This study examined a five-year project initiated by the Women's Global Connection (WGC) to train pre-primary teachers in schools serving HIV/AIDS orphans in Zambia. The researchers evaluated the contextual factors of the training initiative to clarify why some teachers possess high self-efficacy, while others do not. The article analyses the self-report survey responses of all training participants and also describes compelling interview narratives obtained from a random sampling of extreme groups. When stories from the groups were compared, factors emerged that had enabled some participants to feel more successful than others. The researchers selected the Success Case Method (SCM) as a research process for its straightforward determination of the impact of organisational initiatives on the organisation's project goals. The results may guide international teacher training for developing countries.