About Us

Learn about us

Beyond Ourselves Zambia (BOZ) is an Education Development Non-Governmental Organisation that is based in Ndola in the Copperbelt of Zambia. We have been working with Community Schools since 2008. We empower development and release potential through professional guidance, as well as financial assistance in teachers’ salaries, school feeding programmes and high school bursaries.

Over the years the professional support we offered to our partner schools has widened to include additional community schools and, in 2018, we started conducting training with government schools and those in the private sector.

Women teaching children in classroom

We found that the teachers in the schools we were partnering with were not adequately resourced to transition their learners from literacy in Zambian Language to English, despite English being the carrier language of the education system from Grade 5 onwards. We started using Jolly Phonics with those schools and within a short amount of time learners were breaking through to literacy in English.

In 2017 we were commissioned to pilot Jolly Phonics with government schools in Lusaka and Ndola districts. This was independently evaluated, by a research team who discovered that learners using Jolly Phonics made three times the progress over those learners who didn’t use phonics. Beyond Ourselves were then invited to continue the pilot and by 2022 we were rolling out Jolly Phonics to all schools on the Copperbelt. 

A pivotal moment in this journey was the contextualising of the Jolly Phonics programme for Zambia. Staying true to the Jolly Phonics methodology, we adapted the programme in the following three ways: 

1. We made sure that stories and illustrations were recognisably Zambian so that learners would more easily identify with the content.   
2. We condensed the Jolly Phonics programme into one resource (The Jolly Phonics Teaching Aid) to aid the sustainability of its use in Zambia. Schools can deliver the programme effectively with just a chalkboard and this one teaching aid.
3. We made sure that it aligned with the Zambian National Curriculum so that it could be utilised by teachers throughout Zambia. 

If you are a school leader or a teacher who would like to find out more about training opportunities through BOZ, please register your interest through our contact page.

Watch this video to hear more about the Jolly Phonics journey that Beyond Ourselves have been on since 2018.

Since this video was made, the Zambian Curriculum has been revised and updated and Beyond Ourselves have been invited to rollout Jolly Phonics throughout Zambia at Grade 1 level.

The Future is Jolly! 

Learn about Beyond Ourselves (UK)

Beyond Ourselves Zambia was born out of a British charity called Beyond Ourselves (UK). Follow this link to find out more about how our parent organisation partners with businesses, churches, schools and individuals, to bring education development and community transformation. 

Go to beyondourselves.life