As part of the FAWE/Mastercard Foundation Phase II TVET Bursary Support Programme, the Forum for African Women Educationalists in Zimbabwe (FAWEZI) successfully conducted home visits for shortlisted applicants across all ten provinces of Zimbabwe. This critical exercise followed the convening of the National Selection Committee, which shortlisted 200 applicants from an initial pool of over 4,000 applications, ensuring a transparent, fair, and gender-sensitive process.

The home visits were carried out over five days (15–19 December 2025) by four dedicated assessment teams, reaching applicants in urban centers, rural villages, farm settlements, and remote communities across Bulawayo, Harare, Manicaland, Mashonaland Central, Mashonaland East, Mashonaland West, Masvingo, Matabeleland North, Matabeleland South, and Midlands provinces. The primary objectives were to:

• Verify socio-economic status and living conditions of shortlisted applicants.

• Assess vulnerability and eligibility against program criteria.

• Ensure transparency and accountability in the selection process.

Across the provinces, a total of 187 applicants were reached, including 144 females and 43 males, with 7 applicants living with disabilities, reflecting the program’s commitment to inclusion. The exercise combined physical visits with phone verification to reach all applicants, overcoming challenges such as remote locations, difficult terrain, and discrepancies between application addresses and actual residences.

Key findings from the home visits highlighted the extreme socio-economic vulnerability of applicants:

• Many households face life-threatening financial hardship, with applicants often serving as household heads or contributing significantly to family income through menial jobs such as domestic work, shop assistance, or construction labor.

• Food insecurity was severe in some areas, with families surviving on a single meal per day.

• Housing conditions were frequently substandard, insecure, or overcrowded, posing risks to health and safety.

• Applicants were often from broken homes, orphaned, or caregiving for ill or disabled family members, contributing to significant psychosocial stress.

• Health challenges included HIV-positive status among some applicants and their guardians, as well as physical and neurological disabilities requiring special accommodations.

The visits underscored gender-sensitive targeting, with over 77% of applicants being young women, and confirmed that a significant number of female applicants had previously been supported by CAMFED or other educational initiatives, further emphasizing the importance of bursary support for continuing their tertiary education.

The exercise also reinforced the need for holistic support, including:

• Integrating psychosocial support, confidence building, and asset-based development into the Extended Orientation Program (EOP).

• Partnering with health authorities to assess and certify disabilities.

• FAWEZI’s home visit exercise provided a deeper understanding of the realities faced by applicants, strengthened accountability in the bursary selection process, and ensured that the most vulnerable young women and men are identified for support. The next step will see standby applicants considered where needed, with bursary awards allocated to those demonstrating the greatest need and potential to succeed in tertiary STEM education.

Through this meticulous process, FAWEZI continues to demonstrate its commitment to equitable access to education, empowerment of marginalized youth, and the advancement of gender equality in STEM and vocational pathways.