In a well-lit, air-conditioned lecture theatre at the University of Zambia (UNZA), Kangwa Bwalya listens intently, alongside 350 other final-year civil engineering students. The setting is a far cry from the cramped century-old rooms that once defined the campus.
Kangwa Bwalya's student journey was almost derailed before it began by substandard and inadequate infrastructure. "Previously, the biggest structure we had in our school had seating capacity for about 100 students," says Dr. Charles Kahanji, head of the university's civil and environmental engineering department. "The equipment that we had, most of it was obsolete or quite old, and most of it was manual."
This huge infrastructure gap was the challenge that the $29.4 million Support to Science and Technology Education Project (SSTEP) emerged to tackle. Funded by the African Development Fund (ADF), the concessional financing window of the African Development Bank Group, the SSTEP, approved in November 2013 and completed in July 2024, delivered state-of-the-art education and skills infrastructure and equipment for science, technology, engineering and mathematics across three universities and four Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions.
These include the University of Zambia in Lusaka; the Copperbelt University in Kitwe; Mulungushi University in Kabwe; the Northern Technical College in Ndola; Nkumbi International College in Mkushi; St. Mawaggali Trades Training Institute in Choma; and Lukashya Technical Training Institute in Kasama.
For Bwalya, one of the 250,000+ beneficiaries of the project, the new labs that it delivered were a revelation. "Previously, when we would go into the labs, you would find the equipment was not working," she recalls. "Going into the SSTEP-transformed labs was very exciting for me because I got to see modern equipment, new equipment that does a lot."
No one left behind
The university's lecturers also benefited from the project. Dr. Kahanji, the Head of Department, says, "Right now, the equipment that we have is digital. We're able to extract the data that we want in real-time... It has been a game changer."
Dr. Sam Kangwa, a mining engineering lecturer, is a direct beneficiary of the project's PhD scholarships. "Before I had my PhD, I was not even allowed to teach postgraduate programs because I was not qualified," he says. "The impact is huge."
He now teaches and supervises postgraduate students--a privilege his PhD has made possible.
The project directly contributed to upskilling 11,470 youth--24.5 percent female--through scholarships in artisanal courses and entrepreneurship training. Many are now entrepreneurs in industries such as energy, electronics, agro processing, and welding. The project also supported the training of 85 faculty members to master's and PhD levels and developed 62 gender-responsive curricula in collaboration with the private sector.
UNZA Vice Chancellor, Professor Mundia Muya, underscores the transformation: "The University of Zambia has benefited immensely from our collaboration with the African Development Fund. Before the project, many of our lecture theatres and laboratories were in a deplorable state, but they have now been fully modernised, providing a conducive environment for learning and research."
From waiting for jobs to creating them
Like Bwalya, Joseph Banda is living proof of what targeted investment in education and skills can achieve. A graduate of Lukashya Technical Trade Institute in Kasama, Joseph is on the Technical Education, Vocational and Entrepreneurship Training (TEVET) pathway, a route which guarantees self-reliance.
"I started this business in 2020 after I graduated with a certificate in general agriculture with the help of the African Development Bank Group," Banda says, standing in his agribusiness shop, Akunzi AgroVet. "With the knowledge I acquired there, I saw an opportunity --instead of me coming here to start searching for employment."
The transformation has been profound, moving him from jobseeker to creator. "It has transformed me in a very massive way," he says. "Because, now, I'm a director of a company, and I manage to employ at least five direct employees... and we have about 30 people who are working for us indirectly."
Setting off a virtuous cycle
Banda's story completes a powerful cycle: the training provided by TEVET institutes fuels entrepreneurship; entrepreneurs support local farmers with inputs and advice; farmers' increased productivity creates demand for better infrastructure, designed and built by engineers like Bwalya. As a result, the entire economy grows, creating opportunities for everyone.
For Bwalya, inspired by the transformation she has seen at her university, she's now inspired to tackle lingering sanitation issues in her own community. "Five years from now I picture myself as a qualified engineer back in my community solving some of the issues that they are having... and impacting other people's lives as well," she says.
Zambia's Minister of Technology and Science, Felix Chipota Mutati, captures the deeper significance: "When you are being lectured in a conducive environment, even your brain power becomes transformative. It's not just about the investment--it's anchoring peace and democracy through the transformation of Africa."
