In 2024, Tanyaradzwa, age 21, seized the opportunity to join a training for female secondary school graduates who volunteer to deliver a life skills and well-being curriculum to primary and secondary school students in complement to the academic curriculum.

The training was offered by Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education (MoPSE) and led by CAMFED, the Campaign for Female Education, as part of national efforts to ensure girls stay in school and graduate.

Girls in Zimbabwe are more likely than boys to drop out of secondary school due to intersecting challenges, including financial pressures, food insecurity, gender inequality, and the resulting threat of early marriage and pregnancy.

Having faced her own struggles to secure an education, Tanyaradzwa is determined to support others. Her mother passed away when she was two years old, and she was raised by her grandparents.

She was able to attend school with the support of the Basic Education Assistance Module (BEAM), a government social protection scheme to waive school tuition.

To bring in additional income for her family, Tanyaradzwa panned for gold after school and on weekends. After completing secondary school, she set up a business as a poultry farmer and is applying for a loan to expand it.

Tanyaradzwa aspires to be a social worker, and her role as a peer educator is valuable experience toward that goal.

She works in close partnership with Guidance and Counselling teachers at the school where she volunteers, monitoring attendance patterns, behavioral changes, and grade fluctuations to spot the early warning signs of potential dropout and help students address the challenges they face.

One of the students she supports has recently given birth, and Tanyaradzwa is encouraging her return to school.

She leads sessions with students on life skills, using interactive pedagogies and encouraging peer learning.

In addition to building confidence and self-belief, the sessions support students to catch up on lost learning, seek advice on challenging course content, and develop study skills.

Breaking barriers: Why the focus on girls' education

In Zimbabwe, girls have increasingly higher dropout rates than boys: 8,000 more girls than boys left secondary school in 2021, double the disparity in 2019.

Girls in the lowest wealth quintile are most affected, with a net attendance rate of just 31%. For many, completing secondary school remains out of reach—a reality that plays out at every stage of their life and is a driving force of poverty and injustice.

Improving education in Zimbabwe requires targeted support for girls, and the GPE Girls’ Education Accelerator helps address this.

Through a US$12.4 million grant (2023-2026) managed by CAMFED, the program provides critical resources to help girls stay in school and overcome systemic barriers to education.

The GPE-supported program focuses on primary and secondary schools with the largest gender disparities in learning and the highest dropout rates. It supports over 8,300 girls in completing lower secondary education and offers guidance for their next steps.

Girls supported by the program also access financial support to pay for school fees and materials, such as school supplies and uniforms.

Volunteers like Tanyaradzwa are crucial to the program’s success: they not only understand the barriers faced by marginalized girls in accessing education but are also passionate about helping their peers overcome these barriers.

With the support of GPE funding, 1,090 young women have trained as peer educators, volunteering at their local secondary school for 18-24 months.

To encourage the volunteers’ commitment to the program, they can earn a Business and Technology Education Council qualification—a vocational qualification recognized by employers and further education institutions.

Confidence, 24, is a peer educator volunteering at a school in Insiza District, Matabeleland South. She is passionate about ensuring students' well-being. She checks that they have slept and eaten well and helps them report any challenges they face in their boarding houses while away from home.

A holistic approach to unlocking girls' innate power

Zimbabwe is addressing gender equity through a holistic approach that combines financial, material, learning and life skills support to address the specific challenges faced by girls. These measures will support girls to stay in school and access post-school opportunities.

In addition to investing in peer educators who help girls remain at school, GPE’s Girls’ Education Accelerator grant has unlocked the competence of 1,090 young women to serve as peer mentors, each providing weekly mentoring and skills training to girls after they have graduated secondary school.

The peer mentors deliver a 6-month training program covering elements such as basic business skills, financial literacy, sexual and reproductive health, interview skills, and CV development.

They support graduates to identify their post-school pathway while also connecting them with entrepreneurship training through the Ministry of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development.

Zimbabwe’s commitment to girls’ education is not just about keeping students in school—it’s about transforming futures. With the right support, young women like Tanyaradzwa are becoming catalysts for change in their communities.