The initial years of the implementation of the Basic Education Assistance Module in Zimbabwe: 2001-2005

Illiteracy is thought to be one of the biggest causes of the poverty cycle. Thus education is perceived as a tool of breaking the poverty cycle. Literature on poverty also advocates bottom-up participatory approaches to development as a lasting solution to poverty alleviation Hence, BEAM is one of the programmes that the Government of Zimbabwe put in place to improve the conditions of the majority blacks through education with the involvement of communities in the identification of intended beneficiaries. The objective of the research is to assess the effectiveness of BEAM as a poverty alleviation strategy. Through the review of literature and interviews, a general overview of the concept of beneficiary participation (an important component of BEAM) is given and the initial years of the implementation of BEAM is assessed. Results of the study indicated that some children who initially failed to start school due to financial constrains were able to do so due to the BEAM programme through community involvement.  Thus access to education assistance improved.  However, the implementation of BEAM had its own share of problems, thus limiting its effectiveness.   Key words: policy, implementation, participation, community, beneficiary