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CAMFED IMPACT REPORT
opportunity to accelerate systemic change by educating
female leaders of the future. In 2008, an independent
study found that:
“(M)ore focus on tertiary education is a cost-effective way
of (supporting) more truly exceptional women who can
rise to positions of local, regional, national or international
leadership, and serve as role models for Camfed
beneficiaries everywhere. Their impact is fundamental to
the societal transformation that Camfed aims to achieve.” 21
To date, Camfed has supported 769 young women into
tertiary education, 22 providing financial support, help
with the application process, and raising aspirations and
awareness of tertiary education options. The transition rate
from Camfed-scholarship-supported secondary education
to tertiary education is 3.4%, in a rural context where
the numbers of young women or men attending tertiary
education is extremely low. (National averages for Zambia,
Zimbabwe and Ghana are 3% for the overall population,
but this reflects predominantly urban populations; rural
figures would be much lower. 23 )
The gender gap is even greater at this level than for
secondary education: only one female is enrolled for
every three men at university. 24 Camfed has enabled
this significant number of young women, who have
succeeded against extraordinary odds in reaching the end
of secondary school, to reach a level that otherwise would
have been denied to them because of poverty.
Cama’s role in promoting women’s advocacy
A crucial dimension of Camfed’s work is to help poor
communities understand their entitlement so that they
can build the skills and express the confidence to secure
greater and better services from schools, healthcare
providers, government institutions and aid agencies. Cama
provides a vehicle for women to achieve the necessary
skills and confidence; it also gives them a forum to
challenge established views and practices that exclude
and marginalize women and children. Since Camfed was
founded, Cama members have participated in 16,380
community forums, 549 national forums, and 216 regional
or international forums or visits, where they have had a
decision-making role or have influenced decision-makers.
Through Cama, Camfed is achieving
exciting attitudinal changes in
patriarchal societies… The fact that Cama girls
are members of the very communities in which
they conduct sensitization activities makes
them very credible to their audience. They say
they are well-received by communities and
seen as role models. – External Evaluation 25
An area of major concern for Cama members is health and
the particular vulnerability of women and girls to HIV/
AIDS. Camfed has supported school-based health learning
since its foundation, in conjunction with Ministries of
Health, national Family Planning Councils, and local NGOs
involved in HIV/AIDS prevention, child abuse and related
issues. Cama has expanded this work with a Community
Health Outreach Program implemented by its members.
In 2009, Camfed trained 435 Community Health Activists,
who reached 139,908 children and young people with vital
health messages. Leveraging additional partnerships with
specialist providers to work with the Cama membership
will expand Camfed’s work in this area.
Women and film
Camfed has been the first organization to give women in
these communities access to filmmaking as a means of
bringing to light contentious issues that put women and
children at risk. Camfed established two groups of trainee
filmmakers that put women behind and in front of the
camera – the Samfya Women Filmmakers in Zambia, and
the Learning Circle in Ghana. These groups include Cama
members and women who have not had the benefit of
education. To date, 45 young rural women have been
trained in filmmaking, and 141 films and radio broadcasts
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