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CAMFED IMPACT REPORT
A power-sharing model
for systemic change
Since 1993, Camfed has been investing in girls and women
in rural Africa as leaders of change. This Impact Report
describes the results of 17 years of investment in girls’
education in the poorest rural communities of five sub-
Saharan countries: Ghana, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe,
and most recently, Malawi.
The results speak for themselves in the numbers of girls
who have gained access to new levels of education;
their retention rates and performance in school; lower
adolescent pregnancy rates; and raised self-esteem
and status. At the post-school phase, significant impact
is evident in the new earning power of young women
and their control over resources; their power to choose
whom and when to marry, and the size of their families;
their community activism and participation in local and
national decision-making bodies; their use of technology;
and their own philanthropy. This is the ‘multiplier effect’ of
girls’ education in action.
Camfed breaks the mold in the field of girls’ education
by creating a new model of systemic change founded
in power-sharing at the grassroots. Camfed’s model
mobilizes an entire social infrastructure around girls to
support their development, beginning with primary
and secondary education, and progressing into young
adulthood and working life. This approach builds a new
social norm where there are real opportunities for girls
and young women to make healthy life choices.
Camfed brings together, often for the first time, the
many influential community actors on a girl’s life —
teachers, health workers, traditional and faith-based
leaders, police, parents and female role models — all of
whom are in a position to bring about improvements
to girls’ and young women’s futures. By recognizing
and bolstering this network of support, Camfed is able
to galvanize assistance for girls at the key transitional
moments in their lives: from primary into secondary
school, where many girls are lost from enrollment
because of poverty; and upon graduation from
secondary school, when girls need a secure bridge
into further education or training, with solid economic
opportunity.
Camfed is currently working in five
countries of Africa: Zimbabwe, Zambia,
Malawi, Ghana and Tanzania.
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