Turning Dreams into Reality: Renovating Chipembi Girls’ School to Help Girls Grow into Strong, Self-Determined Women.
Chipembi Girls’ School is a rural boarding school founded in 1926 and is the first girls’ school in Zambia dedicated to serving girls from poor backgrounds. Located in the Chisamba District, the school is mostly surrounded by small-scale farmers and traders. It was founded by the Methodist Church and is now run by the United Church of Zambia (UCZ).
Chipembi is a government-supported boarding school, which means it receives far less public funding than fully public schools. (The difference between government-supported boarding schools and public schools in Zambia lies in management and funding: government-supported boarding schools are run by private or church organizations and only partially funded by the government, while public schools are fully funded and managed by the state. The terminology can be a bit confusing.) The school has 722 students and 37 full-time teachers. There are four classes in grades 8 and 9, and three classes each in grades 10 to 12.
The school promotes sustainable agriculture and climate justice.
Its mission is to provide holistic education for girls through innovative teaching methods. However, this vision cannot be fully realized without a supportive learning environment, which is why the school’s infrastructure urgently needs improvement.
2. Challenges
Chipembi faces many challenges, especially a lack of funding to maintain infrastructure and daily operations. The students pay only small school fees, which are used to cover food, cleaning supplies, and teaching materials.
The school has tried to generate resources by setting up an agricultural production unit, running small farms (maize, vegetables, livestock, poultry, fruit). This helps feed the students, lowers food costs, and teaches them important skills in farming and animal care. However, due to budget constraints, no renovations have been possible for many years, leading to deteriorating buildings.
This is why the school leadership has identified the following priority projects that urgently need to be addressed.
2025
✅ 44 bunk beds and 88 mattresses
🔜 Renovation of sanitary facilities (in progress)
❗️ Renovation of the dining hall – approx. €10,000–12,000
❗️ Renovation of the assembly hall – €21,000–22,000
