The Zambian Ministry of Education’s 2002 “Education for All” policy provided access to education for thousands of children, many coming from lower socioeconomic levels. The inclusive, equitable policy greatly benefited vulnerable children, especially girls, but it also challenged the education sector by flooding schools with more pupils than the system could handle. To fight the huge inequities in Zambia’s education system, the Strengthening Educational Performance Up Program aims to help the Ministry of Education undertake management reforms to improve learner performance.

Large numbers of Zambian children suffer from nutrition-related disorders such as low birth weight, wasting, being underweight, chronic malnutrition, and various nutrient deficiencies. AIR and its partners are evaluating the First 1000 Most Critical Days Program, which addresses these issues by targeting households with pregnant women or children under two for maternal and child nutrition and health services.

Despite high levels of knowledge, HIV incidence does not seem to be decreasing among adolescents in Zambia. Girls are much more likely to be infected than boys and intergenerational sex, transactional sex, and multiple concurrent partnerships are normalized. The education sector is struggling to implement effective HIV prevention. The Community Health and Nutrition, Gender and Education Support 2 Program strengthened teachers’ classroom pedagogical and leadership skills with a special focus on school health and nutrition, as well as HIV and AIDS prevention and mitigation.