Download 2010 Camfed Impact Report PDF - United Nations Girls ...

CHAPTER TWO ONE
and young women, with the training and technological
capability to collect and analyze the information flowing
from their work.
Developing human capacity in the education system
Throughout sub-Saharan Africa, there is an acute shortage of
teachers, especially in rural areas. Many teachers in rural areas
are often deployed from towns and aspire to return. Local
teachers by comparison are more likely to commit long term
to rural schools. They also understand the local systems and
know who the opinion leaders are. The experience of schools
in Zimbabwe highlights the importance of local teachers:
it has been schools with local teachers that have remained
open through the political and economic crisis.
A dearth of female teachers means that girls across the region
lack professional female role models. For instance, in 2007
in Ghana, 23% of teachers at junior secondary school and
19% of teachers at senior secondary school were female, and
these female teachers were located mainly in urban schools.
By contrast, the average ratio of female teachers for highincome
OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and
Development) countries is 59%. 18
Camfed advocates in all its countries for increased training of
teachers, with special attention to female teachers from rural
areas. Camfed also supports young women within Cama who
wish to become qualified teachers themselves.
Camfed’s pupil teacher program
In the Northern Region of Ghana where the lack of
female teachers is critical, particularly in the secondarylevel
boarding schools where girls living away from home
look to their female teachers for counseling and support,
Camfed has piloted a fast-track response to this shortage.
In 2005, a ‘pupil teacher’ program was introduced,
and 109 Cama members enrolled to train in service
as teachers. Camfed supports Cama students on the
program with course fees and a supplementary monthly
income. Experience on-the-job is consolidated by formal
teacher training through the Ghana Education Service
(GES); successful completion leads to a professional
qualification.
Cama pupil teachers are young rural women recruited
from the same areas where they teach. They are therefore
ideally placed to help address the problems faced by
pupils in their school and are far more likely to commit
to remaining in their home area with their teaching skills
and experience. The pupil teacher program was strongly
endorsed in a 2006 external evaluation:
“This is one of the most exciting aspects of Camfed’s Ghana
program because it fulfills multiple Camfed objectives at
the same time. It boosts teacher quotas in an effective
and sustainable way … and provides desperately needed
female teachers in a region which is quite literally starved
of them. It also provides direct links for Cama with schools
with Camfed-supported girls, where (Cama members) can
act as role models, counselors and data gatherers among
other useful functions. The other Camfed objectives fulfilled
by this scheme are those related to the empowerment and
independence of young women. By giving them teaching
jobs, this scheme not only keeps them active and modestly
paid, but gives them the opportunity to acquire skills and
experience which will enhance their future prospects.” 19
In 2009, 102 young women in Ghana (a retention rate of
98%) graduated from the pupil teacher training program
as qualified teachers. Across all four countries, Camfed has
directly supported 392 young women into teaching.
59