Abstract
Zimbabwe has diligently started pursuing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) defined by the United Nations in 2015. While making progress and being aware of it, will be a shot in the arm, with success breeding more success, the journey may seem daunting at times. However, the journey – sustainable development towards the targets set - is what matters more than the final destination, as philosophers and savants often remind us. This article, while dwelling on sustainable development in this southern-African landlocked country in general, presents a beautiful example of a collaborative venture, undertaken by dedicated and determined international partners, and predicated on SDG#4 (Quality Education) and SDG#5 (Gender Equality), and harnessing the complementarities and synergies with the other SDGs, which set root during the COVID-pandemic, in Mwenezi in southern Zimbabwe. The pandemic while being a scourge, tended to have some silver linings to it, as it gave birth to many collaborations and made human beings realise that one’s own happiness is dependent to a very great extent on that of others. This venture emphasizes girls’ education and skills-development, which open the doors, synergistically, to sustained growth, development and progress. Education, indisputably, is a key component of the freedom necessary to live a life of value. To quote Nelson Mandela, ‘It is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”