Rebuilding Human Capital Amidst the Pandemic: The Impacts of COVID-19 on School-Aged Children and Youth in Zimbabwe

Rome (Italy): World Food Programme (WFP), 2022.

English

30 p.

ELR3076

In Zimbabwe, a total of 1,415 youth aged 15–24 years and 805 parents of schoolchildren aged 6–14 years were randomly surveyed online across the country between 7 June and 16 July 2021 to assess the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on youth and schoolchildren. Survey responses indicate that COVID-19 has impacted access to education in Zimbabwe. The number of schoolchildren represented in the survey who were going to school in 2021 fell by 20 percent compared to before the pandemic, with the largest decline occurring among Zimbabwean girls. The livelihoods of Zimbabwean households with schoolchildren and Zimbabwean youth have been threatened by the pandemic. 66 percent of parents reported a decline in household income and 67 percent of youth reported either losing their job or having their salary or working hours reduced. One in five Zimbabwean schoolchildren (20 percent) were reported to be consuming one or no meal per day, and around 65 percent of parents were concerned about where their next meal would come from, which raises important food security concerns among this group.

Electronic ed.

Public

ELR 3076

English