This paper describes two programs in Botswana and Zimbabwe in which manual work forms an integral part of the educational program. It analyzes their objectives and structure and discusses constraints against the background of socioeconomic change in the two countries. Differences are identified and discussed. The first two sections deal separately with the two programs: the three secondary schools initiated by P v Rensburg in Botswana in the mid-1960s and the eight secondary schools opened in Zimbabwe for ex-refugees after independence. (These schools, which strictly speaking are government schools, work under the umbrella of the Zimbabwe Foundation for Education with Production, ZIMFEP, and are known as the ZIMFEP schools.) The third section makes a comparison between the two programs. It discusses how external factors influence and determine educational reform work in Botswana and Zimbabwe. (YLB)