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CAMFED IMPACT REPORT
policy changes in communities and at the highest national
level. The Camfed Zambia team adapted Camfed’s Child
Protection Policy for the local contexts by producing a
summary in local languages — Bemba and Lozi. Working
with School Management Committees (SMCs), parents,
Mother Support Groups (MSGs), teachers, local chiefs and
Community Development Committees (CDCs), meetings
with Camfed’s Child Protection Policy as their focus were
held to raise public awareness around child abuse, including
protective strategies and systems for redress.
This work has been complemented by high-level advocacy
work. Camfed Zambia’s Executive Director, Barbara
Chilangwa, is former Permanent Secretary for the Ministry
of Education. A key opinion-leader on the subject of girls’
education within Zambia and regionally, she is ideally
placed to influence decision makers at the Ministry of
Education (MOE) and locally.
Through membership of the National Coordinating
Unit (NCU), Camfed Zambia is spearheading the
MOE initiative, Care and Support for Teaching and
Learning (CSTL), which is being implemented by six
member states of the Southern African Development
Community, including Zambia. The CSTL initiative
aims to address the impact of poverty and disease
on the education sector, and ensure that Zambian
schools are child-friendly and gender-sensitive. As
a result of Camfed’s advocacy, child protection has
been integrated into the MOE Child-Friendly Teaching
Manual, which is being piloted in 40 Zambian schools
under the CSTL initiative, in anticipation of national rollout.
This combined approach of joining grassroots with
top-down policy work is integral to Camfed’s success
in effecting change for child protection practices on a
national level.
By the end of 2009, Camfed’s Child Protection Policy had
been adopted by 592 schools in Zambia. A total of 996
schools across Camfed’s program have adopted Camfed’s
Child Protection Policy.
Camfed has memoranda of understanding in place with
the Ministry of Education in each operational country. By
the end of 2009, Camfed was represented on 33 African
national government bodies.
Internationally, Camfed sits on the Global Advisory
Committee of the United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative
(UNGEI) 8 and on the World Economic Forum Gender
Committee.
Local power-sharing structures
Figure 3 illustrates the interconnected network of
supportive local partnerships that Camfed builds around
girls and young women.
Community Development Committees (CDC)
At district level, Camfed has established an integrated
forum where, for the first time, representatives of all
local stakeholder groups with the knowledge and power
to influence the educational status of girls and young
women are brought together to act on their behalf. A
democratically constituted Community Development
Committee in each of Camfed’s 77 operational districts
carries the highest level of responsibility and authority in
the management and monitoring of the Camfed program
at district level. Gender equity is an explicit objective of
the CDC and the broad class-base and educational status
of representatives ensures a multiplicity of perspectives.
Membership includes district education officers, head
teachers, teacher mentors, traditional and faith-based
leaders, parent-teacher associations, women’s groups,
health workers, police and others. All CDC members are
volunteers committed to supporting girls’ education and
young women’s empowerment.
The high visibility and status of the CDC is crucial to
community ownership of the Camfed program and
gives impetus to finding solutions for girls’ and young
women’s exclusion. In bringing together a broad
range of community power-brokers and those such as
parents, teachers and Cama members who are witness
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