Zero Dropout Campaign’s Merle Mansfield on a mission to halve South Africa’s 40% school dropout rate

Merle Mansfield’s mission is to halve South Africa’s 40% school dropout rate by 2030.

How? By asking children what they need and making sure adults listen.

Social work and activism cannot be separated. Mansfield knows this from experience. When she was 20 years old, she started work in the child protection arm of the Cape Flats Development Association in Lavender Hill, Cape Town. She sat down to 60 files on her desk that first day.

Since then, she has been advocating on behalf of children – whether in their homes, in court or in the boardroom. She wants to amplify their voices to get them what they need. She is now the programme director at the Zero Dropout Campaign. Her mission: to halve SA’s 40% school dropout rate by 2030.

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