ZICTA's Universal Access Fund assistive-ICT package at Chinsali Special School, Zambia

Zambia's Information and Communications Technology Authority (ZICTA) administers the Universal Access Services Fund (UASF), which channels a levy on telecom operators into connectivity and ICT-access projects for under-served communities. In 2024, ZICTA used the fund to equip Chinsali Special School, in Muchinga Province, with an assistive-ICT package under its "Support for ICT to Persons with Disabilities" project.
The donation comprised 15 desktop computers — five running JAWS screen-reading software for visually impaired learners — a braille printer, a ream of braille paper, a projector, a tablet, ten headsets and internet connectivity, provided to a school serving 768 learners, 213 of them living with disabilities.
A ZICTA Board assessment tour in June 2026 reported that the equipment had significantly improved access to learning materials for differently abled students and that the school's pass rates had improved between 2024 and 2025; Muchinga Province's provincial administration corroborated the donation and its scope in its own account of the visit. No independent, third-party evaluation of learning outcomes has been published, so the pass-rate improvement should be read as the implementer's own self-reported figure rather than an externally verified result.

Read the full analysis: https://www.muc.gov.zm/?p=4967