deserving Zimbabwean undergraduate and postgraduate university students, studying in southern Africa.

The Malilangwe Trust supports appropriate conservation studies on the reserve and provides financial support and academic supervision from our Research team.

One such student whom The Malilangwe Trust currently supports through his tertiary studies is Allan Tarugara. Allan spent four years at Malilangwe working on a leopard project, aimed at furthering research on the habits of leopards. Allan initially obtained a BSc Hons. in Forest Resources and Wildlife Management and has upgraded from MSc to DPhil in Wildlife Ecology & Conservation. Allan is conducting his scientific research at Malilangwe.

To date, the Trust has provided over 2 940 scholarships and bursaries in primary, secondary, and tertiary education. Over 20 wildlife managers and biologists trained at Malilangwe are now practicing around the world.

The Malilangwe Conservation Education Programme aims to instil an appreciation for wildlife, conservation, sustainability, environmental processes, cultural heritage, as well as to equip students with a range of life skills.

The programme began in 2011 and is designed, instructed and funded by The Malilangwe Trust.

The programme is aimed at Grade 6 students (ages 11 to 15) from 11 government schools in our neighbouring communities. For many of these children, the course offers positive wildlife encounters and the opportunity of seeing some environmental processes in the field that have been studied in the classroom.

Hakamela Camp on the Malilangwe Wildlife Reserve is the venue for these courses, which typically have 25 students per group and are held about 25 times a year. Each course includes four days of presentations, practical lessons, game drives, site inspections of Malilangwe’s facilities and a visit to the Kambako Living Museum of Bushcraft. At the end of each course every child interprets what they have learnt through a performance of drama, song or poetry recital, and in turn, receives a certificate of attendance from the Trust.

The e-Learning Centres offer electronic technology for students to access an educational curriculum, based on the Zimbabwe Government School syllabus. There are not many rural schools that have access to computer technology, and this opportunity prepares young people in our neighbouring communities for employment possibilities in the future.

The centres are eco-friendly classrooms, powered by solar energy and one school is fitted with a tank to store harvested rainwater. Teachers undergo e-learning training and then introduce students to computers and e-learning principles. The e-Learning Centres are a collaboration between the Trust and organisations sponsoring equipment and technology.

GCET’s goal is to develop young women who are confident, socially adjusted, and economically empowered.

GCET was established in 2012 by Morenlet Muravu, a teacher, social worker, and motivational speaker.

The Trust has partnered with GCET for several years by funding and hosting the week-long courses which are held annually at Hakamela Camp. The course is for 30 girls (ages 10 to 16) from ten surrounding community schools. During the week the girls are empowered about their personal and reproductive health rights, educated about puberty, menstruation, personal female hygiene, HIV/AIDS, and breast and cervical cancer. They are taught about the importance of an education and counseled on the effects of bullying, as well as equipped with an array of life skills including financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and leadership.