Our goal is to show teachers how to use recyclable waste in play-based activities. We aim to reach 200,000 teachers across eight countries.
Our highly organised approach, based around a digital backbone, allows us to train groups of thirty teachers at a time and so scale rapidly. The programme is inexpensive, costing in effect only USD 5 per child per annum.
We hold on to the teachers beyond nursery school training to create a self supporting network receptive to training on other topics, such as Family Health and Natural Farming.
The ‘Why’ Behind Our Work
90% of a child’s brain development takes place before the age of five. During this window, play serves as a core mechanism for cognitive, emotional, and social growth.
As children grow, understanding the importance of quality education – especially for girls – builds on that foundation. When a girl learns to read, she’s more likely to delay childbirth, earn a steady income, and raise healthier children. Without that opportunity, the cycle of poverty often continues: girls who can’t read may have five or more children, with limited resources to support them.
Ours is a Training Model
Teach a girl to read and she will choose to have two children
Show a teacher the power of play and she will have a more productive time in the classroom
Explain to a small holder farmer how to adopt natural farming practices and her soil will recover and she will save money
Explain to women and their daughters the importance of autonomy and she will lead a happier life
Our Programmes
Perivoli Trainers address groups of up to thirty teachers at a time, delivering sixteen training modules over a two-year period.
They arrange teacher Support Groups to share ideas and undertake monthly Classroom Visits to oversee the implementation of the programme.
Each trainer interacts with up to three groups at a time.
Teacher Training Targets by 2035
Our targets are based on the assumptions that there are 20 million nursery school aged children in the 8 countries (10% of the population); that half attend nursery schools; that each of the teachers are active for 5 years; and address 25 children at a time.
We provide instruction to the nursery school teachers on Natural Farming techniques through a ten-point Playbook. This follows a series of modules on Global Warming causes and consequences.
Our goal is to encourage smallholder farmers to focus on soil health by:
- using less fossil fuel fertilisers
- adopting minimum tillage practices
- using more organic compost
- ensuring permanent soil cover through mulching, multiple cropping and cover crops
- encouraging planting of fruit trees and tree lots for cooking fuel
The aim is for the teachers to implement these practices on their own plots, and make natural farming viral by encouraging their neighbouring farmers to adopt the same methods.
Citizen Scientists
Within the Natural Farming Programme, the teachers act as Citizen Scientists, recording baseline data and on the natural farming interventions they decide to adopt, along with data on resulting changes in crop yields and input cost, year by year.
The Perivoli Trainers upload the data to the Perivoli Database following quarterly meetings with the teachers in Group Sessions.
Our hope is that this initiative will help people meet some of the challenges of climate change and food security. Healthy soils deliver more food and retain moisture better, countering drought and flash-flood run-off.
Natural Farming Targets by 2035
Teachers are given the opportunity to attend modules delivered by a Perivoli trainer on health and wellbeing. The aim is to continue to deliver material on more topics as time goes on.
So far, we deliver modules on:
- Family Planning*
- Reproductive Rights
- Gender Health
*We invite mothers of the children in the nursery schools to attend along with their teenage daughters
Our goal is to empower women to take control of their lives. Please click the link to learn more.
Family Health Targets by 2035
Perivoli Trainers address groups of up to thirty teachers at a time, delivering sixteen training modules over a two-year period.
They arrange teacher Support Groups to share ideas and undertake monthly Classroom Visits to oversee the implementation of the programme.
Each trainer interacts with up to three groups at a time.
Teacher Training Targets by 2035
Our targets are based on the assumptions that there are 20 million nursery school aged children in the 8 countries (10% of the population); that half attend nursery schools; that each of the teachers are active for 5 years; and address 25 children at a time.
We provide instruction to the nursery school teachers on Natural Farming techniques through a ten-point Playbook. This follows a series of modules on Global Warming causes and consequences.
Our goal is to encourage smallholder farmers to focus on soil health by:
- using less fossil fuel fertilisers
- adopting minimum tillage practices
- using more organic compost
- ensuring permanent soil cover through mulching, multiple cropping and cover crops
- encouraging planting of fruit trees and tree lots for cooking fuel
The aim is for the teachers to implement these practices on their own plots, and make natural farming viral by encouraging their neighbouring farmers to adopt the same methods.
Citizen Scientists
Within the Natural Farming Programme, the teachers act as Citizen Scientists, recording baseline data and on the natural farming interventions they decide to adopt, along with data on resulting changes in crop yields and input cost, year by year.
The Perivoli Trainers upload the data to the Perivoli Database following quarterly meetings with the teachers in Group Sessions.
Our hope is that this initiative will help people meet some of the challenges of climate change and food security. Healthy soils deliver more food and retain moisture better, countering drought and flash-flood run-off.
Natural Farming Targets by 2035
Teachers are given the opportunity to attend modules delivered by a Perivoli trainer on health and wellbeing. The aim is to continue to deliver material on more topics as time goes on.
So far, we deliver modules on:
- Family Planning*
- Reproductive Rights
- Gender Health
*We invite mothers of the children in the nursery schools to attend along with their teenage daughters
Our goal is to empower women to take control of their lives. Please click the link to learn more.
Family Health Targets by 2035
Perivoli Schools Trust Progress
The Meerkat icons show the countries and districts where Perivoli is active.
Perivoli Schools Trust Progress
The Meerkat icons show the countries and districts where Perivoli is active.
Perivoli Schools Trust Progress
The Meerkat icons show the countries and districts where Perivoli is active.
How Do We Manage This?
Each Trainer is issued with a tablet computer to record interactions with the teachers. This facilitates rapid scaling of the programmes, tracking of teachers’ and children’s progress and verifying trainer remuneration and bonuses.
Perivoli targets the eight English-speaking countries across Southern Africa, accounting for 200 million people.
There are approximately 400,000 nursery school teachers in these countries, and Perivoli’s goal is to train 200,000 of these by 2035 in the expectation that these 200,000 will, by example, train the rest.
We use the IDELA tool developed by Save the Children to assess the impact of our programme on the children’s development.
Cumulative Reach Since 2013
SUMMARY BY YEAR
Cumulative Reach
Since 2013
SUMMARY BY YEAR
Oversight and strategic input is provided by James Alexandroff OBE, the founder of Perivoli.
The joint CEOs of the programme are a husband-and-wife team from Malawi, Maya Kafuwa and Titan Madomba. Senior Trainers assist them in overseeing the activities in other countries.
The trainers are all local to the areas they work in. They are grouped into teams led by a Regional Coordinator and, in turn, by a Senior Regional Coordinator. Every six months, performance-related bonuses are awarded if all team members meet their KPIs. Over 90% of trainers usually achieve the targets and receive the bonus.
Perivoli establishes local NGOs in each country and adheres to UK privacy law norms. Signed consents are required from all participants. Total consents: 255,000.
Ministry officials and local leaders are invited to award the Perivoli Certificates at the Graduation Ceremonies.
The bulk of the programme’s running costs are the sums paid to the Trainers. This ranges from USD 300 to USD 1000 per month according to their seniority and the number of interactions undertaken each month.
Trainers are employed on service-based contracts, which allows them to undertake other employment opportunities if they wish. Overheads account for less than 5% of total costs. Perivoli’s only assets are the CEO’s car (they travel long distances) and the tablet computers. There are no offices.
Oversight and strategic input is provided by James Alexandroff OBE, the founder of Perivoli.
The joint CEOs of the programme are a husband-and-wife team from Malawi, Maya Kafuwa and Titan Madomba. Senior Trainers assist them in overseeing the activities in other countries.
The trainers are all local to the areas they work in. They are grouped into teams led by a Regional Coordinator and, in turn, by a Senior Regional Coordinator. Every six months, performance-related bonuses are awarded if all team members meet their KPIs. Over 90% of trainers usually achieve the targets and receive the bonus.
The bulk of the programme’s running costs are the sums paid to the Trainers. This ranges from USD 300 to USD 1000 per month according to their seniority and the number of interactions undertaken each month.
Trainers are employed on service-based contracts, which allows them to undertake other employment opportunities if they wish. Overheads account for less than 5% of total costs. Perivoli’s only assets are the CEO’s car (they travel long distances) and the tablet computers. There are no offices.
Perivoli establishes local NGOs in each country and adheres to UK privacy law norms. Signed consents are required from all participants. Total consents: 255,000.
Ministry officials and local leaders are invited to award the Perivoli Certificates at the Graduation Ceremonies.
Our Impact
The impact of the programme has been assessed by local ministries and by a three-year joint study by the Universities of Namibia and Bristol. To read more click the link below to access the Full Reports, Executive Summaries and a short documentary published by the Universities’ research team.
These studies conclude that the programme has a highly positive impact.
