By MWANGALA LISELI? –

CHILD-FUND Zambia in partnership with the Chinese Embassy under the framework China-Africa people-to-people friendship has handed over a refurbished Ng’ombe Community Early Childhood Development Centre to the community.??

The development centre has been furnished with assorted teaching and learning materials, a borehole with a 10 000 water tanks capacity and a play park at the cost of K104 000 from the partnership.??

Childfund Zambia national director Dereje Adugna said the gesture marked its progress in efforts to improve the environment for children enrolled in community-based early childhood centres.??

Mr Adugna said in Lusaka yesterday during the handover ceremony that Child-fund remained committed to supplementing Government’s efforts in strengthening systems aimed at protecting and promoting children’s rights.??

More than 100 community-based early childhood development centres had been established in different districts where children were receiving effective care and development.??

‘‘ We believe that education has a significant impact on the overall health, social and economic development and that children need the skills acquired from school to survive in a competitive global economy,’’ he said.??

The organisation attached great importance to all efforts aimed at giving children the best start in life and created a platform on which they could thrive their desires to become leaders.??

Chinese Ambassador to Zambia Yang Youming said his Government believed that education not only improved the overall quality of young people but also effectively promoted national development.??

Ambassador Youming said education in China was productive and had alleviated poverty and believed it could also apply in Zambia.?

He commended the efforts by Child-fund in its efforts of providing opportunities to Zambian children in education.