The Paideia Project

Happy New Year!!!🌟

We are thrilled to kick off 2025 with our first Paideia Project Planning Meeting of the year! This essential activity helps us set the tone for the months ahead, ensuring we align our goals with actionable steps to create lasting impact.

📸 In this picture, Lynette Mumba is seen attentively listening as Monica Nakazwe shares her ideas for one of our upcoming initiatives.

One thing that truly sets our organization apart is the opportunity we provide to youth, empowering them to lead and make meaningful contributions to our projects. Their involvement ensures our solutions remain innovative and relevant to the communities we serve.

The success of this meeting will be measured by our ability to deliver on the objectives discussed, while staying flexible and open to revisions as we adapt to emerging needs along the way.

Here’s to making 2025 a year of growth, collaboration, and impactful action! 🎉

Stay tuned for updates on the incredible projects we will be rolling out this year.

#2025

✨ Behind the Scenes: Bringing Classrooms to Life Using Eco-Friendly Interactive Visual Aid (IVA) Models ✨

Ever wondered what goes into creating an EcoSmart Classroom? Here is a glimpse into our day as we install Interactive Visual Aid (IVA) models at Jacaranda Secondary School:

🌅 🚛 Starting Bright and Early
The day begins at our workshop, where our eco-visual artists and volunteers carefully load the IVA models onto a light transport vehicle, ensuring everything is secured for safe delivery.

🏫 Arrival at the School
Once we arrive, teamwork takes center stage. From coordinating electricity connections to permanently mounting the models on classroom walls, every detail matters.

🤝 Teamwork in Action
The installation is a full-day endeavor requiring collaboration, precision, and dedication. We make sure to keep our team energized with refreshments as they work tirelessly to bring the vision to life.

✨ What’s Next?
Stay tuned for the big reveal! In our next post, we will show you how the classroom looks after the installation is complete—and how it’s transforming learning experiences.

🌟Behind the Scenes at Our Workshop! 🌟

Have you ever wondered what goes into creating our Interactive Visual Aid (IVA) models? Here’s an exclusive sneak peek into our process!

Before crafting begins, our team collaborates with key stakeholders—heads of departments, teachers, and pupils—to pinpoint challenging subjects and topics that need visual support. By integrating their feedback and aligning with the Zambian syllabus, we ensure our solutions address real-world educational needs.

Our dedicated team includes:
📘 Instructional Design Expert, optimizing resources for impactful learning outcomes.
🎨 Visual and Eco-Artivist Artists, crafting eco-friendly and engaging designs.
🗂️ Project Manager, ensuring seamless ex*****on.

Together, we meticulously design how the IVA models look and function. From using vibrant, high-contrast colors to aid memory recall, to incorporating gamification, tactile braille features, and sign language aids, every detail is tailored to enhance inclusivity and engagement.

At the Paideia Project, collaboration and innovation drive our mission to create environments where every learner thrives. A heartfelt thank-you to everyone who supports and inspires our work!

Investing in Growth, Inspiring Impact💡🌍

At the Paideia Project, we are committed to the professional growth of our team, whose dedication drives positive change every day. As part of this commitment, we proudly sponsored several team members to attend TEDxLusaka 2024—an event sparking fresh ideas and meaningful connections.

Reflecting on this experience, Monica Chichi Nakazwe shared, “It is rare to be part of an organisation that truly believes in its team, recognising our dedication through such impactful investments.” Lynette Mumba and Mwenya Mwamba echoed this sentiment, adding that each speaker inspired them to continue driving our mission forward with renewed energy.

We believe that supporting our team’s growth enriches not only their careers but also strengthens our collective impact. Here is to a future fueled by inspiration, learning, and shared progress!

Revitalising Learning Spaces at Jacaranda Secondary School! 🎨

As part of our EcoSmart Classroom transformation initiative, the Paideia Project recently painted classrooms at Jacaranda Secondary School, established in 1969. After speaking with Mr. Chibwe, a dedicated teacher at the school since 2003, we learned that he could not recall a single time the classroom interiors were painted since his arrival.

This initiative is about more than fresh paint; it is about breathing new life into these learning spaces, honouring the history of this school, and creating a vibrant environment that fosters creativity, connection, and pride. Every brushstroke brings us closer to our goal of transforming traditional classrooms into EcoSmart spaces where students feel motivated, supported, and inspired.

A heartfelt thank you to our amazing volunteers for helping make this transformation possible! 🌟

🌱 Before the Transformation 🌱

This classroom may look like any other, but with a vision for interactive, engaging spaces, we see its potential! At the Paideia Project, we believe that educational environments can inspire creativity, curiosity, and climate-conscious mindsets. Our amazing team has come together to bring these classrooms to life.

Stay tuned to see how we go beyond traditional setups to create a classroom where every element speaks to sustainability and education!

To follow up on the peer learning visit we had at Amos Youth Centre in Shikoswe, Kafue, The Paideia Project collaborated with Natubelenge Children's Library again to organize a peer learning visit for Amos Youth Centre, who traveled all the way from Shikoswe, Kafue, to Lusaka, to learn more about the impact of our work in our communities. This gave us the opportunity to present our learnings from our partnership with Jacaranda Secondary School and how the learning-through-play model informs our design process when creating our eco-friendly interactive visual aid (IVA) models.

Unleashing creativity & skill-building with clay sculpting!

Our Paideia Club members explored sculpting techniques, transforming clay into unique teaching aid masterpieces. Can you identify the different parts of the human body?

Through this activity, our members developed innovative green skills, thinking outside the box as they strive to address the lack of instructional models at the school. The Paideia Club fosters environmental stewardship, empowering youth to creatively solve real-world problems.

Check the last images to see how our dedicated volunteers brought this activity to life! Before guiding the club members, they led by example, learning clay sculpting skills alongside our eco-artist. We sourced the clay from our local Soweto market, supporting local vendors.

In Senegal and across West Africa, when challenges arise, a gathering – referred to as a “pénc” in the local language of Wolof – is called to bring together the whole community for discussion.

Mwenya Immaculate Mwamba is glad that these conversations also result in long-lasting friendships and alliances that allow for collaborations between leaders across Africa and the entire world.

To follow up on the wellbeing panel discussion that our Founder and Executive Director was a part of at the initiative Africa Convening in Uganda in July 2023, Mwenya actively participated in “The Wellbeing Summit” Dakar – Thiès, hosted by Tostan. It was a transformative gathering that aimed to empower individuals, organizations and communities to foster well-being in professional, personal and community settings.

In an increasingly challenging global context, a focus on holistic wellbeing has never been more relevant, especially for those at the center of social change and wellbeing efforts.

Moulding/Recycling Activity: Making paper maché from old newspapers. We asked members of the Paideia Club to bring newspapers from their homes for a recycling activity. Apart from a small fraction of pupils taking art lessons, prior to the activity, most of them did not know that you can recycle paper into paper maché, using it to sculpt interesting objects. These are some of the green and innovative skills that the members of the club gain to promote sustainability in their communities.

Eager to apply your skills? Join our team of vibrant volunteers from across the world that want to make a difference in education and influence policies that contribute to it being inclusive, equitable, and provide lifelong opportunities for all. Show your interest on: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1AJKlHCiIgqbxqYC-fkEiwp9tbdFPT_2S7u74K7rCAjg/viewform?edit_requested=true

What does well-being mean to you?

Sometimes, organizations can be so carried away by implementation activities that we forget about our well-being and that of our participants. Today, members of the Paideia Club engaged in a WELL-BEING activity that allowed them to express how they felt starting their final term. As we can see, others are happy, broken, excited, loved, sick, blessed, anxious, and so many more. It is vital to have these mental health check-ins with ourselves. They allow us to be in check with our emotions, therefore allowing us to radiate positivity to bring change into our lives, that of others, and the entire world. Remember, you cannot pour from an empty cup.