About Zazi iZandi
Transforming early literacy and creating opportunities.
One classroom, one school at a time.
Data-Driven
Evidence-based interventions with continuous measurement and improvement
Community-Centered
Recruiting and training youth from the communities we serve
Impact-Focused
Addressing literacy and unemployment in one go
The Crisis We're Addressing
Our Two-Pronged Solution
Zazi iZandi addresses both crises simultaneously by recruiting unemployed community youth, training them as Literacy Coaches, and deploying them in public Grade R & Grade 1 classrooms.
Evidence-based interventions that help children master letter sounds and reading fundamentals—strong predictors of later reading success.
Provide meaningful employment and professional development opportunities for unemployed youth in their own communities.
Partnership Model: Zazi iZandi was developed and launched in partnership by Binding Constraints Labs and Masinyusane, with input from leading South African educational organizations including Wordworks and Funda Wande, as well as experts in the field.
3 Years of Growth
From pilot launch to nationwide scale—see how we've evolved, tested, and improved our approach to early literacy intervention.
ZZ 1.0 - Letter Sounds
Initial pilot testing the letter sounds curriculum and delivery model. Launched in partnership with Binding Constraints Labs and Masinyusane.
Key Highlights:
- •First deployment of letter sounds curriculum
- •Testing delivery model with unemployed youth
- •Partnership with Wordworks and Funda Wande
Expansion & Innovation
Major expansion with improved curriculum and introduction of ZZ 2.0 for blending and word reading. Two cohorts launched throughout the year.
Key Highlights:
- •Cohort 1: 16 schools, 82 youth, 3,490 children (Feb-Oct)
- •Cohort 2: 6 schools, 28 youth, 1,134 children (mid-year)
- •Introduced ZZ 2.0: blending & word reading
- •First ECD center pilot launched
- •Applied lessons learned from 2023
Scale & Diversification
Massive scale-up testing multiple delivery models: part-time youth, government TAs, full-time models, and year-long ECD programs across three languages.
Key Highlights:
- •SEF Youth: 42 schools, 73 part-time TAs (4 days/week)
- •Government TAs - NMB: 460 trained (Aug-Oct intervention)
- •Government TAs - East London: 50 schools, 1-month foundation
- •ECD Year-Long: 16 centers, 353 children
- •Testing 3 languages: English, isiXhosa, Afrikaans
- •New tech: SurveyCTO & TeamPact data tools
- •Full-time vs part-time model comparisons
- •Major partnership with Department of Education
Continuous Testing & Learning
Each year, we build and test many new things as we iterate towards the best possible programme. We are constantly learning, growing, and improving.