Mission

For TFM, education is a major pillar of sustainable community development. Thus, TFM has assigned itself the essential mission in this sector of:

• Contributing to the improvement of the quality of educational offerings in its concession;
• Providing significant support to national education system organizations, particularly the Lubudi 2 educational sub-division;
• Assisting in the implementation of the education and training sector strategy in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Field of Intervention

In partnership with the national government, TFM provides support in the implementation of the education and training sector strategy through several key areas, including:

• Access to basic education;
• Improvement of teaching quality;
• Qualification of community members for employment opportunities;
• Good governance of educational structures; and
• Youth mentoring.

Achievements

In executing its mission, TFM uses the community development department (manager of the specifications) and the Community Social Fund as key players to achieve its mission of improving access to basic education through the construction, rehabilitation, and equipment of 24 establishments housing 23 primary schools and 17 secondary schools, as well as improving the quality of education by:

• Strengthening the capacities of teachers and school principals. About 360 primary school teachers and 120 secondary school teachers and principals have been trained in various fields. For principals, administrative and financial management of a school, to ensure good governance of educational structures. Activity conducted between 2017 and 2021.
• Donation of teaching materials and textbooks to schools. 38 public schools from official and contracted networks benefited. Activity conducted in 2020.
• Provision of school supplies to students. In support of the policy of free education. This includes: the provision of school supplies to nearly 20,000 public school students in September 2019 and the provision of exercise books to 124,800 primary and secondary school students in Lubudi territory in September 2020 to strengthen their learning level during the COVID-19 lockdown (2019-2020 school year), and during the summer holidays.
• Scholarship programs for secondary (technical training) and university studies: Mutoshi Scholarships (2010-2020), Local Secondary Scholarships (since 2018), and University Scholarships (since 2016).
• Two social promotion centers, built by the Community Social Fund. One in Fungurume in 2018 and the other in Tenke in 2016.
• Summer camps and inter-school football tournaments. Activity conducted from 2015 to 2019.

TFM School Network

Since 2017, the Archdiocese of Lubumbashi has been responsible for all the charges and obligations attached to the management of these schools.

For 5 years, TFM continued to provide a declining subsidy to these schools. This financial support ended in December 2022. The management of the so-called TFM network schools has been successively taken over by different partner structures:

• Alba (Italian non-profit organization)
• Congregation of the Canonesses of Our Lady
• Congregation of the Salvatorian Sisters.
• Archdiocese of Lubumbashi

Social Promotion Centers

To increase the qualification of community members for employment opportunities, TFM through the Community Social Fund built two social promotion centers in Fungurume and Tenke. We have respectively literacy programs and training in small trades, including:

• Fitting and welding,
• Masonry,
• Carpentry,
• Cutting and sewing,
• Culinary arts,
• Computer science and
• Heavy equipment operation.

Donation of School Benches

May 2021: Donation of 600 school benches to 12 schools in the EPST Lubudi 2 sub-division operating in the TFM concession. The aim is to contribute to improving access for children from local communities to quality basic education. Number of beneficiary schools: 12.

Exercise Books

Support for the Ministry of Education in implementing the program to assist primary and secondary students in their home learning during the school closure period (lockdown) due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The exercise books distributed to students and their teachers are a very important educational tool:

• For teachers, they serve as a reference textbook. They contain a large number of exercises on the revised national curriculum subjects; therefore, a good source of inspiration for subject planning and lesson preparation sheets.
• For students, these books are a tool for reviewing the material covered in class. As such, they can help them prepare for school exams.
• For a discerning parent, these books can help ensure their child’s mastery of the material.

Awareness-raising

In parallel, TFM actively engages in education awareness projects, organizing awareness campaigns and community events to promote the importance of education and encourage the active participation of parents and community members in the educational process. This holistic approach demonstrates TFM's commitment to acting as a catalyst:

• Positive change
• Placing education at the heart of its community development initiatives