Before coming to CIE, Vongaishe worked with World Education Inc. in Zimbabwe on improving the lives of orphans and vulnerable children and families with programs in basic education, school governance, vocational and life skills education, integrated literacy, girls and women’s education, HIV/AIDS education and prevention. She was involved in the evolution of in-school and out-of-school nonformal education programs. These NFE centers were designed to offer safe places for out-of-school children and youth to develop functional literacy and numeracy skills using an accelerated curriculum.
After completing her Master’s degree, Vongaishe returned to Zimbabwe to contribute to the policy landscape by working on both programmatic and policy-related components. As an Education and Child Protection Coordinator for the Bantwana Initiative at World Education in Harare, Zimbabwe, she provided technical support to schools and teachers in implementing and monitoring education and child protection programs to prevent violence against children in Zimbabwe and Zambia.
Vongaishe worked on many other activities, including co-designing a case management system for keeping girls in school as part of a group of consultants funded by the World Bank and spearheading the design of an Early Warning System for identification of at-risk dropout children and adolescents in the most marginalized school communities in Zimbabwe. She also led a robust education policy advocacy strategy, including capacity building and engagement with parliamentary portfolio committees, statistical analyses, legal analyses, policy audits, and policy brief development to lobby for pro-poor budgets and policies.
Her policy work supported lobbying that resulted in the passing of a revised and progressive Education bill (2020) in Zimbabwe. She continued her work in engaging CSOs in pushing for an education financing policy to create a sustainable way to fund state-based education as part of the new bill. Vongaishe has also held multiple roles with organizations such as the Turnaround for Children, the Proteus Fund, and the Higherlife Foundation.
Vongaishe is now working as an Education Technical Specialist at World Vision Canada, providing technical advice and direction in education programs, including youth empowerment, play-based learning, education in emergencies, and early childhood development projects. Additionally, she recently served as a Board Member at Khedmaat – Service & Support for Seniors – in Toronto, Canada, providing technical advice and direction for programs, including business development and partnership strategies, grant research, and proposal writing.
She is also pursuing an Ed.D. in Social Justice Education at OISE at the University of Toronto. Her research focuses on exploring a gender- responsive financing framework in a neoliberal context, with a specific emphasis on Zimbabwe. Her study recognizes that the current education financing structures from the government and international donors are not adequate to meet the education needs of low-income countries. Her research explores ways to provide sustainable and alternative financial assistance through indigenous people’s agency, ownership, and participation, including the active role of women and girls. [4-23]
Email: Vongaishe.changamire@gmail.com