Joshua Marikopo

  Yesterday I made a submission of a video thats part of the youth solutions challenge for Unlock the Future of learning event at the TES in New York. I'm gonna share part of what I said, looking to engage with you in the comments.  Young people everywhere need education, infact it is one of their foremost right. But there is a growing concern about the lack of serious commitments to education. All of this of course has been made worse because we're recovering from a pandemic which derailed progress towards achieving quality education for all. The challenges are that education is mot accessible to everyone, schools are no longer safe as hate crimes are now a common occurance in various places and there is need for education that is inclusive  equitable and most importantly that offers learners skills for life. Data shows 60mil children were out of schools before the pandemic and now 400mi risk dropping out of school because they are not fully open. An estimated 150mil afe...

 I have had the opportunity this past week to travel a huge part of the country (explains why I was not updating the blog) and in the process have met a lot of youths in different settings. It is sad to say that everyone I met is facing a common challenge which is lack of employment and opportunities to find a living in this country. It is very troubling that only a few young persons out of school have jobs whilst the rest are miserably unemployed and with no prospect of getting a decent job. The few who are employed are getting petty wages and are exposed to ill working conditions. As our industry has been left at the mercy of foreign nationals, the rule of law has been made less effective and few have the stomach to report their employers to the Labour Court. To make it worse local employers have joined the bandwagon that unfortunately treat employees like worker bees. Those that unemployed have resorted to drug abuse and other vices to 'kill time'. There are those who are ex...

 Today Mashonaland Birdlife had a waterfowl count at Lake Chivero which is classified as a #Ramsarsite. Many people visit the Lake for their recreational activities but few really care to think about the pristine miombos, birds and the biodiversity of the area.  The count is done by all Birdlifeaffiliated countries inorder to get an estimate of water birds so that we get an appreciation of how sustainable our water bodies are. We counted few birds at the site, only +/-40 waterbirds. These are poor numbers. We should expect to see more, of course the winter and lack of shoreline contributes to the decline in numbers but pollution and increased human activities are disrupting the natural systems. There's loads of plastics from food and alcohol packaging that's a sore to the eye, especially the discarded fish nets. Julia Pierini, CEO of Birdlife Zimbabwe encourages of community members and retailers to come up with solutions that will reduce litter and have our government do more...